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Ride'm Cowboy!
Jesse Buechel of Fond Du Lac, WI is probably best known for his stint as a bull riding cowboy the last time the AIM Pro Walleye Series was in Akaska, SD. This year he has aspirations to ride the bull again, but first his plans include winning a Pro/Co Walleye tournament.
The old addage is, "You can 't win a tournament on day one, but you can certainly lose it". This is definitely not the case with young Mr. Buechel. Jesse has taken a dominating lead over the field of 51 other Pros at the Lake Oahe event by over eight pounds! The tournament started today and runs through Saturday, August 14th, 2010.
As the Pros approach the stage, they do not have any fish in a bag or a basket, so the audience doesn’t have a clue as to what kind of fish the anglers caught during the day. As was the case with the young gun, Jesse Buechel, who took his position on the stage next to MC, and fellow competitor, Gary Parsons, who was interviewing him before reading his weight to the crowd.
Gary Parson: You must have found something early in practice then, huh?
Jesse: We found them on Sunday. And, we’ve only been there twice. And, literally, anywhere we took this program out there, we caught them. So, it’s been really fun!
Gary reads off the list of 7 fish lengths that made up Jesse’s catch today. “You had 7 fish over 22 inches, Jesse. Your smallest fish is 22 inches. That’s a 4.22 pound average. Your second fish is 22 inches, and your third fish is 22 ½ inches. Your fourth fish is 23 ¼ inches (that’s a little over 5 pounds), and your fifth fish is 24 and ¾ inches. (Gary laughs)…the 6th fish is 25 ¾ inches, and he’s got a kicker….a 27 inch fish!”
With much enthusiasm, Gary yells out, “AIM Format, Baby! This is where you can go out, find the biggest fish, catch the biggest fish, and win!” He then shouts out the huge weight brought in by Jesse and his Co Angler, “39.23 pounds! I didn’t even know that was possible out here!”
Jesse: You know…before this year started, my Dad and I were talking, he said, “You know, if there’s only one tournament that I could fish this year, it’s going to be Akaska. I had such a blast out there last year”. I said, “Dad, if there’s one that I could win, I’d love to get my first win, and I’d love for it to be in Akaska”. I just love this place.
The only other Pro angler to hit the 30 pound mark is, Chase Parsons, of Glidden, WI. With 30.77 pounds, Chase will go out in second place in the standings, and try to duplicate or improve on his catch today.
 Chase: I had a great day! I had a great partner. We had a very good practice coming into today. But, I also thought, like a lot of the guys, that a 20 pound bag would be pretty good, and then you see Jesse’s weight at 39 pounds (laughs), I couldn’t believe that, but it was awesome in the boat. We really didn’t lose any huge fish. Overall, it was a great day and the great thing was, we were all by ourselves. Whole stretches I fish, there was not one person that saw us net a fish, all day long.
I’m pretty confident going into the next two days. Buechel’s got a little bit of a window, but he’d better watch himself. He’d better not stumble. (Laughs) He’s got a pretty big lead on me, obviously, but that just means he won’t sleep quite as well as me. (Laughs)
Bruce Samson of Minnetrista, MN sits in third place, after the first day of this three day competition, with a 7 fish limit weighing in at 28.60 pounds.
In fourth place is Pro, Jarrad Fluekiger. Jarrad won the first event of the season over at Bay City on Saginaw Bay. With a good start and a weight of 27.63 pounds, Jarrad is on the right track if he can stay consistent, or even better his weights over the next two days.
Rounding out the top five spots is Pro, Robert Blosser. Robert is coming off a recent win at Green Bay for the AIM series tournament there last month, and has started this event out with a 7 fish limit for 27.27 pounds.
For full results please see the Live Leader Board at www.liveleaderboard.com.
The forecast for tomorrow is:
Tonight: A chance of thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61. East wind 8 to 11 mph becoming north. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Friday: A chance of thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 86. North northwest wind between 9 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Friday Night: A slight chance of thunderstorms before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 56. North northwest wind between 9 and 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Saturday: A chance of thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 76. Northwest wind between 11 and 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Tomorrow’s blast off is at 7AM Central Time from the boat launch closest to Akaska, which is 10 miles or so down the road as the crow flies.
Pros will be fishing for one of the top 26 spots open on the last day. Only 50% of the field fishes on the final day, so everyone is going to be fishing hard to stay in that top 26 tomorrow.
Those that don’t qualify can help with the ‘Kid’s Tournament” during the day on Saturday. I’m still looking for details, but it appears that there will be Pro anglers volunteering to take kids out fishing for a little while on Saturday for a mini tournament. I will post more details as I find them out.
The weigh in tomorrow should start at 4PM Central Time again.
Thanks to all of you who joined in our “Angler Chat” while watching the live weigh in feed, via our internet connection this afternoon. Your participation makes it all worth while.
For more information on fishing or attending an AIM Pro Walleye Series event, please visit their site at www.aimfishing.com.
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