What a week we had on the Mississippi in Prairie Du Chein, Wisconsin at the World Walleye Championships. It came down to a slug fest of 4 boats fishing side by side at the top of the Pool #10 dam. We were all pitching one-eye spoons and 1/4 or 3/8 oz Berkley Gumball jigs tipped with twister tails and ring worms on 8/3 Berkley Fireline. There ended up being 5 boats up at the dam, the top 4 teams were all fishing there. At the end of day 3 we had 4 nice fish in the livewell, and one 16 incher. I knew if we could upgrade that last 16 incher, we might have a chance, as we could see the type of fish the guys around us were pulling. We never pulled that last upgrade, and finished .4lbs behind the winners Curt Olivier and Mike Dorris who had a 3 day weight of 43.99lbs. Second place was Rick Walter and Brian Woodward with a weight of 43.91lbs, we were 3rd, and our teammates Jason Kopf were just behind us at 4th place. It was an absolute riot out there as all 4 of us boats were side by side, hooting and hollering, singing, laughing and cheering each o
ther on, even though we all new it was going to come down to us 4 boats all slugging away at it.
You only get so many opportunities to win a big tournament like this, and its a little bitter sweet that we had an opportunity in this one, and missed. But we are still holding our heads high as we had a great finish, on a body of water that isn’t typical to our styles of fishing, and against the best walleye fisherman in the world.
I’ll tell you what, the Mississippi is awesome! You see more bald eagles here than you do in Alaska, truly incredible. Although the walleye fishing lacks in size and numbers of fish as do my home waters of Erie, the versatility of this water is what makes it special. There are so many different styles of fishing that you can do: jigging, trolling lead, handling, pitching jigs, casting crankbaits, live bait rigging, I even caught a sauger on my centerpin with a slip float! All these different tactics really make it a fun and interesting fishery, not to mention all the other by product fish you catch: pike, smallmouth, largemouth, sheephead, white bass, catfish, carp, crappie, bluegill, you name it. There is always constant action on the Mississippi!
This was a special tournament for me that I will remember for a long time. Next year we’re qualified for the Championship again on Bay de Noc, perhaps my chance at a World Title will come then? Time will tell…
For now, I’m happy to be home, spend some time with friends and family, and start getting after some night walleyes and fall steelhead!
