The team of Terry and Bruce Sparks from Des Moines took home all of the top honors at Clear Lake on the Iowa Circuit's second stop of the Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC), Sunday, May 4.
The Sparks duo took home the $2000 first place prize with 7.38 pounds, along with the Abu Garcia Big Fish award of two 6500 Linecounter reels for their 5.18 pound walleye and the Berkley Family Angler Award of $250 in Berkley product for being the top family team.
David Murray from Carlisle and his partner Jeff Becker took second place and a check for $1000 for five fish weighing 5.40 pounds.
Meanwhile Neil Daniels from Fort Dodge and Jon Fuchs from Sioux Rapids made the most of their one fish weighing 4.20 pounds to capture third place and pocket $750.
A total of 13 teams finished in the money, while 28 of the 54 teams weighed fish.
The Sparks team was elated with the win. "We've been on the Trail for six years and been close, but this is our first win," said Bruce. They trolled with bottom bouncers, pulling chartreuse spinners and nightcrawlers on the east side of the lake in 10-14 feet of water. Terry noted, "We went with what got us there and that was there and stuck with it all day.
The teams battled high winds and torrential rains for most of the day.
"Wow!" said GNWC Tournament Director Dean Higgens. "The rains came early and it came down hard. But you know what amazes me, these GNWC teams are tough!
They hung in there all day."
Murray and Becker caught two more keepers than the Sparks team but couldn't come up with the big fish needed to overtake them. "We ran #5 Shad Raps through the opening out to the big lake and had four fish in the boat by 9:30."
Once again, Higgens complimented the volunteers who helped make things go so smoothly on a very tough day. "We next head to the Iowa Great Lakes and Lake Okoboji on Sunday, May 25. That should really be an exciting qualifier."
Interested anglers can call 1-800-890-3474, email the GNWC at [email protected] or check out the official GNWC website at walleyecup.com for all of the latest in GNWC information.
Major sponsoring partners for the GNWC include Ranger Boats, Mercury Outboards, Berkley, Abu-Garcia, The Sportsman Channel and UpNorthOutdoors.com.
For those television viewers who do not have The Sportsman Channel and want to watch the GNWC's television series Walleye Wisdom, be sure to call your cable company or satellite television provider and ask them to include it in their package.
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