Dubuque, IA -- The final qualifying tournament for the 2007 Cabela's Masters Walleye Circuit season netted many victors. The honor of MWC Team of the Year was awarded to Wisconsin natives Terry Mayhall (Madison) and Tony Dowiatt (Stevens Point). The duo had a great season with a 4th place finish at Green Bay, 5th place finish at Big Stone Lake, 35th place at Mississippi River and the dubious 5th place at the Illinois River. They cashed a check for $13,000 and received beautiful custom trophies along with 14k gold rings. "Both of us have been fishing the MWC for a long time - 16 years for me and 13 years for Terry - and this is definitely something that you set for a goal from the very beginning," shared Dowiatt. "It feels real good to accomplish it."
The top five teams in the race for Team of the Year shared the $20,000 bonus. The following teams each received $1,750 for their part:
2nd place: Chad Wiskow of Menasha, WI and Matthew Seifert of Wisconsin Rapids, WI
3rd place: Matt Davis of Marion, OH and Dan Gies of Huron, OH
4th place: Kevin Carstensen of Merrill, WI and Rich Olds of Stevens Point, WI
5th place: Wayne Butz of Oneida, WI and Don Frederick of Appleton, WI
With a 9th place finish in the final stop, Central Division Team of the Year honors were awarded to Kevin and Karen McQuoid of Isle, MN, cashing $5,714 plus $2,380 for their tournament finish, totaling $8,094. Obviously, they were also the top finishing Husband and Wife Team of the Year, which carries additional trophies for that title. The following teams each received $770 for their part:
2nd place: Pete Petros of Fort Wayne, IN and Tim McCarthy of Dekalb, IL
3rd place: Terry Mayhall of Madison, WI & Tony Dowiatt of Stevens Point, WI
4th place: Tim Harms of Owatonna, MN and Chad Kruse of Allison, IA
5th place: Wayne Butz of Oneida, WI & Don Frederick of Appleton, WI
Tom Jirik of Amery, WI and Ryan Jirik of Sauk City, WI captured the honor of Father and Son Team of the Year. This was their first time receiving the title. "I love team tournament fishing with Ryan," shared Tom. "We have more family time together this way and I think it helps us stay closer."
Local Mississippi Walleye Club anglers Larry Schleuter of Garber and Jerry Eiben of Dubuque cashed the first place check of $17,190 for their ten fish basket of 22.47 pounds. They moved up from ninth place on Saturday with one of only two "over 27 inch" fish of the tournament. That 7.47 pounder, plus four others, totaled the largest basket of the event at 13.09 pounds, which made all the difference in this 20"-27" throw-back slot.
"That seven-and-a-half pounder came at 9 am on a bare hook and a leech," shared Schleuter. Their strategy was searching for wing dams with not much current in dirty water. They found fish on the ends as the water levels kept dropping. "We looked for 10-12 foot depths," shared Eiben. "And we were flexible enough to move and change things to just keep getting fish. We went to a number of our spots and we kept switching everything around, crawlers early in the day and leeches later in the afternoon." The duo fished 10 miles south of Lock and Dam number 11 on the West side. They were trolling with a 3-way Dubuque rig, changing from _ to 1 ounce jigs depending on the current. Orange was the color of choice with green twister tails.
Big fish of the tournament honors go to veteran MWC anglers Doug Newhoff of Cedar Falls, IA and Neil Hammargren of Waterloo, IA with their day one 8.04 walleye, netting $825 in big fish cash. Day two was also productive for Hammargren and Newhoff with a 3.23 pound 19 7/8" fish providing another $525 bonus.
The following 41 teams earned their way into the 2008 Cabela's MWC World Walleye Championship (5 East, 23 Central, 7 Challenge, 5 NTC)
Doug Yohe & Tim Waltz (East Division Team of the Year & 14th place Challenge)
Larry & Larry II Rhoads (2nd place East Division)
Alan Baumgardner & Jeff Lash (3rd place East Division)
Matt Davis & Dan Gies (4th place East Division & 3rd place Challenge)
Scott Yarman & Jason Walls (5th place East Division & 15th place Challenge)
Kevin & Karen McQuoid (Central Division Team of the Year)
Pete Petros & Tim McCarthy (2nd place Central Division)
Terry Mayhall & Tony Dowiatt (3rd place Central Division and overall MWC Team of the Year)
Tim Harms & Chad Kruse (4th place Central Division)
Wayne Butz & Don Frederick (5th place Central Division & 5th place Challenge)
Steve Tauscher & Les Roemig (6th place Central Division)
Neil Hammargren & Doug Newhoff (7th place Central Division)
Larry Keller & Chad Kropp (8th place Central Division)
Tom Jirik & Ryan Jirik (9th place Central Division)
Mark Meravy & Frank Zator (tied for 10th place Central Division & 12th place Challenge)
Gerald Arnold & David Koller (tied for 10th place Central Division)
Robert Lampman & Harry Miller (tied for 10th place Central Division)
Donald Olson & Michael Olson (13th place Central Division & 9th place Challenge)
Tim Ahrens & Mike Scarbrough (14th place Central Division & 19th place Challenge)
Dean Krukow and Dan Krukow (15th place Central Division)
Chad Carroll & Galen Bremmer (16th place Central Division & 17th place Challenge)
Joe Okada & David Okada (tied for 17th place Central Division & 6th place Challenge)
Jerry Plourde & Daniel Stier (tied for 17th place Central Division)
Scott Aydelotte & Jim Trow (tied for 19th place Central Division)
Dave Schmidt & Mark Zillges (tied for 19th place Central Division & 11th place Challenge)
Scott Hausauer & Tony Larson (21st place Central Division & 7th place Challenge)
Scott Allen & Dennis Butz (22nd place Central Division)
Jeff Manz & Greg Yarbrough (23rd place Central Division & 18th place Challenge)
Chad Wiskow & Matthew Seifert (2nd place Challenge)
Kevin Carstenson & Rich Olds (4th place Challenge)
Randy Carroll & Gary White (8th place Challenge)
Kevin Dahl & Steve Stack (10th place Challenge)
Brad Engebretson & Brian Sularz (13th place Challenge)
Jeff Zawicki & Tom Sowinski (16th place Challenge)
Mark & Cathy De Deker (20th place Challenge)
Joe & John Mans (1st place at Cabela's NTC)
Rob Krause & Dave Dretske (2nd place at Cabela's NTC)
Jim Tiemann & Jyson Freund (3rd place at Cabela's NTC)
John Schneider & Kevin Adams (4th place Cabela's NTC)
Pat Schuette & Ethan Van Laarhoven (5th place Cabela's NTC)
TBD - Next World Walleye Champs (to be crowned October 6th)
The last tournament of the season will be the 2007 World Walleye Championship. A field of 59 teams will compete for over $100,000 in cash prizes on Lake Erie and the Detroit River, October 4-6. Guest anglers are invited to fish with the pro teams on October 3rd. The weigh-in will be held at the Cabela's store in Dundee, Michigan.
The Toyota Tundra $1,000 bonus was awarded to Mark Meravy and Frank Zator of Illinois. They weighed the largest basket of the Tundra owners at 13.08 pounds. Toyota also donated a bike to the NPAA/MWC Youth and Family Fishing Clinic. A number of children received rods and reels and special instructions from the anglers and were encouraged to go fishing and "dream over a bobber." Andrew Willging, age 4, of Dubuque was all smiles as his name was drawn for the bike. Andrew's parents are Greg and Laura Willging of Dubuque. Ranger Boats, Lowrance Electronics, Cabela's and the North American Fishing Club donated the gear for the kids.
The $1,000 Ranger Cup bonus was awarded to Tim Harms of Owatonna, Minnesota. This is the second time Harms has won the extra cash from Ranger Boats.
Ice Armor awarded two new cold-weather gear suits to Jeff Manz and Greg Yarbrough at the rules meeting.
Farm and City Insurance Services drew names of two anglers to win new Personal Flotation Devices, Dan Byers and Chad Kruse. In addition, FCIS will donate $5 for every insurance quote made to the Walleye Conservation Fund
The Inhibitor will send new rust-preventative custom-made boat covers to the winners, Eiben and Schleuter.
For more information please contact MWC headquarters at 877-893-7947 or by email at: [email protected].
Cabela's is the title sponsor for the Masters Walleye Circuit. Official Sponsors are Lowrance Electronics, North American Fishing Club, MotorGuide, Toyota Trucks, Mercury Motors, Ranger Boats, Lowrance Electronics and Versus (Vs.) television network. Associate sponsors are Tommy Docks, The Inhibitor, Food Source Lures, Ice Armor and Farm & City Insurance Services.
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