Gilman stakes his AOY claim
Two-man shootout for Angler of the Year emerges
ESCANABA, Mich. – A recent alewife spawn means the walleyes in Bays de Noc have all the food they can eat. That’s not good news for Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour anglers. Plentiful baitfish means few bites, no matter how dense the population. On day one, a full field of 150 pros and 150 co-anglers managed only 251 walleyes that weighed 922 pounds.
The bite was tough, but the weather cooperated for the most part. Steady winds around 15 mph made the long runs rough but tolerable. Making the best of the conditions was pro Chris Gilman. This is becoming old hat for Gilman, the current Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year leader. To date, he’s finished fourth, third and 12th in 2007. He currently leads the tournament at hand after catching five walleyes that weighed 20 pounds, 3 ounces.
In most years, Gilman would already have the AOY title locked up. But BP pro Jason Przekurat is fishing flawlessly as well. Przekurat, who won the 2003 AOY title, has finished 13th, first and ninth over the first three Walleye Tour events in 2007. He currently sits ninth in this event after catching a limit that weighed 16 pounds, 5 ounces. This race couldn’t get any closer, as Gilman has accumulated 434 points and Przekurat has earned 430.
Gilman has stated that his focus is on winning AOY and not winning the tournament.
“Two more days is all I want,” said the Chisago City, Minn., native. “I don’t care if I catch a walleye after Saturday. I just want to win Angler of the Year. To win Angler of the Year is nearly everyone’s goal and a very tough thing to accomplish.”
Further fueling his drive is the Ranger Cup, which pays out a fully rigged Ranger walleye boat valued at roughly $50,000. Simply put, the next two days will determine both the Ranger Cup winner and the AOY winner.
Gilman gets two early
The tournament got off on the right foot for Gilman, as he caught two nice fish at around 10 this morning.
“Those two put us on Easy Street. It was just a phenomenal day. But things can flip-flop so fast; I’m just happy to have had one good day.”
Gilman said his bigger fish are coming significantly south of Escanaba. His main presentation is a spinner/crawler harness combination trolled very slowly with a number of different bead and blade-color combinations. Once he gets his two fish over 23 inches, he then runs back to Little Bay de Noc to scratch out enough slot fish to fill his limit.
“I feel very comfortable with this open-water trolling pattern. I’ve been at this for about 20 years, and I’ve learned a lot in that time. Today, I made a lengthy run and it worked.”
In total, he and Dale Todd, his co-angler partner, caught six walleyes. With approximately 15 minutes left to go in the day, the pro leader nailed a 17 1/2-incher. That enabled him to cull out a skinny 15-inch fish. His biggest walleye from day one was 9 pounds, and his other “over” wasn’t much smaller.
Tomorrow Gilman plans to return to his day-one honeyhole. When he gets there, he expects more boats as well as more big fish.
“If the wind dies down like they say it’s going to do, I think there will be a lot of company down south. I’m just praying and keeping fingers crossed, to be honest with you.”
DeVoss second
To no one’s surprise, open-water expert Paul DeVoss finished the day in second place with only three walleyes that weighed 20 pounds, 1 ounce. It was a good day for an angler who experienced an incredible practice.
“On Monday, I made a pass over this area and had four walleyes over 30 inches,” said DeVoss. “When that happens, you don’t usually question it. Plus I knew no matter what the wind did, it wouldn’t affect my area.”
Today DeVoss, who finished eighth at Green Bay last season, caught his first fish on his second pass. After catching that monster, he immediately turned around and repeated that same pass in the opposite direction. That resulted in a second walleye in the 30-inch range. With 20 minutes left, he picked up a 19-incher. He also caught another 28-inch fish that had to be thrown back because of a slot limit that allows only two fish over 23 inches.
His two big walleyes were caught 26 miles from Escanaba Harbor in 18 feet of water. DeVoss is pulling spinners like most, although his favorite blade color is purple. When the sun comes out, the walleyes on the bottom of the water column come up when they see the flash. He’s pulling his crawler harnesses at 1.3 mph. In fact, DeVoss said it took all the equipment he had to get his boat to slow down to that 1.3 mph mark.
“I had to use a drift sock, my kicker motor and trolling motor to be able to slow down. I was running out of options.”
The “under” fish was caught in Little Bay de Noc. This is a common pattern among the pros. Start the day by running south to get your two big “overs,” and then return to Little Bay de Noc to try to entice a few “unders.” It sounds simple, but it’s a long run, and trying to drive too fast over big waves can result in dead fish and an 8-once penalty for each one.
“I’ve been baby-sitting my fish since 11 a.m.” the Bagley, Wis., pro added. “It took us two and a half hours to get back. My plan has been to run two miles and then stop and check the fish. Hopefully we can repeat this tomorrow and keep this going.”
Vande Mark third
In third place was Steve Vande Mark of Linwood, Mich., with five walleyes that weighed 18 pounds, 11 ounces. Despite sitting in third place, Vande Mark could very well be in first if not for a conservative call with a questionable fish.
Vande Mark thought he had the perfect slot fish. When he first laid it down, it measured exactly 23 inches. After several more attempts and a call to Tournament Director Sonny Reynolds, he decided to throw it back.
“It was maybe 23 inches and a hair,” said Vande Mark. “I didn’t want to risk it.”
Vande Mark ran 80 miles roundtrip. By 9 a.m. he had two fish in the boat. He said his presentation consisted of “running meat” and that he’s using a variety of colors in the lower portion of the water column.
Kerr fourth
Finishing day one in fourth place was Jason Kerr of Holly, Mich. Kerr brought in three walleyes that weighed 18 pounds, 8 ounces by slow-trolling crawler harnesses in the mid-depths. Kerr said he fished Wisconsin water, which means he, too, ran a considerable distance south.
“I think I can get two big fish again tomorrow,” he said.
Yarbrough fifth
In fifth place was Greg Yarbrough with five walleyes that weighed 18 pounds, 6 ounces. The Port Clinton, Ohio, pro had zero fish in the box at 1 p.m. He then caught all of his keepers in a one-hour window.
“We made the long run early, and then we made some adjustments, and they paid off,” he said.
Like nearly everyone in the field, Yarbrough trolled spinners.
“The way my prefish went, I’m ecstatic with what I have today. My best day in practice was three fish.”
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 pros after day one at Bays de Noc:
6th: Adam Rasmussen of Stevens Point, Wis., three walleyes, 17-7
6th: Dan Stier of Pierre, S.D., two walleyes, 17-7
8th: John Gillman of Freeland, Mich., two walleyes, 16-10
9th: Jeff Taege of Rhinelander, Wis., two walleyes, 16-5
9th: Przekurat, of Stevens Point, Wis., five walleyes, 16-5
Todd takes co-angler lead
On the co-angler side, Todd was once again in the lead at a Great Lakes walleye tournament. The Anderson, Ind., co-angler led day one of the 2005 Walleye Tour event on Lake Erie and ultimately finished second.
On day one at Lake Michigan’s Bays de Noc, Todd caught five walleyes that weighed 20 pounds, 3 ounces.
“I was really fortunate to be paired with Chris Gilman as my day-one partner,” said Todd, who has two career top-10 finishes on the Walleye Tour. “I’m on the bubble right now to qualify for the championship, and Chris got me a lot of points today. I think if I can maintain a good weight the rest of the week, I should be able to break the top-50 (cutoff in the standings) and qualify for the championship.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers on day one at Bays de Noc:
2nd: David Musch of Minocqua, Wis., three walleyes, 20-1
3rd: Dennis Buechel of Fond du Lac, Wis., five walleyes, 18-11
4th: Phillip Milliser of Plymouth, Ind., three walleyes, 18-8 (Red Wing champion)
5th: James Plummer of Fairborn, Ohio, five walleyes, 18-6
Day two of FLW Walleye Tour competition on Bays de Noc begins as the full field of 150 boats takes off from Escanaba Harbor at 7 a.m. Eastern time Thursday for the second day of the three-day opening round.