James,
As I sit here with tail between my legs, I can tell you that I have a smile on my face. The tourney was very well run. The NAFC, Cabela’s, and the Spring Valley Walleye Club put together a great event. They deserve a pat on the back.
We rolled into town on Tuesday to road signs and banners crossing the streets saying “Welcome MWC”. All week long there were volunteers at the boat ramps to direct traffic, park trucks, launch & load boats. There were reps from the major boat/motor/equipment companies at the ramp to take care of the fishermen/women who had problems to fix. Cabela’s set up the stage with top of the line scales that measured weights to the 1000th of an ounce. They even checked every fish with a metal detector to catch any cheaters who might insert a sinker to increase their weight.
Bob “Kaz” Kaczkowski, who managed the MWC from its inception 15 years ago and is now back to emcee the rules meeting and weigh in received a standing ovation at the rules meeting. Kaz retired a couple years ago but came back. He did say he was committed to staying with the MWC for a couple more years. I think everyone glad to hear that!!
The Weather:
Tuesday and Wednesday the temps were in the mid 50’s. The grass turning green on the lawns, Robins picking crawlers out of the lawns. Thursday morning we were greeted with a boat full of snow and temps in the teens and wind huffing out of the north. (Note to file – Always cover the boat no matter how nice a day it was!!) Friday, still cool with a stiff north wind. Saturday was pretty nice with a high near 50. Sunday was cool with a morning high of 37 and dropping all day. The snow was starting as we left town. ( I guess you could call it snow. More like little ice balls!!)
The Bite:
Obviously, I can’t make an educated comment on that! We were on some nice 17-20 inch sauger up river from the launch site during pre-fishing. We were pretty confident that we could put 10-12 pounds in the boat, maybe a little more. (20-24 pounds would have been respectable) Those 17-20 incher’s did not come to our net and we had to settle for the 14-15 inchers on Saturday. Sunday, we just tanked. The big fish were coming from flats and clam beds south of the ramp. We pre-fished in those areas but did not put together any pattern.
The Problems:
We had our share. We went through three bow mounts in 5 days. Basically we did not have a t-motor during pre fishing. We were forced to concentrate on trolling. Add in frozen pumps, fouled plugs, busted equipment…..just tough. Not just us. The line at the Merc trailer was stacked up from Tuesday on… I’m not going to make excuses for our team. The good fishermen/women find a way to work through it, we did not. A big thanks to Mercury Motors and Pin-Point who sent us home in good shape for the next tourney!!
The Fish:
Tail inserted itself between my legs when those hogs started coming to the scale. Here is the scoop on how it got that way. The Ill. DNR stocks the river there. The DNR and the MWC have worked together for many years on the conservation program. They take the fish caught at weigh-in and strip the eggs and milt. The resulting hatch is put back into the river. The catch rates have gone up every year since the MWC has had a tourney there. Unlike many tourny sites, the locals love to see us fishermen/women there. When the MWC/DNR are done, there are many millions of Sauger back in the river than there were when we showed up. I’m not sure what the state record is for Sauger. But I’d bet it came from Spring Valley!!
Notice I say Fishermen/WOMEN…. There are some gals out there fishing these tourneys that can handle a boat, back a truck, hook/net a fish as good or better than most guys. Look out…times are a changing. It won’t be long before you read a that a female team has won!! And that is a good thing in my book.
J.
