| | Texas Walleye Association Tournament at Ute Lake
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On Saturday, April 30, teams from 3 states gathered at Ute Lake, New Mexico for their third tournament of the 2005 Season. In what is now becoming a TWA tradition, an unusually strong cold front hit the area just prior to the tournament with record low temperatures forecast for the morning of the tournament. Most teams began the day pessimistically predicting that a 5 fish limit of 14 inch fish would be in the money. Others wondered if the fish had experienced so many recent fronts that they now must be accustomed to them.
Surprisingly, every team caught and weighed in fish with 6 teams weighing in limits and 3 other teams weighing in 4 fish. The problem was finding the bigger fish as many teams reported catching large numbers of walleye under the 14 inch minimum. Kevin and Kalin Audrain of Fritch using a jig and worm in 15-30 foot of water found those bigger fish bringing in 5 fish weighing 11.2 lbs. to win 1st place and $520. They also won the big fish pot of $130 with a nice 4.32 lbs fish. Jim O’Connor of Amarillo and Ed Rodriguez of Fritch using a jig and minnow in deep water claimed 2nd with 5 fish weighing 10.79 lbs to win $325. Bobby Reining and Merle Meaker of Panhandle used both spinner rigs and jigs to bring in 5 fish weighing 10.1 lbs to take 3rd and $190. The husband and wife team of Brian and Amy Stangel of Albuquerque, NM trolled with lead core and jointed crank baits to take 4th with 5 fish weighing 8.78 lbs. Wade Seymour and Willie Savage of Fritch jigged up 5 fish weighing 8.53 lbs. to finish 5th. Rounding out the top ten were: 6th Tanner and Cody White of Clovis, NM with 5 weighing 7.67 lbs.; 7th Jeff and Toby Cooper of Amarillo with 4 weighing 6.98 lbs; 8th John McWilliams and Kenneth Sibley of Borger with 4 weighing 5.15 lbs; 9th Dan Turner of Dumas and Shane Turner of Dalhart with 4 weighing 5.06 lbs.; and 10th Jim and LaDonna Welch of Fritch with 3 weighing 3.90 lbs.
The Texas Walleye Association will return to Lake Meredith for their next tournament on Saturday, May 14. Front or no front, there should be a hot bite for this tournament. Anglers will find the average size walleye in Meredith has really improved over the last 2 years. A reminder, all TWA tournaments are catch and release tournaments with a 98% live release rate so far this year. For more information call either: Dan Turner at (806) 935-3176 dturner @xit.net or Kevin Audrain at (806) 857-2508 audheatcool@aol.com |
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