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Location: Menominee MI, In Da UP Eh? | Howdy!
This morning the anglers awoke to moderate temperatures and lower humidity, a welcome comfort from Friday. The low cloud cover and gentle breeze made for a fast and efficient launch. The MWC crew did a fantastic job of getting all boats in the water well on time.
As the first boats dropped the throttle on their way to parts unknown in pesuit of 'Bago Gold, the wind began to pick up to it's current brisk pace. Much talk surrounded this mornings forcast as anglers were deciding to stick to their pre-fish patterns or change with the wind. Wind on "Bago almost always means a shoreline rock or rock pile bite can provide good fish.
But given the time of the year, one can never overlook the deep mud flats. Several anglers related to me that they intended to stay on their Mud Fish, as they have been better quality fish, and more consistant in terms of willingness to bite.
These links wil steer you to info on the tournament and weigh in, location and
times.
LEADERBOARD
http://walleye.outdoorsfirst.com/leaderboard/llb.asp?t=396
http://www.masterswalleyecircuit.com/oshkosh.asp
And, the Day 1 Morning photo gallery can be found here-
http://walleye.outdoorsfirst.com/board/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?...
Edited by Nofish 6/25/2005 8:07 PM
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Member
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Location: Menominee MI, In Da UP Eh? | The day one weigh in is on the books with Tom Keenan and Dean Arnoldussen Grabbing the lead with a 5 fish limit weighing 15.41 pounds. The pair also had the second largest fish of the day, a beauty that tipped the scales at 5.41pounds!
Travis McDonald and Mike Tompkins solidly occupy the 2nd spot with their 5 fish limit weighing 15.16 pounds. Cary Literski and Mark Ramge come in 3rd with an equally awesome 5 fish limit weighing 14.03 pounds. Chris and James O’Brien brought their best 5 fish to the scales, weighing 13.51 pounds. Steve Stein and Kenny Ludwig finish out Saturday's top 5, coming to the scale with 5 walleyes weighing 13.37 pounds.
Unlike several prior MWC events held here, anglers were only to fish the waters of Lake Winnebago this year. Many anglers are trolling on Bago's massive Mud Flats, though one can suspect that with this wind, many more are using the shallow rock patterns favored by anglers under these conditions.
With most of the field weighing fish, despite what many anglers reported as a tough bite and the cooler winds out of the Northeast, the walleyes were out to play! Lake Winnebago shows, once again, why it has earned the title "Fish Factory." Only 9 teams were unable to bring fish to the scales Saturday.
Effective patterns and information will be revealed at the close of tomorrows competition. The weigh in starts at 3 pm Sunday.
More interesting than the teams with no fish to claim, nearly 1/2 the field weighed in with a 5 fish limit. For what was referred to as a tough bite, one can only wonder what would have been brought to the scales on a good day.
Tomorrows forcast calls for more of the same weather, in fact almost a blueprinted copy of the weather Friday Night and Saturday. Now the big question is, will the weatherman be correct? What will the forcasted stable weather pattern do to the fishing? You will have to stay tuned to find out.
The Day One Weigh in Photo gallery is posted here -
http://walleye.outdoorsfirst.com/leaderboard/llb.asp?t=396&view=ima...
Edited by Nofish 6/26/2005 9:39 PM
(2005MWC Bago Day1PM(29).JPG)
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 2005MWC Bago Day1PM(29).JPG (152KB - 109 downloads)
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Location: Southwest shore Bago | Just to give credit where it is do, the Fond Du Lac Lighthouse Anglers are the ones who "did a fantastic job of getting all boats in the water well on time". We are also the ones handleing the fish before they go to the stage and after the stage to be released back into Big Bago. About 40-50 members are working many long hours each day for this tourney.
Good luck fishermen |
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Location: Rhinelander | The Lighthouse Anglers are a great group, and work very hard with conservation issues on the area waters.
Great coverage, Ralph, stay dry down there! |
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Location: Menominee MI, In Da UP Eh? | Buckwheat - 6/25/2005 11:12 PM
Just to give credit where it is do, the Fond Du Lac Lighthouse Anglers are the ones who "did a fantastic job of getting all boats in the water well on time". We are also the ones handleing the fish before they go to the stage and after the stage to be released back into Big Bago. About 40-50 members are working many long hours each day for this tourney.
Good luck fishermen
You guys are the best!
And more often than not, the guys at the local sites, such as the case here with the Lighthouse Anglers, do not get the credit they deserve. You are right, a lot of time and effort goes into a tournament that many do not see, or realize.
Give yourselves a round of applause, you deserve it!
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Location: Menominee MI, In Da UP Eh? | Well what do you know, the weatherman almost got it right. Today the anglers faced almostt identical conditions to those of Yesterday. The only exception is the wind is slightly more out of the East.
Once again, the MWC and the Lighthouse anglers got all rigs in water in great time. Anglers eased out to the start boat and left in 2 waves, as they did yesterday. They are due in in two waves, the first flight is due in at 3pm, the second due in at 4pm.
Will Arnoldussen and Keenen hold on to their lead? Will Tomkins and McDonald pass them? Or will someone come from deep in the pack to claim the win? Stay tuned to find out.
The morning photo gallery is here-
http://walleye.outdoorsfirst.com/leaderboard/llb.asp?t=396&view=ima... |
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Member
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Location: Menominee MI, In Da UP Eh? | The 2005 MWC event on Lake Winnebago has concluded and Kenny Ludwig and Steve Stein win! After weighing a 5 fish, 13.37 pound limit on Saturday, the pair almost perfectly duplicated the weight on Sunday with another 5 fish limit weighing 13.20 pounds. The resulting 2-day total of 26.57 pounds was more than enough to grab the win.
Dean Arnoldussen and Tom Keenan secured the 2nd place position with back-to-back 5 fish limits weighing 25.27 pounds. Arnoldussen and Keenen topped the field on Saturday, and being able to hold off the charge of 209 other teams on day two was no easy task.
Bill and Matt Bobber moved up 38 places to grab the 3rd place position. The Father and Son team were in 41st place at the conclusion of fishing on Saturday. The pair brought their 5 fish limits, each day, to the scales that weighed 24.19 pounds.
Rounding out the top 5 are -
Joe Robl and Greg Golliher, 4th place with 24.09 pounds.
David Bloch and William Coats, 5th place with 23.02 pounds.
The Day 2 Photo Gallery is here-
http://walleye.outdoorsfirst.com/board/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?...
The Final Standings are here-
http://walleye.outdoorsfirst.com/leaderboard/llb.asp?t=396
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2005 MWC Bago Day2PM (2).JPG (142KB - 99 downloads)
2005 MWC Bago Day2PM (58).JPG (150KB - 117 downloads)
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| any word on how the top 10 or so got there fish? cranks,bobbers,etc. thanks! |
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Member
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Location: Menominee MI, In Da UP Eh? | Ah yes, the how they did it part....
The first place team of Kenny Ludwig and Steve Stein fished the same spot they fished in this event last year, with much different results. Their main presentation consisted of #4 spinner blades with a 3 foot fluorocarbon leader. "We used different presentations in the tournament, but the spinner rigs worked the best. I think our spot was more the key to catching our fish. We were fishing off a main lake point in the 17-18 ft range”
Tom Keenan and Dean Arnoldussen, while off to an intitialy slow start, caught their fish trolling #7 shad raps, in 6-9 feet of water. The pair tried the rocks and the mud before hitting the winning pattern of the shallow rocks. Tom Keenan said the pair drew on past experience in finding these fish. "We needed the wind in that spot," Tom related. "When the wind lays down the fish aren't active and the fishing was tougher this afternoon."
The Team of Bobber and Bobber also relied on the wind for their presentation. "We were fishing the up at the north end of the lake in the rocks using slip bobbers on day 1 and part of day 2." Most slip bobber anglers related how important it was for the wind to make their presentation work. As the day progressed and the winds quieted, Bobber and Bobber switched to pulling spinners, but with a twist. Reminicent of the open water spinner trollers on Lake Erie, "We move pretty fast when we use spinners, 2.2-2.6 mph, this lets us cover more water that way.” The pair placed the spinners 50 feet back behind the planer boards with only one split-shot for weight, this kept the rigs only two to 4 feet below the surface.
Many others in the money were either trolling the mud flats with crankbaits, or spinners. Some anglers brought fish in from the small section of the river they could work, but by and large the biggest weights came off the main lake. |
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Member
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Location: Menominee MI, In Da UP Eh? | Also, here is the final info right from the MWC, including links to the info on their site-
http://www.masterswalleyecircuit.com/
http://www.masterswalleyecircuit.com/update.asp
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June 26, 2005 For further information contact:
Press Release Steve Waller, Events Manager
For Immediate Release Tel 612 807 3366
Fax 952 936 9169
Email: [email protected]
Kansas Duo grabs victory on Wisconsin’s Lake Winnebago
In Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit tournament presented by Mercury Marine
Oshkosh, WI -- In a tough full-field tournament of 220 teams, many of whom
considered Lake Winnebago their home waters, the team traveling the farthest waltzed
into town and snatched away a victory. Steve Stein and Kenny Ludwig from
Leavenworth, Kansas captured the two-day tournament win with the Cabela’s Masters
Walleye Circuit. The team weighed in two consistent five-fish limit days, totaling 26.57
pounds. This was the team’s first MWC circuit victory; however, they had won the
Cabela’s National Team Championship in 2002.
“It has been several years since we’ve pulled out a win,” shared Kenny Ludwig.
“It feels good to get another one again….and especially good to get an MWC circuit
win.” Partner Steve Stein shared similar sentiments. “We’ve put on a lot of miles the
last three years with the MWC, driving from Kansas to fish tournaments in Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Michigan and even New York. It is such a great feeling to get a circuit
victory,” shared Stein. The winners also received the Ranger Cup bonus of $1000 as the
top finishing team in the Ranger Cup competition.
The winning technique was trolling with boards and crawler harnesses. They
used mostly gold and silver #4 spinners set back 40-50 feet with ½ to ¾ ounce weights
placed 7 to 8 feet in front of the hook. They worked off Bing Lake Point out in the mud
in 17’ to 18’ of water. The key was super slow presentation, only 1.0 to 1.1 miles per
hour.
Successful walleye tournament anglers Tom Keenan (Hatley) and Dean
Arnoldussen (Appleton) paired up for the team tournament format of the Cabela’s MWC.
The two usually fish more pro-co tournaments, so this format put them in the boat as
teammates, rather than competitors. Tom Keenan shared, “I had never fished with Dean
before. We’ve been friends forever – but I had never spent a day in the boat with him
until this tournament. We had a blast – it has been a lot of fun.”
Keenan and Arnoldussen didn’t catch any fish on their first two spots on
Saturday; however, within 20 minutes at their third spot at Long Point, they netted an 18,
20, and a 25 inch fish. That basket put them in first place, and while they brought in a
limit on Sunday, their five-fish basket weighed in at 9.86 pounds, just 1.3 pounds shy for
the win. The second place winners cashed out at $13,200.
The top 35 teams shared the $107,014 cash purse. An additional $8,424 was paid
in big fish prize money. The biggest fish of the tournament was caught by MWC
reigning Team of the Year Rick Zachowski of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and his new
partner Carl Stepp of South Milwaukee. Their 7.66 pound fish brought $1685 in big fish
money.
Tournament Statistics
Number of teams: 220 Number of fish: 1481
Total cash and prizes: $116,438 Total Weight: 2688.15
Water Temp: 74-78 degrees Big Fish: 7.66 pounds
Water level: normal Water Clarity: Clear
Winning Pattern: Trolling spinner rigs with crawler harnesses
Inside tip: Slow trolling speed
The 2005 Team of the Year race continues. A number of teams have fished two
division tournaments plus a Challenge tournament, and Randy Carroll and Ed Klein of
Illinois are currently in the lead. Wayne Butz and Don Frederick of Wisconsin are not far
behind. Gary Gray of Wisconsin and Glenn “Wags” Wangerin of Michigan are fishing
the Dunkirk, New York tournament for their Challenge in August. They currently have
two tournaments under their belt, but are poised for a run at Team of the Year with
Carroll/Klein and Butz/Frederick. Carroll/Klein and Gray/Wangerin are also leading the
race for Central Division Team of the Year points.
A few openings remain in the Menominee, Michigan tournament in just three
weeks. The current roster is at 202 boats and 220 are allowed.
For more information on tournament openings contact the MWC toll-free at 877-893-
7947 or drop an e-mail to [email protected]. Rules and registration
forms are available online at www.masterswalleyecircuit.com.
2005 Cabela’s MWC Remaining Schedule
MWC Central
Menominee, MI, Bay of Green Bay, July 16 & 17
MWC East
Dunkirk, NY, Lake Erie, August 19-21
In addition to Cabela’s and Mercury Marine, other MWC sponsors include: Ranger
Boats, Lindy Legendary Tackle, MotorGuide, Lowrance Electronics, The Outdoor
Channel, North American Fishing Club, Salmo Performance Lures, Daiichi Hooks,
Panther Marine, Aqua Innovations and Walleye Central.
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Member
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Location: Milw, WI | Nofish
Great job............. |
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