| | Miller, Clark Crank Their Way to Victory at Clear Lake
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By Steve Weisman
I.O.W.A. Publicity Director
 With less than 20 minutes left in the competition, the team of Denny Miller from Guttenburg and Rodger Clark from Albert Lea, MN, hit the jackpot with a 6.58-pound walleye that propelled them to the top at Sunday’s FCIS “Anglers Choice” Insurance Clear Lake Tournament. The winners cashed a $2030 check for their 5-fish limit weight of 12.70 pounds to take the second qualifier on the I.O.W.A. Team Walleye Tournament Trail.
They not only took the title, but also the Smooth Moves Seat Mounts Award of two $100 certificates and the ABU Garcia Line Counter Lunker Award of a 5500LC reel for their 6.58-pound kicker fish. They also won the $450 optional Big Fish Pot.
Second place and a check for $1220 went to the team of Creighton Whitehill and Kim Grube form Mason City with a five-fish weight of 10.34 pounds, while the father-son team of Randy and Ryan O’Tool from Mason City captured the third place check of $910 with a five-fish weight of 9.69 pounds. The O’Tool duo also took home the Cabela’s Family Team award for the highest placing family team.
“What a difference a week can make,” said I.O.W.A. Tournament Director Dean Higgins. “We weighed in 232 walleyes and were able to release 231. A total of 41 teams brought in five-fish limits to the scales. With the no-cull rule, it became a roll of the dice for a lot of the teams. The dilemma was whether to keep the 15-17 inch fish or wait for a bigger kicker fish!”
Several other special awards were also awarded at the tournament.
The $500 Lund Bonus for the highest placing team fishing out of a Lund boat went to Scott and Mike Peterson from Ogden, who also captured the fourth place $710 check with their five-fish weight of 9.54 pounds.
The Algona Marine and Sport 30 percent Matching Bonus went to the team of Jim Trow from Ames and Jason Ross from Collins for their sixth place finish.
For the second tournament in a row, the $500 Wright County Motors Contingency Award went to the team of Troy Loeckle from Floyd and Wes Loeckle from Mason City.
In honor of its 30th year in business, FCIS Insurance of Forest City awarded the 30th place team of Kolby Kester from Earlham and Brandon Berg from Adel with an entry fee at a future I.O.W.A tournament and a check for $250.
FCIS also gave out two other entries to a future I.O.W.A. tournament for the team that just finished out of the money and the team that weighed in the smallest weight: Mitch Skellenger from Garner and Travis Jorgensen from Britt; Greg Lowenberg from Fairfield and Dave Smithburg from Libertyville.
The King’s Pointe Resort Award of two $400 vacation packages went to the team of Chris Scholl from Manly and Kevin Hulsing from Cedar Rapids.
Timing, timing, timing…that made all the difference for the top teams. And it all began with the sun, which finally broke through the clouds about 11 a.m., which in turn began to slowly raise the water temperature. All three teams believed a big kicker fish would come in the last hour of the tournament.
Rodger Clark said he and his partner had three key spots to target, and they knew they were going to live and die pulling crankbaits. They pulled both firetiger and bright green Reef Runner 200 Rip Shads in 4 ½ to 5 ½ feet of water at 2 mph. “We were lucky to be in the second flight that came in at 3:30. We kept looking to see what the water temperature was, and when it showed 49.3 degrees, I knew there was a chance, because 50 degrees is the key temperature for shallow water crankbaiting on Clear Lake.”
It just about didn’t happen, however, when they lost a big kicker fish at 3 p.m. Ten minutes later, though, they had the 6.58 pounder boated and were on their way to the title.
For Creighton and Grube, it was the first tournament in which they had ever cashed a check. “We started calling ourselves Team Zero,” joked Whitehill. They also pulled crankbaits at 2 mph in seven feet of water, choosing to go with Frenzy Flicker Shads. They trolled the wind-swept side looking for the big kicker fish to turn on as the water warmed. They picked up a 19 incher and their 4.16 kicker fish in the afternoon.
Grube agreed, but added that this was a very special, emotional day for her. “My dad died a year ago during the Storm Lake Tournament, so we didn’t fish that tournament. It was really special for me today, because our big fish came on one of my Dad’s trolling rods!”
The third place team, meanwhile, spent the morning slip bobber fishing with a minnow and plain hook on the Billy’s Reef area in 7-10 feet of water. “We let the bobbers drift with the wind from shallow to deep trying to target the fish on the edge of the rocks,” said Randy O’Tool. They also knew that with the sun would come warmer waters and the chance for the big kicker fish. “We just ran out of time. We had to be in at 3 o’clock,” noted Randy. As the father, he finds it really special fishing with his 15-year old son. “We’re having a great time. Ryan is keeping me patient, and it’s worked out well for us so far.” For Ryan, it’s two checks in his first two tournaments-not bad!
“This tournament really was a tournament director’s dream,” said Higgins. “Everything went as planned, the bite was great, we could release all but one of the fish weighed and we had a large, enthusiastic crowd at the weigh-in.”
After the first two tournaments, the team of Frank Wood from Mason City and Lance Thoe from Ventura leads in the race for both the Humminbird Team of the Year and the Mercury Heavy Weight Award for the highest total weight at the end of four qualifiers.
Next up will be the Lake Rathbun Tournament on Monday, May 26.
All of the latest news on the I.O.W.A. circuit can be found at the I.O.W.A. website (www.walleyepromotions.com).
Anglers interested in learning more about the I.O.W.A circuit can call (515) 571-1085 or they can email the I.O.W.A. staff at walleyepromotions@hotmail.com.
Corporate sponsors for the 2008 season include Lund, Mercury Outboards, ShoreLand'r Trailers, Algona Marine and Sport, MinnKota, Humminbird, ABU Garcia, Cabela's, Mack's Lure, Smooth Move Seat Mounts, EZEE Step Inc., FCIS Anglers Choice Insurance of Forest City, Line X of Mason City, King’s Pointe Resort of Storm Lake and Wright County Motors of Clarion. |
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