Hot Walleye Bite at Lake Kampeska for GNWC Anglers

By Steve Weisman 
GNWC Publicity Director

The crankbait bite was on, and the walleye bite was hot at the second South Dakota qualifier of the Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC), Sunday, June 1 at Lake Kampeska.

Leading the way with a six-fish limit weight of 13.22 pounds was the team of Bob Smunk from Castlewood and Tim Tesch from Watertown. In addition to their $1300 first place check, Smunk and Tesch also took home the Abu Garcia Big Fish Award of two Abu Garcia 6500 Linecounter reels for their 3.01 pound big fish.

Kevin Molengraft and Lewis Valente from Brookings took second place and a check for $675 for their six-fish limit weight of 11.84 pounds.

Third place and a check for $400 went to Brad Berens and Dave Andere from Sioux Falls. They also had a six-fish limit weighing 11.47 pounds.

The team of Chad and Dennis Hauger from Watertown garnered the Berkley Family Angler Award for the highest placing family team and earned $250 in Berkley product. They weighed a six-fish limit of 11.34 pounds.

"Wow!" said GNWC Tournament Director Dean Higgins. "What else can I say! All but a handful of teams caught six-fish limits. Smunk and Tesch were quite a ways ahead of the rest of the field, but there was only a little over a pound separating the second place team from the tenth place team."

Higgins added, "After the tough weather at Chamberlain in May, today's weather was great, plus we had an enthusiastic crowd at the weigh-in. After today, I think there is definitely a lot of excitement about the GNWC in South Dakota."

A crankbait bite it was as team after team cranked the Kampeska waters with outstanding results. Smunk and Tesch ran lead core line and #5 Countdowns and shallow Shad Raps in front of the outlet. To make things even more exciting their big fish came only a half hour before the 3 o'clock weigh-in.

Meanwhile the second place team of Molengraft and Valente cranked the north end of the lake in 9-13 feet using lead core with Wally Divers and long A Bombers. However, they caught all of their fish early.

The third place team of Berens and Andere, on the other hand, caught all of their fish cranking at the north end of the lake in 5-7 feet of water. However, they caught all of their fish after 11 a.m. on #5 blue and silver Shad Raps.

With the Lake Kampeska qualifier in the books, anglers on the South Dakota Circuit now gear up for the third qualifier at Lake Thompson on Sunday, June 29.

Interested anglers can call 1-800-890-3474, email the GNWC at info@walleyecup.com 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 wish 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.