| | June 26, 2005-Oshkosh, Wisc.- Kansas Duo Kenny Ludwig and Steve Stein of Leavenworth, Kansas put together 2 solid days of fishing and win the Masters Walleye Circuit Tournament on Lake Winnebago. On a lake known for its inconsistency Ludwig and Stein showed consistency is the key by weighing 13.37 pounds on Sat urday and 13.20 pounds on Sunday.
“I found some nice fish on Tuesday during practice in a spot we fished last year and went back on Friday and found that they were still there. We did use some different presentations but I think that our spot was more the key to catching our fish. We were off a main lake point in the 17-18 ft range” said Ludwig. “We fished the same spot last year but the fish were smaller and didn’t do as well” said Stein. The duo used #4 spinner blades with 3 foot fluorocarbon leader on Cabela’s XML 8’6” rods to entice their catch. The Kansas team will be taken home a tremendous $28,512 check from the MWC for winning the tournament and an additional $1,000 for being entered in the Ranger Cup.
Coming in 2nd place were the 2 local pros Dean Arnoldussen and Tom Keenan with a 2 day 10 walleye tot al weighing 25.27 pounds. “I went to school in Oshkosh and Dean lives in Appleton so we fished this lake a lot in the past. We pretty much stuck with what we knew from fishing this lake before” said Keenan. Arnoldussen and Keenan day 1 started off pretty slow. “At 11:00 we didn’t have a fish in the boat. We started off fishing the mud then went to rocks with no luck. We started trolling and in 20 minutes we hit an 18, 20 and a 25” said Keenan. “We were trolling #7 shad raps trying to keep the boat in 6-9 feet of water” said Arnoldussen. This is the first time the long time friends have fished together in a tournament and it went well for them. As they will be taking home a hefty $13,200 check for their efforts this weekend.
Taking 3rd place was the father/son duo Bill and Matt Bobber of Appleton, Wisc. with a 2 day total of 10 walleyes weighing 24.19lbs. “We were fishing the north end of the lake in the rocks using slip bobbers on day 1 and some of day 2. We really needed the wind to be blowing for the bobbers to work. Once the wind quite and the lake laid down we went to pulling spinners. I really move fast when we use spinners, 2.2-2.6 mph, it lets us cover more ground that way” said Bill. “Trolling that fast kept our spinners pretty shallow, anywhere from 2 to 4 feet down. We had 50 feet of line behind the board with only a 1  split shot for weight” exclaimed Bobber. The Father/Son team will take home $10,032 for their efforts this weekend.
Taking 4th place is the team of Greg Golliher and Joe Robl of Oshkosh, WI. with their 2 day catch of 10 walleyes weighing 24.09 pounds. 4th place will get Golliher and Robl a nice $7,920 check.
Rounding out the top 5 is David Bloch and William Coats of Ripon, Wisc. with their 2 day total of 10 walleyes weighing 23.02 pounds. Bloch and Ripon will be taking a pretty check for $5,808 this weekend.
This was the second stop for the Masters Walleye Circuit Central Division with the next event taking place in Menominee, Wisc. July 16,17. Kristine Houtman and crew put on a very well run tournament for both the anglers and the viewing public. So even if you can’t fish the tournament come watch the weigh-in, you’ll enjoy it.
Also stay tuned to http://www.liveleaderboard.com for the future walleye events taking place for up to date photos and live weigh-ins. |
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