| |  Yesterday, many of the teams commented on how important it was to have good boat control while working Pools 9 and 10 on the Mississippi River. Today trolling motors will be working hard and batteries will be put to the test, as winds are expected to blow from the WNW at 20-25mph with strong gusts.
Just over a pound out of the top spot are Waupun, WI residents Tom Hoinacki and Derek Navis with 14.29lbs. They spent a lot of their time prefishing on the upper pools and had a hard time finding bigger fish.
Yesterday they caught almost all of their fish in the first hour and a half, and then went searching. They are hoping to do the same thing today, although it may be a little bit harder with the wind already blowing. “Boat control was the biggest thing yesterday,” said Navis. “Mid-day the wind picked up and made it tough.”
Many of the teams fishing wing dams yesterday struggled with weeds. Brandon Carpenter and Josh DeKnikker only weighed three fish for 8.42lbs on day one. “I think if the weeds go away we could pull 20lbs,” said Carpenter. “That’s the plan! We’re going to go rock them!”
 Wayne Butz and Don Frederick brought two fish to the scales yesterday for 4.47lbs. The long time MWC vets thought they were going to have a good day when their first fish was a 20 incher. Like Carpenter and DeKnikker, they also had issues with weeds. They plan to head back to the wing dams, but if that doesn’t pan out they are going to head to backwaters where the caught a couple big fish prefishing.
The seventh place team of Travor Diegel and Paul Steffen , who weighed five for 10.80lbs yesterday, also spent their time on wing dams. While they didn’t mention a struggle with weeds, they did have to sort out a lot of small fish. Said Steffen, “We caught 30-40 fish yesterday, but lots of really small ones.” They plan on heading back to the same spot today and hope to pull another good limit.
At take-off time this morning, the report from the locks was that they were clear.
All boats are due back to the Winneshiek Marina for weigh-in at 4pm today.
Following the weigh-in, a kids clinic will be held at the Cabela’s Store, where the first 50 kids will receive a rod and reel combo, along with tackle from Northland.
Join us a Walleye Central for continued live coverage of the event. |
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