| | Texas Walleye Association Ute Tournament Story
 The Texas Walleye Association Spring Tournament Season began with a hot bite at Ute Lake, New Mexico with 15 teams bringing in 5 fish limits. Most of the teams reported catching 25 or more walleye with many having a limit in the very first hour of the tourney. One angler caught 5 walleye on his first 5 casts. The only problem was that all the fish were males still loaded with milk as the much larger females were not yet active. As a result, the weights between all the teams were very close with the difference being who could catch a few 20 inch fish. Most of the teams caught their fish either by jigging or rigging.
The New Mexico team of Tanner and Cody White of Clovis captured first place and $640 with 10.92 lbs. The White brothers caught their fish on jigs in the clearer water near the dam. 2nd place and $400 went to Scott Manske and Ken Laplount of Amarillo with 10.42 lbs. Manske and Laplount also got the big fish award of $160 with a 3.17 lb fish. This team got several of their better fish by jigging just off the bottom in deep water. 3rd place and $240 went to Jeff Cooper of Amarillo and Ron Alexander of Plains, Kansas with 10.14 lbs.
4th place and just barely out of 3rd was the team of Donnie Tollison and Michael Robinson of Sanford with 10.11 lbs. The father/son team of Jim Welch of Fritch and James Welch of Alberquerque, NM grabbed 5th with 9.28 lbs. Brett Mills and JD Carr of Fritch took 6th with 9.12 lbs. The closest contest of the tournament was between the team of John McWilliams and Kenneth Sibley of Borger and the team of Hank McWilliams of Fritch and Brian Stauffer of McPherson, KS. The team of McWilliams|Sibley took 7th by only one hundredth of a pound with 8.92 lbs to 8.91 lbs for McWilliamsStauffer in 8th. 9th was taken by Kevin and Kalin Audrain of Fritch with 8.77 lbs. 10th and the final point winner went to Bryan and Kenneth Garrison of Kismet, Ks with 8.71 lbs.
 Special thanks goes to all the guys who put together the fish fry on Friday evening. It was really great! Thanks also to Rob and the Tackle Box for providing his store and doing our advance work. Thanks also to Ben and Ruf-Nec Tackle and Donnie Bell for the weigh in help and to Bryan Garrison and Kalin Audrain for checking the fish. The trophies for the upcoming Championship were donated by David Turner with $100 and Jeff Cooper with $50. Thanks guys! All such donations are welcome as they help sweeten the Championship pot. Hank McWilliams has done a masterful job of managing all our paper work and the treasury! The way Hank has put it together we can double check everything so you can be assured of complete accuracy. Thanks Hank! Lastly, thanks to all our teams for being so patient with all the moving around that we had to do for this tournament. It was necessary in working courteously with the good folks at Logan. Thanks, guys! It was a very good and fun tournament with lots of fish caught.
It was good to have a new team of Darl Finkenbinder of Amarillo and Mike Davis of Justin as a part of us. Welcome, Darl and Mike! It was also really good to have the team of Brett Mills and JD Carr back from the north country!! Finally, congratulations to the White brothers! The Whites are also planning on coming to Texas for the Meredith tournament. It ought to be a great tourney! Let’s work to keep on growing!
The next tourney will be at Lake Meredith on Saturday, May 17. We will headquarter at the marina. For more information on this tourney and the TWA, contact Dan Turner at (806) 935-3176 or Click Here for eMail.
| Place |
Partner 1 |
Partner 2 |
# fish |
Weight |
$$$$$ |
| 1 |
Tanner White |
Cody White |
5 |
10.92 |
$640 |
| 2 |
Scott Manske |
Ken Laplount |
5 |
10.42 |
$400 Big Fish $160 |
| 3 |
Jeff Cooper |
Ron Alexander |
5 |
10.14 |
$240 |
| 4 |
Donnie Tollison |
Michael Robinson |
5 |
10.11 |
|
| 5 |
Jim Welch |
James Welch |
5 |
9.28 |
|
| 6 |
Brett Mills |
J D Carr |
5 |
9.12 |
|
| 7 |
John McWilliams |
Kenneth Sibley |
5 |
8.92 |
|
| 8 |
Hank McWilliams |
Brian Stauffer |
5 |
8.91 |
|
| 9 |
Kevin Audrain |
Kalin Audrain |
5 |
8.77 |
|
| 10 |
Bryan Garrison |
Ken Garrison |
5 |
8.71 |
|
| 11 |
Meryl Meeker |
Jim Hobbs |
5 |
8.19 |
|
| 12 |
Edward Rodriguez |
David McWilliams |
5 |
8 |
|
| 13 |
Dan Turner |
David Turner |
5 |
7.84 |
|
| 14 |
Robert Reining |
Gary Reining |
5 |
7.53 |
|
| 15 |
Donnie Bell |
Arvin Cowan |
5 |
6.72 |
|
| 16 |
Darl Finkenbinder |
Mike Davis |
1 |
1.58 |
| |
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