Takasaki totes five toads
East Gull Lake, Minn., pro leads after day three with 72-10
RED WING, Minn. – With two top 10s in 2008, a second-place finish in the Angler of the Year race and a second-place finish at the 2009 Walmart FLW Walleye Tour season opener on Lake Erie, Ted Takasaki has been fishing flawlessly. And then, like all the great ones do, he took his game to another level.
“Man oh man, I’ve been coming to Red Wing for many, many years and I’ve never had a tournament like this,” he exclaimed. “I didn’t realize there were so many big fish in this river.”
After catching an identical 21 pounds, 10 ounces on days one and two, Takasaki improved his catch to 29 pounds, 6 ounces on day three. Anchoring that limit was a stout 11-pounder, perhaps the biggest fish of the tournament thus far.
“I was scrambling at about 12:30 with a 20 and a 19. Then I caught a 15 and was getting worried so I put it in the box.”
According to the rules, anglers are allowed to keep eight fish in their livewell and weigh their best five 
with no upgrading permitted.
“I then decided to hit one spot that I hadn’t been to since prefishing. There was one guy in there and I saw him whack a 6-pounder and I said to myself, `man they’re here and they’re biting.'”
Takasaki then proceeded to catch his three biggest walleyes of the day. The three big fish were all caught rigging with live bait. The others were caught trolling leadcore line with Shad Raps and Wally Divers.
“Trolling is still my primary pattern and I’m on about 15 pounds of saugers everyday. From there, getting kickers is everything. The sooner I can put my saugers in the boat the sooner I can search for big fish. Today, I didn’t go big-fish fishing until 12:30 p.m.”
While he shared a community hole earlier in the tournament with teammates Chris Gilman, Perry Good and Pat Byle, today he ventured out to new water by himself.
“It is exciting because as a new big-fish spot, they shouldn’t be beat up. I mark these fish while I’m trolling crankbaits and then I stop and begin rigging.”
Takasaki has a long, rich history in professional walleye fishing. He’s come close to winning an FLW Walleye Tour event many times, but he hasn’t sealed the deal. With over a 7-pound lead, tomorrow could be the day.
“If I win it great, but winning a tournament isn’t everything to me. Losing Angler of the Year last year bothered me more because I found the fish in practice and I had them on during the tournament to win it.”
Johnson returns to second
Despite only catching four fish, Nick Johnson moved from third to second in the Pro Division. Two of 
those four were absolute giants and they anchored his 20-pound, 8-ounce catch. One of the big fish came from his day-one area where he whacked 31-10.
But like the Elmwood, Wis., native is wont to do, he spent most of his day running and gunning. In total, he tried nearly a dozen spots.
“I fished mostly big-fish spots today,” he said. “I had some mechanical problems and I wish I would have had a full day. I just got a couple big bites and hung in there.”
Johnson may have lost another giant walleye, but he may not have too.
“I stuck a fish that was easily 28 or 29 inches. I had it on for awhile but it just rolled off. A little bit later in that exact spot I caught my second big one. In my mind I said it was the same one, but I don’t know.”
When asked about his incredible river success Johnson replied, “I just like moving water. I know how to control the boat in this current. To me, reading current and positioning yourself is such a blast.”
Johnson took second here in 2007, fifth the year prior and he won the 2004 Walleye Tour Championship downstream in the Quad Cities. Last season he also won the final PWT event held out of Hudson, Wis., on Pool 3 and the St. Croix River.
“Tomorrow is going to be fun. I like to see the weights tight like this; the last few years it’s been a blowout. It’s going to make for a heck of a show – let the head games begin.”
Zachowski slips to third
After catching 40 pounds on day one and 12 pounds, 5 ounces on day two, Rick Zachowski caught a limit Friday weighing 11-6. With a three-day total weight of 63 pounds, 11 ounces, the Milwaukee, Wis., pro is third with one day of competition remaining.
“Day three was alright, we had our limit by noon and then we went looking for big fish and lost two.”
Zachowski trolled this morning to get five and then went to his big-fish spot, the same area he shared with Johnson on day one. At his big-fish spot he pitches jigs and works dead sticks with live bite, using his bow mount to slowly move up and down the breakline.
“I’m going to try and catch 40 pounds again tomorrow. I’ve already proven that I can do it. Plus, Ted’s not that far ahead of me – if he stumbles I’m right there.”
Walker rises to fourth
Big Springs, Neb., pro Barry Walker continued his steady ascension up the leaderboard Friday. After catching 15-14 on day one and 22-10 yesterday, he caught 23-12 today for a total of 62-4.
“On day two I had one fish at 1:30 and it was looking ugly,” he said. “Within the next hour, we had 22 pounds in the livewell.”
Today he boxed three 21-inch saugers and two 17s. He then went for big walleyes and on his first pass he popped a 5-pounder. On his second pass he caught a 6-pounder and on his next pass he caught a 27 1/2-incher. With eight in the box, his day was complete at 1:30 p.m.
“I’ve got three spots in Pool 4 where I troll cranks with leadcore. I don’t know anything about this river. I can’t compete with the guys that live on this river so I do what I know.”
Good fifth
Like Takasaki, Good branched away from his teammates and the results were impressive. His day-three limit weighed 25 pounds, 4 ounces, which gave him an opening-round total of 61 pounds even. He began the day in 11th place but finished fifth.
“I trolled more than I rigged,” said Good, who finished sixth at Lake Erie. “I troll over a spot and if I see the marks on my electronics then I stop and rig.
“I kind of went out and looked for my own fish today down by Lake City. I was trying to leave the big-fish spot for the other guys.”
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 pros who made the cutoff after day three:
6th: Randy Stevens of Hager City, Wis., three-day total of 60-2
7th: Gilman of Chisago City, Minn., 59-11
8th: Byle of Colgate, Wis., 58-3
9th: Scott Fairbairn of Hager City, Wis., 56-10
10th: Brian Bjorkman of Fargo, N.D., 52-9
Speicher pops a hog, takes co-angler lead
Gary Speicher has had quite a week on the Mississippi River. On day one he fished with Tommy Skarlis, the winner of the 2008 FLW Walleye Tour Championship. On day two he was paired with the red-hot Gilman and today he fished with Johnson, the ultimate river rat. With one day of competition remaining, he has a 1-pound, 3-ounce lead in the Co-angler Division and a three-day total of 60 pounds, 5 ounces.
“I caught one of the big ones and one of the little ones so I did my part,” Speicher said of his 20-pound, 8-ounce catch. “I’ve competed in about 50 of these tournaments and these were probably the best three pros that I could have drawn.”
Tomorrow he gets to fish with Takasaki, another legend.
“I’ve never fished with Ted but I attend his Walleye Masters Institute every year in suburban Chicago. What’s great about these tournaments is learning the bodies of water and then taking what I learned and applying it when I’m fun fishing.”
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers who made the cutoff after day three:
2nd: Chad Niemann of Rochester, Minn., three-day total of 59-2
3rd: Todd Dankert of Anoka, Minn., 56-3
4th: Larry Oleson of Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., 56-1
5th: Jerry Miller of Lowell, Ind., 54-5
6th: Steve Berg of Hudson, Wis., 54-1
7th: Darrell Martin of Forest Lake, Minn., 51-10
8th: Robert Brunz of Madison Lake, Minn., 51-2
9th: Del Ringling of Valley, Neb., 49-7
10th: David Hosek of White Bear Lake, Minn., 49-4
The final day of FLW Walleye Tour competition on the Mississippi River begins as the top-10 pros and top-10 co-anglers take off from Bay Point Park in Red Wing at 7 a.m. Central time Saturday.