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April 16, 2008- Port Clinton, Ohio- The Season opener of the 2008 FLW Tour kicked off Wednesday in Port Clinton, Ohio on Lake Erie with some impressive results. Despite some questions whether the bite was really “on” yet pro Mike Kuzdzal of Cincinnati, Ohio, and co-angler Phillip Verdura of West Bloomfield, Mich., caught five walleyes weighing an impressive 41 pounds, 8 ounces to lead the field of 150 teams.
“Today there were periods of sheer boredom followed by moments of pure chaos,”  said Kuzdal. “We were culling 7-pound fish by noon. We decided to leave our primary spot around 11:30 and troll back about 14 miles. It was so windy we decided to have an easy ride back in. We even picked up 3 upgrades on the way back. We caught around 15 fish today with the smallest weighing around 5 pounds. We knew we would have a good bag with fish like that.”
“Hopefully, tomorrow the outcome will be the same. But you never know what will happen when it comes to tournament fishing.”
Sitting in a close second in the Pro division is David Frey of Avon Lake, Ohio with a five walleye basket weighing 41 pounds 2 ounces.
Third place belongs to Kevin Michnicki of Cleveland, ohio with 5 walleyes weighing 40 pounds 4 ounces.
In fourth place Chad Schilling of Akaska, South Dakota brought in five walleyes weighing 39 pounds 2 ounces.
Rounding out the top 5 pro anglers is Dan Stier of Clearwater, Minnesota with a 5 fish basket weighing 38 pounds 5 ounces.
Rounding out the top 5 co-anglers are, Field Olson of Minnetonka, Minnesota with five walleyes at 41lbs 2oz in second place. Bjorn Horgen of Deer River, Minnesota with five walleyes at 40lbs 4oz in third. Jason Copeland of Wellsville, Kansas with five walleyes weighing 39lbs 2oz taking the fourth spot, and James Woods of Sheffield Lake, Ohio with five walleyes weighing 38lbs 5oz to grab fifth.
“It was a rough day but it was a good one,” said top co-angler Philip Verdura, who is fishing in his second FLW tournament. “It was all about working as a team today. We really had to count on each other because the wind was blowing so hard.”
Lake Erie’s western basin is probably the best known walleye fishery in the world. Mid April is also prime time for big females weighing 10 pounds or more. Although the conditions are improving, Lake Erie is substantially dirtier than normal. Water clarity in most parts of the lake is less than a foot. But as always, the walleye population on Lake Erie is extremely healthy. Plenty of fish are being marked by the anglers but getting them to bite in the dirty water is proving a difficult task for some.
Because of the dirtier water some anglers resorted to jigging the reefs in hopes of getting their 5 fish early and then trolling later looking for their “kicker” fish. But all of the big weights came from anglers finding “pods” of big fish and trolling over them with spinners and crank baits.
With weather conditions improving by the day most of the field agrees that the bite will do nothing but improve as the tournament progresses.
There were 479 walleyes caught Wednesday weighing a total of 2058lbs 1oz. Of the 150 team field, 52 limits were brought to the scales. Big fish of the day was a very nice 11lb 8oz female.
Wednesday’s conditions:
Temperature at takeoff: 43 degrees
High temperature was around 67 degrees
Water temperature: 40-44 degrees
Wind: SSW at 19 mph
Nor Easter Club in Port Clinton will host daily takeoffs each morning at 7. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will be held at Water Works Park in Port Clinton beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 2826 E. Harbor Road in Port Clinton beginning at 4 p.m. The community is invited to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins, which are free and open to the public.
As always, for full live results and daily photos visit the Live Leaderboard at: http://www.liveleaderboard.com.
Click Here to read the FLW Press Release |
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