I.O.W.A. Trail - Spirit Lake Results

Troy, Wes Loeckle Take Top Honors at I.O.W.A. Trail’s Spirit Lake Tournament

By Steve Weisman
I.O.W.A. Publicity Director
“Persistence pays off,” said Troy Loeckle from Floyd as he reflected on the first place effort that he and his partner Wes Loeckle from Mason City put together to take the $1970 first place check at Sunday’s I.O.W.A. Team Walleye Tournament Trail qualifier on Big Spirit Lake.
The only team to weigh a five-fish limit, their weight of 5.43 pounds was nearly a pound better than the runner-up team of Joe and Kathy Kirk from Urbandale, whose four-fish weight of 4.64 pounds earned them the second place check of $1160.
Third place went to the father-son team of Randy and Ryan O’Tool from Mason City. Their three-fish weight of 3.51 pounds gave them an $870 check.
In addition to the winning purse, the Loeckle duo also won the Smooth Move Seat Award, the $500 Lund Bonus for the highest placing team fishing out of a Lund boat, the Family Team Award of Cabela’s gift certificates for the top family team and the $500 Wright County Motors Contingency Award.
Other awards included the drawing for the King’s Pointe Resort package, which went to Joel and Glazenbrook from Urbandale, while the team of Travis Hickey and Joeseph Duckert from Mason City won the $50 cash drawing sponsored by FCIS Anglers Choice Insurance of Forest City.
“That’s quite a haul,” said I.O.W.A. Tournament Director Dean Higgins of the efforts by the Loeckle team. “Troy and Wes were the only ones to put together a five-fish limit.”
Several year-long competitions were also decided at Spirit Lake. The father-son team of Randy and Ryan O’Tool topped of a great season by taking home two honors. They won both Humminbird Team of the Year honors and a Humminbird 788ci Combo Fishing system with internal GPS and the Minn Kota Family Team of the Year and a Minn Kota Terrova 80# Trolling Motor. “Randy and Ryan make a great team. They have consistently been at or near the top all season, and they put it together again today. They are very deserving of these awards.”
The final award went to the top Rookie Team of the Year. The trophies for this award went to the team of Bob Henderson from Worthington, MN and Dan Iblings from Minneapolis, MN.
Although they swept many of the honors at Spirit Lake, Troy Loeckle said things weren’t looking too good at noon. “We started the day pulling crankbaits, but after an hour we went away from that and turned to pulling spinners and nightcrawlers in and out of the weeds in 8-12 feet of water along the east shoreline. By noon we only had one fish in the live well.”
It became a story book finish. “We had 10 minutes until weigh-in and only three fish. I said let’s go back through one more time. Bang, we had a double and took a 16 ½ incher and one just over 14 inches!”
The runners-up also pulled spinners most of the day, but their presentation was a little different. Joe noted, “We had been working the weeds with a ¼ ounce bouncer, but then we went to the northwest side of the lake and marked fish in 14 feet of water just off the weedline. So, we went to pulling spinners with a 1 ½ ounce bottom bouncer and picked up three of our fish that way.”
Higgins reflected on the day. “Although it was a tough bite, the weather was really great for the spectators at the weigh-in. FCIS Anglers Choice Insurance grilled hotdogs for the crowd, and we had a great group of volunteers help us out with the weigh-in. Thanks to the Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club for providing boats to take the fish after being weighed back out to the main lake to be safely released.”
With the regular season now over, the I.O.W.A. teams now begin preparing for the FCIS 2009 I.O.W.A. State Championship. “Our two-day FCIS State Championship will be held on October 3-4. The first day’s action will take place on Big Spirit, and the second day will take place on East Okoboji,” added Higgins.
All of the latest news on the I.O.W.A. circuit can be found at the I.O.W.A. website (www.walleyepromotions.com).
Anglers interested in learning more about the I.O.W.A circuit can call (515) 571-1085 or they can email the I.O.W.A. staff at walleyepromotions@hotmail.com.
Corporate sponsors for 2009 include Lund Boats, Mercury Outboards, ShoreLand'r Trailers, Brightwell’s Boathouse, MinnKota, Humminbird, Berkley, Cabela's, Smooth Move Seat Mounts, FCIS Anglers Choice Insurance of Forest City, King’s Pointe Resort of Storm Lake and Wright County Motors of Belmond and Clarion.