I.O.W.A Walleye Tournament ( Storm Lake, Ia ) ( April 13th )
Dave Lampe & Brad Connor
The tourney was originally scheduled for April 6th. But Storm Lake, was still covered with ice. Rescheduled for April 13th. Then the weather continued, as tournament day saw the weather turn into a snow and ice storm. As the field of 42 boats launched in the morning darkness, the temperature was 27 degrees, and the wind was out of the north at 10 - 15 miles per hour. The forcast was for partly sunny skies and north winds to stay steady throughout the day, with high temp of 45 degrees. Dave & I knew what we were going to do to catch fish. The previous two days pre-fishing had yielded little information regarding any specific pattern. We were going to have to pitch jigs into the shallows and search for fish. At 7am, the teams were released from Kings Point resort, and everyone blasted off to there favorite spots. Dave and I were team 26, and headed for the north shore where we had success during pre-fishing. We arrived at our spot to find the shore lined with fellow tournament fishermen. We took a place in line near one of our spots and anchored up. I started out pitching a 1/8oz Dream Catcher Jig, and Berkley power bait twister tail grub, using my 6'6" medium action OutLaw Rod, w/ a Abu Garcia 502 Cardinal spinning reel, spooled w/ 8lb Vicious Copolymer line. This setup allowed me to feel every rock the jig touched, as I slowly retreived the lure. The water temp was 37.5 degrees and the fish were very lathargic. We sat anchored for over two hours without even getting a bite. At 10:30am, we decided to try something different, so we pulled anchor and headed out to deeper water. We made two drifts across the dredge channels in front of Kings Point Resort, to no avail. At Noon, we headed back to the north Shore, where we started. When we returned the water had warmed up to almost 40 degrees. We continued to pitch jigs and slowly moved up and down the north shore. At 1pm, I felt my first bite, set the hook, and boated our first fish of the day, a 15.5" male. This was both a relief, and a perfect start. Storm Lake has a release slot limit, all fish between 17 & 22 must be released. IOWA Walleye has a 14" minimum limit. Out second fish of the day came at 1:40pm and was another 15.5" male. This would be our last fish of the day. We headed back to the ramp and weighin at 3pm. As it turned out, everyone had a tough day, only 19 of the 42 teams weighed a fish. The two keepers we caught weighed in at 2.79lbs. This was good for 6th place money. 6th place paid $440.
As always the I.O.W.A Walley circuit put on a very proffessional tournament. We look forward to our April 20th tourney at Clear Lake.
tournament report by,
Brad Connor ( Pro Staff Outlaw Tackle )
I.O.W.A Walleye Tournament ( Clear Lake, Ia ) ( April 20th )
Dave Lampe & Brad Connor
The fishing was hot as the pre-spawn bite was heating up. The water temp on game day started out at 45-48 degrees, and kept rising throughout the day. Dave & I started out the day fishing in the little lake part of Clear Lake. At 7am the water temp was 46 degrees, a little cooler than we wanted, we started trolling. We were using a Lund 1800, Pro V, w/ 12ft rods & Abu Garcia 5500 reels, spooled w/ Berkely Trilene 10lb XT. We were throwing Rapala shallow shad raps on the inside edges. We fished the small lake for 2 hours with no success. At 10am, we decided to go into the big lake and catch some of the smaller males that we had located while pre-fishing. The weather was throwing a wrench into our plans. The heavy fog that met us at the launch was hanging on and not letting the water temps rise on the main lake. We were looking for 50 degree water, this would really help the crankbait bite. We made our way to the east shore near the outlet and started pitching jigs and minnows. My jigging Rod is an Outlaw graphite rod, w/ a Abu Garcia Cardinal 502 spinnning reel, spooled w/ 8lb Vicious Ultimate Copolymer. I started pitching a floating jig head and minnow, w/ a 1/8oz split shot into the shallow rocks and began to slowly retrieve. Using this method, Dave and I boated 10 walleyes in the next two hours. We kept 2-17in, 2-16in, released 2-14's and some other smaller fish. At Noon, we headed to the small lake again to try and catch some of the bigger fish we had found during pre-fishing. The sun finally broke thru the fog at 11:30 and we were hoping the water temp in the small lake was on the rise. We arrived slightly after Noon, and started trolling. The water had warmed to 48.5 degrees and our hopes were high for some of the 20in plus fish we had seen pre-fishing. We caught some samller fish, and at 1:30pm we caught a 16.5in male. We made the decision to release this fish and try for a bigger one. We knew we needed bigger fish to be one of the top teams for the day, and Iowas no culling rule would not allow us to sort off the smaller fish. Unfortunately, we unable to find the big fish, we know were in this part of the lake, and ended up only weighing 4 fish at the 3pm wieghin. We had a total of 5.50lbs, for 41st place in the tourney. Our decision had cost us a limit, but that fish would have only moved up to the top 20, and not into the money. As it turned out, one of the teams caught a 6.58lb fish (in the small lake) at 3:10pm. Forty one teams weighed a 5 fish limit. The fishing was good, the air temps were warm, which made for a great day on the
IOWA Walleye Trail. tournament report by,
Brad Connor ( Pro Staff Outlaw Tackle )
Fishers of Men ( Three Mile, Ia ) ( April 26th )
Nick Ash & Todd Pinegar
Pre-fishing; We launched on the friday before the tourney to locate fish. We looking for a shallow bite in heavy cover. We found the water temp was in the 50's, and felt confident about our chances of finding shallow fish. We launched our TR-186 and headed off to the first cove on the north side. Starting at the mouth of the cove, Todd started picking up a few small fish on a baby brush hog, but nothing that could help us on tournament day. As we headed further back, it was apparent that the lake level had risen due to he recent rains, so we were both positive that the back 1/3 of the cove is where we would find the quality fish. As we approached the rear of the cove we noticed a drainage tube. We stared flipping tubes around all the nearby shallow cover. Todd hooked up with a spinnerbait fish in the 4lb range, we shook off a brush hog bite. We left that cove and headed to the next cove, also fishing the back 1/3. We had similar results. We were concerned about a growing mud line, which was pushing its way out of the back of the cove. We were boat 23, and hoped we could get to our spot first thing in the morning.
Tournament Day; We blasted off at 6:30am, to light winds, and partly cloudy skies. After a short idle to the drainage tube, it was apparent we were not the only ones aware of this spot. We decided to fish some structure on the outer part of the cove leading up to the drainage tube. We were hoping the other boat would leave. We traveled about 20 yards, when I felt a bite on my brush hog, I set the hook, we had our first fish of the day. A 17in keeper. After another 15 minutes, the boat in front of us finally left, and we eased into the drainage area. The first thing we noticed was that the cove had muddied considerably over the evening hours. We were positive the fish were still there though. We threw into some brush, and Todd hooked a nice fish. The fish was hung up in the brush, and we struggled to free the fish, when he broke off. We were frustrated, as we knew that was a nice one. My next cast helped me, as upon casting my brush hog onto 12in of water, it never hit bottom as the fish grabbing it and started moving away from shore. I set the hook and the fish started jumping, and trying to wrap around the cover. I finally steered the fish out of the cover, and into the net. A nice 3.5lb fish. No sooner had i dropped the fish in the live well, than Todd set the hook on another nice fish. We had approx 10lbs in the boat, and were fairly confident, on the rest of the day, and started talking about where we might find our kicker fish. That thought must have cursed us, as the next 4 hours were the longest in a fishermans life. The water clarity went from bad to worse as we flipped the tube and brush hog to the same type of cover. We moved to the next cove, but still the same results. After a discussion, we decided to spend the remaining hour fishing the areas we new held fish. We were looking for 1-2 keepers to round out our limit. With 20 minutes remaining we hooked our 4th fish, and that was the day.
Day in Perspective; We came in with a little over 12lbs, and ended up in 6th place. We both knew the fish which broke off, cost us a check. When you fish against talented anglers, you need to
boat every fish. Every bite counts. Sometimes you only get a few good bites. I feel the fish we did catch out of heavy cover came about due to the equipment I was using. We flipped using Outlaws
7'6" Heavy Rods w/ 20# Vicious Copolymer. I have used this setup for quite a while now, and I am convinced that this is the best flipping cover out there. The sensitivity and toughness of the Outlaw rods paired with the durability and strength of the Vicious line is an unbeatable combination. I would put these two items up against any Rod or Line.
Tournament report by;
Nick Ash ( Pro Staff Outlaw Tackle )