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Lowrance Pro Team Championship Sponsored by YarCraft Boats
August 22-24, 2007
Today was the final day of the 2007 Lowrance Pro Team Championship, where only the top 13 teams out of 54 championship qualifiers fished.
While the rest of the Pro Teams were setting up for their first trolling pass, Jason and Chris were putting their 5th walleye in the livewell. It would only take 11 minutes to put the first five keepers in the box, and another 29 minutes to go through another 8 fish, of which, three of those would upgrade their days catch, giving them a total weight of 31.29 pounds…6.14 pounds over second place!
When asked how it felt to catch a winning basket of fish so quick in the morning like that Jason said with a huge grin, “It felt great! Nothing like a good old fashioned Wally Wack’n!
Chris chimed in with a more serious tone and added, “It was a huge relief just to have five fish in the boat, that fast. It takes all the pressure off you for the rest of the day.”
After a slow ride in, the dynamic duo was back at the docks by 8:30am, where they would have to wait it out until weigh in time, which started at 3:30pm.
Unlike the majority of the teams today, who were trolling crank baits at speeds between 1.5 and 2.5mph, Jason and Chris chose a different technique. They felt that the decrease in air and water temperatures over the last couple of days would slow the fish down, so they chose to slow down their presentation too. “We were fishing shallow today…real shallow… 3 foot of water shallow. We were casting jigs tipped with plastic bodies, and working them back to the boat real slow”, said Jason.
The title of Champions is not the only thing these two men are taking home to their wives this evening though. As the winners of this competition they received a total of $30,000.00!
Hans Halvorson, of Grafton, ND and Scott Larson, of West Fargo, ND captured the number two spot with the second largest weight of the three days of competition, with a 5 fish limit weighing in at 25.15 pounds.
Hans and Scott trolled leadcore in 10-15’ of water over and around rock piles in Pelican Lake. “The key was the right speed”, said Scott. “We were trolling at 2.3 and didn’t really get into them until we bumped up the speed to 2.9”. #7 Shad Raps and the Salmo White Shooting Star were their favorite baits today.
In third place: Kevin Reinhart, of Glenrock, WY and John Green, of Casper, WY chose to troll Pelican Lake with a little different presentation and reeled in a 5 fish limit hitting the scales with 18.21 pounds.
They chose to use Fireline/14# and Suffix Braid/10# to present their crank baits with. Crank baits used most by this pair were the #4, 5, & 7 Jointed Shad Raps and the Salmo Bullheads. Colors were “mostly yellows”, said John Green.
Also trolling crank baits with Fireline were the 4th place finishers; Lund/Mercury Pros Tom Backer, of Fargo, ND and Keith Seidlinger, of Devils Lake, ND, who brought 18.16 pounds to the scales today. “We used two different crank bait bodies today, one being Rapala’s #5 Jointed Shad Rap in Firetiger or Crawdad colors”, said Tom. Adding, “we fished underwater humps in 8-12’ of water, but they weren’t just any humps, these humps had trees on them.”
Tracker Pros Cory Jueneman and Brent Beitelspach started the day off in 8th position, but landed in the number 5 spot at the end of today’s weigh in. Weighing in 5 nice Walleye for a weight of 17.18, the team was rewarded with the last spot to receive the specially designed wooden and brass plaques handed out by Billy Brenton, LPTC Tournament Director.
For full results please see the Walleye Central Live Leaderboard at: http://www.liveleaderboard.com/llb.asp?t=306
The “voices” of the LPTC, Dave Underhill and Jeff “JW” Kinder, did an awesome job introducing and talking to the anglers as they crossed the stage, making it truly an enjoyable event to attend!
Billy Brenton, and his wife Keri, go above and beyond to make sure everyone is happy when they are fishing one of their tournaments.
Billy has proven to be a level headed and extremely fair minded man, when it comes to making decisions for the welfare of the entire field. He is a man who is quietly determined to make this circuit a success! After what I witnessed over the past three days, I can honestly say, “The Lowrance Pro Team Circuit is on the right track, and deserves to be recognized as one of the premiere team tournament circuits in the entire country. Well done Crew of the LPTC!
For more information about the Lowrance Pro Team Circuit, please visit their site at:
http://www.westernwalleye.com
Thanks for joining us here for the LPTC coverage, and please join us here again for the next event coming up, which is:
PWT Super Pro
Cass Lake, MN
September 5-7 |
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