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MWC to Visit Devils Lake This Weekend-August 21 & 22, 2010
August 16, 2010
 Devils Lake is the kind of lake that draws you back to her again and again, because the fishing is just that good here! So, it’s no wonder that the Masters Walleye Circuit has decided to visit the area again this year. Last year, the Cabela’s NTC Championship, along with the regular Western Division MWC event, had a very successful event here last year.
Forever rising, the 400 plus square miles of shoreline along Devils Lake in NE Central North Dakota are overflowing, and eating up home owner’s properties inch by inch, and foot by foot, every year. At its highest levels, like right now, the lake drains into the Cheyenne and Red Rivers. The lake is actually made up of several lakes that form a chain. Lakes included are; Devils, East Devils, Pelican, West Stump, and East Stump Lakes. The water is salty and the lake has tripled in size since 1993.
 Some people have been forced to abandon their properties as they watched their barns, sheds, roads, and fence rows sink below several feet of water. The water has risen just over 8 feet since 2001, and 5 of those feet were just in this past year. Anglers have taken advantage of the new “structure” and have found abandoned farms to be quite the hot spot at times.
With water levels up 5 feet from last year, old fishing hot spots are now cold spots, and new hot spots are being found every day. The weeds are in full growth at this point and reports are that trolling spinners on light bottom bouncers, or “Slow Death” rigs on bottom bouncers, is the hottest bite right now. Jason Feldner, who just won the FLW Walleye Tour event on Devils Lake three weeks ago, won that event pulling spinners over select weed beds in shallow water.
Pete Harsh, who has won a lot of money from competing in Walleye tournaments on the waters of Devils Lake over the years, is here prefishing for the MWC’s second Western Division event of the season.
Pete, along with his partner, Sande Don, and of course, his faithful old companion, a Black Lab named, “Shadow”, will be competing against a field of 61 other teams for a top prize of 10,900.00 cash.
The payout expected for a 61 boat field is:
MWC Payout (60 Teams)*
1st: $10,900
2nd: $4,900
3rd: $3,300
4th: $2,400
5th: $1,800
6th: $1,500
7th: $1,350
8th: $1,250
9th: $1,100
10th: $1,050
11th: $900
12th: $750
Total: $31,200
Other contingency awards bonuses that can be won by teams that qualify are:
*Ranger Boats is awarding the top finishing Ranger Cup qualified boat owner $1,000.00 cash.
*Cabela’s Angler Cash: Given to the top finishing team who qualifies…$500.00 Cabela’s Gift Card.
*Plus a bonus of another $500.00 Cabela’s Gift Card if the winning team bought the boat from a Cabela’s retail location.
*Berkley is offering the top three finishing teams registered as a Berkley Premier Team:
1st will receive $500.00
2nd will receive $300.00
3rd will receive $200.00
*Lowrance is also sweetening the pot once again with a bonus award of $500.00 to the top finishing team running an HDS sonar/chartplotter display unit during the tournament.
*U2-The Oxygenator is offering up a cash bonus of $200.00 to the highest finishing team using the U2 Pro Formula livewell treatment product during the tournament.
 Pete and I chatted a bit tonight on the phone, because we are fishing together tomorrow for the day, and I needed to find out what time to meet him. While I had him on the phone, I asked him a few questions about the lake, the tournament, and what he thought it would take to win this one, and here is what he had to say:
Juls: When did you get in town to start prefishing?
Pete: We arrived Saturday, but didn’t get on the water until Monday morning…this morning. A cold front came through Saturday night and with the wind and the weather, we kind of sat Sunday out, and got rested up.
Juls: Okay, so you were out today. How did that go for you?
Pete: All day! Had plenty of wind today too…we certainly got a limit of wind today. (Laughs) The second day of a cold front, I always say, “That’s the worst time there is to go fishing”. And, if you get anything, you’re doing well. We did catch three decent fish today. But, we worked very hard for them. Even the Northerns weren’t biting good. Usually on a good day, you’ll catch 15 to 20 fish.
Boat control was okay, but traveling everywhere you went it was rough and choppy. And, you reel in your lines, and the winds blowing everything sideways, taking the cap right off the top of your head, (he chuckles), even the simplest things become an ordeal.
I don’t know that I learned a whole lot, with a cold front like that, like I said, “The second day of a cold front”…big fish are the first to shut down and the last to get going again, so if we catch anything decent, today, and you go back…those spots would be better under more favorable conditions. It sounds like the weather is going to stabilize now. Tomorrow the wind is going to switch to the south, so you know, fishing will stabilize and start picking up again.
What we need is stabile weather. I don’t think the water temperatures will drop that far. However, today, we went out and the temperature was 71 and when we came in it was just over 69 degrees, so it actually went down during the day today, which is unusual. Usually, it climbs during the day. But, I don’t think we’re going to see a major cool down. This is still August and we still have some hot weather coming. Maybe for the tournament if it just stays in the 70’s we’ll probably end up with a real consistent temp. All we need is stabile conditions.
Juls: You fished Devils Lake three weeks ago, when the FLW Walleye Tour competed here. Do you think that the presentation that won that event is going to be the dominant presentation or winner at this event too?
Pete: Well, it’s certainly possible. If we get some stabile periods, I think crankbaits are going to start shining. I think trollers could be a major factor in this. Trees, the trees are a May and June thing, and the tree bites seem to get a little weaker every year. I love doing it, but it’s, you know, it’s not the best game in town right now, that’s for sure, and there may be some in the trees, but I don’t think it would be the winning technique. It’s going to be something like spinners, “Slow Death”, crankbaits, and, I don’t even know about pitching cranks…I think somebody out there trolling leadcore could find some big fish.
Juls: What do you think it will take to win this event over a two day period?
Pete: (Speaking about the FLW event) You know, I was surprised the weights were as low as they were, as far as that average weight per fish. You’d think that it being three weeks later that the weights should be down…I’d like to say they’re going to stay the same, but it just seems that the year classes are mixing, or no one has located any big ones, like they used to do.
It wasn’t unusual to bring in 5 fish for 25-30 puonds plus, and now, boy, a limit that approaches 20 pounds is a real good limit. I think we’ll see similar weights to the FLW if the weather is stabile. If we get a cold front for two days, like we just had now, yeah, you can see the weights fall dramatically. But, we should have fairly stabile weather during the MWC event this weekend.
I know the weather conditions are what they are, that’s why we didn’t even go out yesterday, but after a day like today, I’m not real confident. But, if I could catch five fish, like what I caught today, I’d be smiling on a day like today! (Laughs)
Fish Limits:
Fish size: 15” and over.
*Any fish brought in that is less than 15” will result in losing the short fish and the largest fish in your basket.
*Teams are allowed to weigh a limit of five fish per team per day. Max -- seven fish in the boat.
*Culling is NOT legal. Each team will receive cull tags for each day of the event.
*Up to two rods per person.
*No pole may have more than two hooks or lures.
*A lure may not contain more than three hooks and the maximum distance between any hooks on a lure may not exceed 10 inches.
Boundaries-All of Devils Lake
Tournament HOTLINE is 952-988-7247. Call that number early in the morning to find out if boundaries are being pulled in or any other tournament last minute information.
The take off will be from the Graham’s Island State Park at 7am Central Time. The weigh in will be at the “Burdick Arena” located at, 501 16th St NW Devils Lake, ND 58301, beginning at approximately 3:30pm
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Walleye Central will be streaming live from this event, so if you can’t make it here in person, you can watch from the comfort of your home, office, or “man cave”. We will be bringing you the results immediately as the teams cross the stage. We will also have the chat room set up, so you can chat with other Walleye tournament fans who are watching too. You can find the video feed and chat room located above the results located at www.liveleaderboard.com. However, it won’t appear until we are given the roster from the MWC staff later this week.
There will be a “Kids Fishing Clinic” after the weigh in on Saturday afternoon, so bring the kids down for a fun time and they will receive FREE prizes! Prizes like, rods/reels, tackle boxes, bobbers, and other goodies they can use to get started fishing! It's open to the public and FREE to attend. The Pros will be on hand to help the little ones learn how to tie knots and put a slip bobber on their line. Everything they need to get started fishing!
Hope to see you all there!
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