| | Consistency has put Tommy Skarlis at the top of the pack after the second day of the FLW Championship at Bismarck, ND with 40lbs 14oz. “I think I was truly blessed, I don’t know if want to call it luck, but I was fortunate enough to get on a good program yesterday that lasted into today. I got seven nice fish on that spot,” he said.
 “I knew that area was a community spot and has the potential to dry up and I think it has. Fortunately I have some jigging, dragging and rigging spots I can go to. I feel I can get enough fish to be in contention after day three. I’m going to have to play offense tomorrow.”
Skarlis also talked about his program “I’m jigging Gulp and I’m using superline so I can feel the bite. So far I haven’t had to use a stinger hook. They are just throttling the Gulp. It is the right profile and the right color. I’ve got it dialed down. The St. Croix is exploding every time I get a bite. I’m getting three scoops of minnows every day and I’ll tell you after the tournament what I’m doing with them. The minnows have been crucial for our program.”
When asked about location he said, “The fish are going to be in the big community areas. There are really good fish going both up and downstream from the ramp, but they are moving. They could be 50 to 100 yards away. If you’re not doing it in the right spot, you’re not doing it. I’m just focusing on the spots I caught fish prefishing and adjusting to where they may have moved to.”
After leading day one, Keith Kavajecz brought in 10lbs 13oz this afternoon. “It was crowded today. Yesterday the boats were spread out more. Today they were all right on the spot I was catching the fish yesterday. It was very tight.”
 He talked a little more about the spot and his thoughts for tomorrow by saying, “There weren’t nearly as many fish around today, including white bass and bait fish. We figured there were less walleyes caught than number of boats fishing there. He will be heading back tomorrow to see if he can pull some fish out since there will be fewer boats there. If he can’t he will go to plan B.” His two day total is 37lbs 9oz.
Dan Stier told us this morning that it is important to be versatile on this body of water. While he started out fishing in the pack, he only caught one good fish there. He then changed locations and went to four different presentations to bring in over fifteen pounds of fish for a two day total of 36lbs 11 ounces. Those presentations included jigging, rigging, trolling Fireline and trolling lead. “I have a porcupine boat,” he said.
While Bill Shimota is catching a lot of fish, he has had to weed through them to put together 17lbs each day. He has a self-imposed 19 inch minimum, and of course the first fish of the day was a fat 18 incher. “It was very hard to throw back, but I stuck with the plan.” At one pm he only had three fish in the box and had thrown back two 17 inchers. “My co thought I was crazy, but I knew they wouldn’t do us any good and you never know when you will get a four pounder.” Shimota has yet to catch a kicker fish, “It’s driving me nuts.” He said the key to his bite is finding the right amount of current. “There is a lot of water. Some is too fast and some too slow. You have to find that right amount. That’s the ticket.” His two day weight is 35lbs 3oz.
The field has now been cut down to 20 pros and 20 cos. They will begin weighing at 5pm tomorrow at the Bismarck Civic Center in reverse order. After tomorrow the field will be cut to the top ten pros.
Join us at Walleye Central for continued coverage of the tournament! |
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