Arnoldussen on ‘em again

Seven 30-pound bags recorded on Walleye Tour opening day as crawler-harness bite sizzles

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay walleyes have been in the biting mood, and it didn’t take long for the best walleye anglers in the world to find them. Despite the vast open water that this fishery has to offer, roughly two-thirds of the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour field bunched up over a huge reef located about 12 miles from the launch. What they found was over 2,300 pounds of walleyes, many in the 8-pound range.

Dean Arnoldussen, perhaps the hottest open-water walleye angler on the planet, weeded through the crowd to catch five walleyes that weighed 37 pounds, 14 ounces. Living in nearby Appleton, Wis., Arnoldussen is no stranger to Green Bay; he won the FLW Walleye Tour Championship here in 2001.

“To lead a tournament with this amount of weight against such a strong field is awesome,” he said. “Every fish came in perfectly, we were in by 11:30 a.m., and we didn’t have to make any tough choices.”

Arnoldussen fished with the crowd on day one and received most of his bites in about 20 feet of water. To target those walleyes, he trolled crawler harnesses behind planer boards. He caught eight fish total, and the largest walleye that he threw back was a 23-incher. Arnoldussen credited his success to closely monitoring his electronics. His accomplishment is even more startling considering most of the field is fishing the exact same area with similar presentations.

“We don’t fish this lake a lot in July, but there is a big advantage to being local. I kept marking them on the bottom, so eventually I said, `Forget this, I’m going down there after these fish.’ These fish are staying down.”

Arnoldussen doesn’t believe this community hole can withstand four days of pounding by over 100 boats. He doesn’t necessarily want it to either; being a local, he has more than a few backup areas in mind for when the honeyhole goes dry.

“I always go for the win when I fish these events,” said Arnoldussen. “That’s my drive. I thought I was going to come in with 25 pounds, so today was a little better than expected.”

DeVoss sits in second with 36-3

In second place was Dodgeville, Wis., pro Paul DeVoss. DeVoss caught five walleyes that weighed 36 pounds, 3 ounces and trails Arnoldussen by only a 1-pound, 11-ounce margin. DeVoss took the early success in stride, noting that he still has three long days to go.

“Our day started out great,” he said. “We had three in the boat by 10 a.m. At five minutes to 2 p.m., we caught the last one, and I said, `OK, that’s enough.'”

DeVoss was partnered with local co-angler Chad Wertepny, and the two took turns reeling and netting. The duo caught a total of eight fish on crawler harnesses in 22 feet of water.

“We were mostly by ourselves, so I love it. Practice has been just like this for me. I want everything to stay the same.”

Teddy takes third

In third place was Ted Takasaki, who caught five walleyes that weighed in at 33 pounds, 8 ounces. In reality, Takasaki should have had over 35 pounds.

The East Gull Lake, Minn., pro said he was done fishing by noon, but made a crucial mistake in taking care of his fish on the way back to the launch.

“I didn’t check them every 15 minutes; they just didn’t get enough oxygen,” said Takasaki, who took a 32-ounce penalty.

Ryan on a roll in fourth

Pro Jeff Ryan continued his successful ways by catching five walleyes that weighed 31 pounds, 10 ounces. Ryan, who won $100,000 at the Red Wing event, definitely has momentum on his side. The Lakeview, Iowa, resident said his limit would have been even bigger if not for an 18-inch fish that he regretted keeping.

“Prefishing was really tough for me personally,” said Ryan. “Later in the day we threw back a 22-incher, but we had that 18-inch fish already in the boat.”

Ryan said he is trolling in the same five-mile stretch as everyone else. Crawler harnesses pulled behind planer boards are his choice of presentation as well.

“I know a lot of these guys are using sliders (also called cheaters), but we’re not.”

Boggs fifth

Nisswa, Minn., pro Richard Boggs finished day one in fifth place with five walleyes that weighed 31 pounds, 8 ounces.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros on day one at Green Bay:

6th: Gordy Powers of Rockford, Minn., five walleyes, 30-13

7th: John Mathews of Janesville, Wis., five walleyes, 30-5

8th: Wayne Butz of Oneida, Wis., five walleyes, 29-6

9th: Daniel Dejaeghere of Bemidji, Minn., five walleyes, 29-4

10th: Ted Merdan of Champlin, Minn., five walleyes, 29-3

Strauss keeps busy in Arnoldussen’s boat

On the co-angler side, Keith Strauss caught 37 pounds, 14 ounces on day one and said the execution in the boat couldn’t have been any better. He leads his division by a 1-pound, 11-ounce margin.

“My wife called me and asked me who I was paired with, and I just told her to look at the guy on the cover of the last issue of FLW Outdoors Magazine,” Strauss said. “She said it looked like I had a good partner for the first day.”

Strauss quipped that Arnoldussen was the rod hog and that he was relegated to net duty for most of the day.

“I’ve fished with Dean one other time at Devils Lake. We had a great time again today. It makes it so much nicer when they come in the right order. He’s really one of my mentors. I can usually pick his brain, but at this point I think it’s been all picked out.”

Local co-angler in second

Second place on the co-angler side went to local angler Chad Wertepny. The Green Bay, Wis., native caught five walleyes weighing 36 pounds, 3 ounces.

“I live about eight miles from here, so I fish Green Bay all the time,” said Wertepny, who is competing in his first FLW Outdoors tournament. “This is more than I expected. I obviously got a good draw; he really had it figured out.”

Ludwig third, Mueller and Reek follow

Randy Ludwig of Neenah, Wis., placed third for the co-anglers with five walleyes weighing 33 pounds, 8 ounces.

Todd Mueller of Appleton, Wis., took fourth with five walleyes that weighed 31 pounds, 10 ounces.

Minocqua, Wis., co-angler Randy Reek sits in fifth place in the Co-angler Division with a limit weighing 31-8.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers on day one at Green Bay:

6th: James McCartin of Land O’Lakes, Wis., five walleyes, 30-13

7th: Flo Swank of Pierre, S.D., five walleyes, 30-5

8th: Scott Johnston of Winnipeg, Manitoba, five walleyes, 29-6

9th: Jason Shull of Wonder Lake, Ill., five walleyes, 29-4

10th: Lynn Jurrens of Watertown, S.D., five walleyes, 29-3

Day two of FLW Walleye Tour competition on Green Bay begins as the field of 150 boats takes off from Metro Park Boat Launch at 7 a.m. Central time Thursday for the second day of the opening round.