| | September 29, 2005- Prairie Du Chein, Wisc.- The Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit kicked off their 2005 World Walleye Championship Thursday with 60 Teams competing for a total purse of over $100,000. The diverse field of anglers arrived from as far east as New York and as far west as Kansas. Anglers are fishing pools 9 and 10 on the Mississippi river in an attempt to claim team fishing highest honor.
An early Fall cold front moved in Wednesday dropping temperatures into a the mid 30’s overnight making for a chilly takeoff and some doubt about the bite among some of the anglers.
Fishing proved to be a little tough with only 7 limits of 5 walleyes being brought in. “It was a tough out there. The water cooled down a bit and we fought grass in the water most of the day.” Stated one angler. Huge pockets of grass are floating down the river plaguing anglers not only by fouling up their lures but also rapping around their lower units and props making it tough to get around.
The team of Jim Trow of Ames, IA and Scott Aydelotte of Garner, IA didn’t seem to have much trouble though. They brought in the days best catch of 5 walleyes weighing 17.18 pounds.
 In Second place is the duo of Kevin Byrne of Plainsfield, Il and Walleye Central contributor John Balla with their day 1 catch of 3 walleyes weighing an impressive 14.97 pounds that included the days big fish of 6.61lbs. “ We arrived at our spot this morning and their wasn’t a boat in sight. We had our first fish, a 23 incher , in the boat in the first 45 mins. and our others were in by noon. We pretty much just stuck on one spot for the whole day.” said Balla. “The weeds were horrible for most of the day, pretty much every cast would come up with crap on our lures.” said Byrne.
In Third Place is the team of Doug Lampen of Allegan, MI and partner Jeff Russell of Grand Haven, MI with 5 walleyes weighing 12.97 pounds including a big fish of 6.17.
Sitting in 4th place is the duo Illinois duo of Ted Koplin and Dan Wheaton weighing in 5 walleyes at 12.34 pounds.
And rounding out the top 5 is the team of Don Frederick of Appleton Wisc and teammate Wayne Butz of Oneida Wisc. weighing in 4 walleyes at 10.83 pounds.
Temperatures are going to be on the rise and hopefully so will the walleye bite. Fridays competition will set off at 8:00am CST and will conclude at 4:00pm. Weigh in is in the Cabela’s parking lot in Prairie Du Chien and the public is encouraged to come out and cheer on the anglers.
Check out http://www.liveleaderboard.com for up to date pictures and live weights as they come in each day.
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