Erhard pries 25-4 from the trees

Kansas angler leads after busy opening day

DEVILS LAKE, N.D. – An early morning thunderstorm and a steady prairie breeze breathed new life into a stagnant, yet capable trophy walleye fishery. Despite rumors of difficult prefishing, 106 of the 150 boats caught a five-walleye limit on day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour event on Devils Lake. The heaviest of those was caught by Wellsville, Kansas, pro Ron Erhard, who bagged 25 pounds, 4 ounces.

As is typically the case, the eater-sized fish were easy to come by while the kickers were much more difficult.

Erhard managed four big fish, two of which were absolutely giant. The biggest was roughly 9 pounds – the other kicker went over 7 pounds. As good as his day was, it could have been even better. The pro leader and his co-angler partner received six bites in the trees, four of which they boated.

With an hour left in the day and only four fish in the box, Erhard decided to switch to pitching crankbaits. He successfully filled out his limit, but his partner lost a 4-pounder that would have improved their total weight by almost 2 pounds.

The veteran western pro was surprisingly open about his location – Pelican Bay. When the day started, he used both leeches and night crawlers under his slip corks, but he quickly changed to all leeches when they were out producing the crawlers. He’s working those leeches about 18 inches off the bottom in 6 feet of water. He found these fish at about 11 a.m. yesterday while most competitors were off the water and headed towards the rules meeting.

“I feel good,” said Erhard, who is fishing his second season on the Walleye Tour. “I had a real good prefish. If the wind does switch to the north I’m confident I have fish to make the top-10.”

As is usually the case with the Devils Lake bobber bite, patience is needed. Erhard says his plan is to stick with the floats in the trees until approximately noon each day. If he has a few fish in the box, he will stay even longer. He won’t, however, spend an entire day there without a bite.

“I’m going to weigh in a limit everyday. I won’t come to the scales empty handed. Today was my long day (third flight) so I figured I’d stick it out in there as long as possible.”

Tomorrow’s forecast calls for north winds of up to 30 mph. If it blows as expected, Erhard plans to try other spots first. Those areas are crankbait spots, not bobber spots. He’d like to return to Pelican, but he doesn’t know if the 20-mile run would be possible.

Jeffrey second

Garrison, N.D., pro Dennis Jeffrey had a remarkable performance Wednesday with five walleyes that weighed 24 pounds, 15 ounces. While the weight looks great on paper, Jeffrey used just about everything in his tackle box. He started the day by pitching crankbaits on wind-swept points and shorelines. He then switched to jigging deeper water and near the end of the day he trolled big Reef Runners.

Although he lives only three hours from the lake, Jeffrey says he only fishes it when the Walleye Tour comes to town. He caught only 10 walleyes all day, but they were the right size. Like many others near the top of the leaderboard, the 2004 Angler of the Year is running up to Pelican Bay.

“We made the long run and we got `er done,” he said. “We were marking a lot of fish but they wouldn’t cooperate. We had to just keep plugging away.”

Not only did Jeffrey weigh in nearly 25 pounds, he also brought in another 17 pounds, 10 ounces. Those fish belonged to pro Scott Fairbairn, who had engine problems and was unable to come in on his own. This was a true act of sportsmanship on Jeffrey’s part, considering if any of his own fish in the crowded livewell would have died, he would have taken a penalty.

Smith sits third

In third place is Berlin, Wis., native Larry Stephen Smith, who caught five walleyes that weighed in at 23 pounds, 11 ounces.

“I had an awesome co-angler and that made all the difference in the world,” said Smith of his day-one partner Jeff Trana.

Although Smith caught his fair share of walleyes, he admitted that his partner, a local from Devils Lake, actually caught more.

“We were basically getting them throughout the day, maybe one an hour. I think we caught around 11 walleyes total. Everything was wind-driven, focusing our efforts in 6- to 12-feet of water.”

Fishing around the Minnewaukan flats, Smith and Trana used both crankbaits and slip corks with leeches to trigger their strikes.

“The fish are there for the feed,” Smith added. “It’s just about having patience and using the right presentations. I’m hoping tomorrow is a blow day to be honest. If not, you’ve got to keep adapting.”

Renschen fourth

Finishing the day in fourth place, pro John Renschen boated five walleyes that weighed 22 pounds, 10 ounces. The Red Wing, Minn., river rat is looking for the first top-10 finish of his career.

Ertel fifth

Running around both sides of the lake was Brad Ertel of Hudson, Wis. His run-and-gun strategy resulted in a five-walleye limit weighing 22 pounds, 8 ounces, which was good for fifth place.

Ertel, who flies a 767 Boeing for UPS, is attempting to alter his presentation as the wind changes.

“I’m concerned with the direction of the wind,” he said. “Today with the southeast winds, my bite was very good. This is very wind-driven system. During practice I always try and find four different bites in four different directions.”

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros on day one at Devils Lake:

6th: Ross Grothe of Northfield, Minn., five walleyes, 21-12

7th: Jeff Vereeke of Grand Rapids, Mich., five walleyes, 21-8

8th: Jonathan Shoemaker of Elyria, Ohio, five walleyes, 21-5

9th: Scott Allar of Welch, Minn., five walleyes, 20-5

10th: Robert Crow of Paterson, Wash., five walleyes, 20-4

Minot, N.D., native leads Co-angler Division

Paired with Erhard, the pro leader, Henry Juntunen leads the Co-angler Division with five walleyes weighing 25 pounds, 4 ounces.

“This has been a great experience so far,” said Juntunen, who is fishing in the first Walleye Tour event of his career. “We had some rough water and weather out there today but Ron knows what he is doing and put us on some good fish. Ron is a great guy and an outstanding fisherman. It seemed like every time I would turn my back on him he would yell for the net again. Overall, it was a really fun day.”

Rounding out the top five co-anglers on day one on Devils Lake:

2nd: Philip Zimpel of Plummer, Minn., five walleyes, 24-15

3rd: Trana of Devils Lake, N.D.., five walleyes, 23-11

4th: Larry Oleson of Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., five walleyes, 22-10

5th: Ryan Kelly of Willmar, Minn., five walleyes, 22-8

Day two of FLW Walleye Tour competition on Devils Lake begins as the field of 150 boats takes off from Spirit Lake Casino and Resort at 7 a.m. Central time Thursday for the second day of the opening round.