Quick Bites: RCL Championship, Day 4
2003 Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Championship
Mississippi River, Red Wing, Minn.
Pro finals, Saturday
Remembering second places past … For Tom Keenan, Saturday’s win was about more than the $300,000 check he collected. He earned retribution by becoming the 2003 RCL champion. In 2001, he fell just short of the title in Green Bay, Wis., when his fishing partner, Dean Arnoldussen, edged him out for the win. “Two years ago was a killer,” Keenan said. “My best friend beat me in the last five minutes. … Words can’t describe how it feels right now. This is a day I’ve dreamed about all my life. I’ve led so many tournaments before, and now I’ve finally won it.” … Keenan knew early on that he had a good shot to win Saturday. He caught his six walleyes, quit fishing and was back onshore by 11:15 a.m. Still, he wasn’t secure with his limit because he knew that Scott Allar was sitting on some big fish, too. “That man sitting in that other chair (Allar) is the best fisherman in the area,” Keenan said at weigh-in. “He’s hurt me before on this water. Scott Allar still scared me hard.”
Two fish short … As for the runner-up, Allar, who won $75,000, he says he has no regrets. He caught some bigger walleyes than Keenan, but he only managed to hook into three of them. He didn’t catch his kicker fish, a 5-pound, 14-ouncer, until after 1:30 p.m., and by that point time was working against him. The kicker would be his third and final walleye of the day. “I figured I’d go for broke again and look for big fish,” he said. “We could have won it just as easily as we didn’t. I’m satisfied, but obviously I’m also a little disappointed.”
How to win the RCL Championship … Fish in Buffalo Slough, or somewhere in its vicinity. While the backwater area just around the corner from Treasure Island marina didn’t produce much in the cold-weather opening round, a number of anglers who made the cuts ventured back to Buffalo Slough as the weather warmed up, which is where Bruce Samson won this event in 2002. Keenan switched up and fished there Saturday, as did third-place Steve Lamb and sixth-place Jerry Hein, who worked a spot in there near some railroad tracks all week. Even Allar, who had been landing his lunkers in Pool 4 throughout the week, came back up to Pool 3 and caught his kicker Saturday not far from the slough.
An encouraging start … Hein caught a nice 2-pound, 10-ounce walleye just moments after he dropped his first line in the morning. “I caught that at 7:07 (a.m.),” he said on camera. “You couldn’t ask for anything better. I’ve been fishing for three minutes!” Unfortunately for Hein, his quick first fish would also be his last. He said the current shut down on his spot and the walleye bite dried up after that.
Quick number
399,700: Amount, in dollars, that Tom Keenan has won in his career on the Wal-Mart RCL Tour, dating back to 2000. Exactly $375,000 of that came from two tournaments: the 2001 and 2003 championships.
Sound bites
“It is very technical. It is something that, if you take your eyes off the tips of your rods for a moment, you might miss a bite.”
– Fourth-place Jim Schulta, describing how light and how finicky the walleye bite was Saturday on the Mississippi River.
“I’ve got to get back to work, I guess. And go hunting. It’s time to get away from fishing for a while.”
– Tom Keenan, on what he plans to do next.