| | July 16, 2005- Menominee, Wisc- The Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit anglers took on Lake Michigan’s Green Bay on Saturday in the final stop for the MWC Central division. 202 boats started the day competing for a 1st place prize of $25,000 and a total purse reaching over $100,000.
Brad Knoll of Menasha, Wisc. and brother Kurt Knoll of Appleton, Wisc. took the day 1 lead with a 5 walleye catch weighing an impressive 37.16lbs. “Pre-fishing was tough for us early. I was out here last weekend and a few days early this week and never really had much going. But yesterday we found some nice fish and luckily they stayed for us today” said Brad. The Knolls definitely had something going for them as they weighed in their fish by noon. “We had our 6 fish by 10:30 and just took our time getting back to the weigh in site” said Kurt.
Most anglers coming to the stage today complained of the calm conditions but not the Knolls. “All I want is the wind to stay calm until 10:00 tomorrow. If it does we may be in early again.” said Brad. The brothers are fishing what they call a big flat using crawler harness’s behind boards. “We’re not really doing anything different than everybody else, I just think we found the right spot.” said Kurt.
The Knolls have over a 6 pound lead going into day 2 but don’t plan on changing anything trying to protect their lead. “I think we are going to need 26 or 27lbs tomorrow to stay where we are at. We are on good fish so we won’t change a thing. We probably won’t keep anything under 25 inches tomorrow.” Stated Brad.
 Sitting in 2nd place is the duo of Kevin Dahlhauser of Cottage Grove, Wisc. and partner David Koller of Iron Mountain, Mich. with a 5 fish basket weighing 30.99lbs.
In 3rd Place are the ubiquitous local duo of Dean Arnoldussen of Appleton, Wisc. and Tom Keenen of Hatley, Wisc with thieir 5 fish catch weighing 29.04lbs.
Grabbing 4th place is the team of Bradley Gunville of Kingsford, Mich. and partner Hank Declark of Iron Mountain, Wisc. with their 5 fish basket weighing 27.30lbs.
And rounding out the top 5 is the duo of Jeff Russell of Grand Havevn, Mich. and Doug Lampen of Allegan, Mich. weighing 5 walleyes for 26.59lbs.
The majority of the anglers seem to be fishing south of the take-off (Menominee, Mich). with many of the boats traveling 30 miles or more one way to get to their spots. All of Green Bay is open to fishing including the small and big Bay De Nocs, which makes for a very large area to fish. Many of the boats Saturday were seen with numerous extra gas cans lining the inside of thier boats.
Temperatures on Saturday rose into the 90’s and winds were pretty much non-existent which made for pretty miserable fishing conditions for most. Tomorrow doesn’t look like there will be much relief… forecasts are calling for temps to be in the mid 90’s.
Take off will begin at 7:00am CST time Sunday and weigh-in will begin at 3:00pm CST. Green Bay is well known for its population of large fish which leaves many of the teams still in the running so stay tuned to www.liveleaderboard.com for up to date photos and up to the minute weights. |
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