| | PWT Sault Ste. Marie Sept. 11th-13th
Day 3 PM
Story and Photos by Rick LaCourse
 After fog delayed take-off this morning for 30 minutes, some anglers were worried about how the weather would effect the fish. It didn't seem to have any effect on the day 2 leader Dan Stier. After a short run up the St. Mary's river, he used a combination of jigging and pulling bottom bouncers with spinners to catch his fish. Dan brought in 16.49 lbs today giving him a total of 61.04 to notch his 2nd PWT Title and a check for $27,134 dollars. He said he was slipping with 1/2 oz jigs on 10-4 fireline, along the current seams. He also pulled 3oz Bottom Bouncers down current at 2.8 to 3.0. On the first day I fished a milk run of spots but on days 2 & 3 I concentrated on just the one area. I was done by 11.00 AM today.
Finishing in 2nd and fishing the same stretch of river as Stier was hard charging Mike Gofron. His weigh today of 20.50 gave him 58.84 lbs for the event. Mike is no stranger here at the Soo, He won his 1st PWT event on this body of water. Using 1/2 and 3/4 oz jigs tipped with 3/4 of a crawler Mike said his electronics played a key roll for him this week. "When I would mark a fish, I'd slow down and force feed them. Just sitting on top of them until they hit.
In 3rd is Rookie Pro Jason Doyon from Sault Ste. Ont. with 17.76 today and a 57.37 total. This young 25 year old fisherman's dream of fishing the PWT started when he was in high school. This week it came true. He was jigging and live bait rigging crawlers on an area in Lake George. I only had one fish at 12:30 today, made some moves but went back to where I started and ended up catching my fish.
4th place went to Jim Carroll of Minot ND, he jumped from 10th with an impressive 22.27 today giving him 54.36. Jim was pulling 1/2 in lines and spinners on Lake George. I started the tournament fishing just with a small split shot on the line. I saw that the fish wanted a different action so I switched it up and stayed with it.
Local guide John Giuliani of Sault Ste. Marie Ont. held on to finish 5th. His 13.06 lbs today and 52.73 let him slip from 2nd place going into today. John was Anchoring and fishing Lindy Rigs with crawlers. The key was using a long lead but his fish left his number one spot today. I only had 1 fish early and had to scramble to get my fish today.
The rest of the top ten are:
6th Dean Nathe 46.94
7th Gary Parsons 44.72
8th Jon Thelen 43.01
9th Dave Van Oss 39.87
10th Doc Johnson 39.65
On the Co-Angler Side LeRoy Baatz of Sault Ste.Marie Mi. moved up from 2nd place to claim the win with 52.12 total.
In 2nd Cameron Hoffman of Elizabeth, Co with 46.53
3rd Don Wilson of St. Clair, Mi with 45.25
4th Rick Hanover Bay City, Mi. 44.74
5th Joel Doepke Pulaski, Wi 43.60
6th Robert Reinhardt Pickford, Mi. 43.57
7th David Rochon Hermansville, Mi. 42.26
8th Shane Turcotte Sault Ste. Marie Ont. 41.98
9th Witold Niemiec West Milford, NJ. 41.60
10th Duane Pontbriand Metamora, Mi. 41.15 |
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