Quick Bites: FLW Walleye Tour Championship, Day 3

Two fishing legends align, bad moon rising for Dakota anglers, and second place stings a bit

Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship

Lake Oahe, Pierre, S.D.

Final round, Friday

Fisher kings … The Friday weigh-in tent at Wal-Mart in Pierre, S.D., housed a virtual who’s who of the sport-fishing world, and that’s in addition to the top-10 finalists who crossed the stage for the 2006 FLW Walleye Tour Championship. Kicking off Friday’s weigh-in festivities to thunderous applause was none other than Al Lindner, one of the most recognizable faces in the industry as well as the co-founder of Lindy Tackle and In-Fishermen, Inc. But the standing-room-only crowd was also noticeably thrilled to hear from FLW Outdoors’ namesake and the founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood. After describing how far tournament walleye fishing had come as evidenced by the magnitude of the championship, Lindner said: “It’s appropriate that this championship is being held here in Pierre. Not a lot of people know this, but to my knowledge, the first organized walleye tournament happened right here in Pierre on the Missouri River.” Wood talked about how great of an impact sponsor involvement has had on developing the walleye-fishing industry and how it was key to organizing a tournament circuit in which professionals could actually make a good living. He also talked about how Ranger Boats – headquartered in Flippin, Ark., and making tremendous inroads into competitive walleye fishing – “started with a glorified Jon boat” and grew into one of the most revered boat companies around. After being introduces as a legend, Wood demurred: “Whatever you say I am has happened because of the efforts of a lot of unsung heroes across the country. I’m just the guy with the hat.”

Full moon fever … With the exception of Mina, S.D., pro Rick Olson (5th), pros of the Dakotas faltered a bit on opening day of the final round, and even Olson only managed to weigh three walleyes. Local pro Gerrick McComsey (8th) of Fort Pierre was confident this morning about his fishing location, the Cheyenne River area, and his pattern, casting jigs in the shallows, but he said the fish he had been keying on during the overcast first two days of the event left the scene. After weighing in a lone `eye weighing 2 pounds, 15 ounces, he said: “It was clear last night. Today the white bass moved in. The full moon is what’s going to mess it up for us.” Day-one leader Dustin Kjelden (7th) of Brookings, S.D., caught three today that only tipped the scale at 7-14, a far cry from the 19-3 limit he weighed Wednesday. Kjelden – who fished day one and day three with local co-angler Flo Swank of Pierre – has been fishing the same area as McComsey. “We went out feeling pretty good today,” Kjelden said about teaming up with Swank again, “but our fish moved.” Bismarck, N.D., pro Troy Morris (9th) had the toughest time of the Dakota anglers, weighing a single fish for 2-9.

Runner-up blues … What goes up must come down. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Nobody remembers second place. You can insert your favorite cliche about earning a red ribbon, but they exist because it’s tough to come so close to victory only to come up short, especially in a championship of this size. Bono, Arkansas’ Jimmy Cox, founder of Mizmo Baits, admitted that it stung some to lose out on a co-angler championship to ultimate winner Jerome Chwierut. “I’m real disappointed,” Cox said after the weigh-in. “The thing about it was, the guys who won it were fishing right by us, and we were about 7 or 8 pounds ahead of them for a long time.” Cox, who led the opening round this week and finished fifth at last year’s championship, said he hadn’t seen Chwierut and his pro land the winning fish before leaving, so he truly believed he had a strong chance of winning. Despite his disappointment, Cox was gracious in defeat. The fact that he won $15,500 in prize money didn’t hurt his feelings either.

Quick numbers

53: Years Forrest Wood has been married to wife Nina.

10: Percentage of miles put on Olson’s boat in the wind Friday, 20 miles, as compared to Wednesday and Thursday when he ran 200 miles roundtrip each day.

5-12: Weight, in pounds and ounces, separating current pro leader Richard Nascak of Winona, Minn., from No. 2 pro Scott Allar of Welch, Minn.

1: Number of championship top-10s earned by co-angler Jason Wrosch of Melrose Park, Ill., in as many years of fishing on tour.

50: Percentage of top-10 anglers weighing in limits Friday.

6: Number of pros in the top 10 from Minnesota.

3: Number of pros in the top 10 from South Dakota.

1: Number of pros in the top 10 from North Dakota.

Sound bites

“She’s staying home to bale hay.”

– Wood, joking about why his wife, Nina, who normally travels with him, wasn’t at today’s weigh-in.

“I actually grew up fishing here. It’s my favorite place in the world to fish.”

– Olson, on his fondness for fishing Oahe and the Missouri River at Pierre.

“I’ve placed about everywhere except first … even all the way down to 200th and everyplace in between.”

– Pro Tom Brunz of Madison Lake, Minn., who will enter the final day of competition in fourth place, on his 20-plus-year history of fishing walleye tournaments.