Lapine leads second day of Walleye Tour action

Stingy Illinois River yields few walleyes, mostly saugers

TRENTON, Mich. – The expected afternoon rains never arrived, but it was still a sauggy day at Spring Valley Boat Club. Don’t bother reaching for the dictionary, we’ll clarify: With walleyes dominating day one, saugers stole the limelight on day two of the FLW Walleye Tour’s Eastern Division event.

Now, although the skies never opened up, dark clouds loomed ominously over the weigh-ins – so much so that the appreciation for a covered pavilion ran high. The only thing was that the open-sided pavilion received a good sand blasting, as winds of 30 mph gusted through the Spring Valley Boat Club property.

Notably, strong winds blew for much of day one and most anglers reported tremendous action with catches of 50-100 fish. Today brought a much slower bite and numbers were down considerably. Most reported struggling and the final tallies punctuated that point – only nine limits, compared to 24 on day one. Teams entered 98 fish, off 55 from yesterday’s 153.

The leader board saw a good bit of shuffling, with one big surprise. After topping the first day with 8 pounds, National Guard pro Mark Courts of Harris, Minn. zeroed on day two.

Jacob Lapine of Fond du Lac, Wisc. took over the top spot by catching the event’s heaviest bag thus far – an 8-poune, 11-ounce effort that he and co-angler Scott Perz of Crystal Lake, Ill. captured. With most of his competitors jigging or trolling crankbaits on lead lines, Lapine opted for pulling upstream with 3-way rigs baited with minnows and nightcrawlers. Giving the fish a different look was his objective.

“It was about 50-50 on the baits – we kept switching it up,” Lapine said. “It was never really fast today. It was just one here, one there. It was just a matter of getting the right bite.”

With the day’s windy conditions, Lapine said he had to pay particular attention to his speed. “We were pulling against the current so keeping contact with the bottom and not going too fast was the main thing. The wind played a factor today, pushing me around, so I had to use the kicker the second half of the day.”

Lapine also adjusted his rigs to work with the conditions. “It just depended on the current. In light current and less wind, I’m not using as heavy a weight. Otherwise, I was using an ounce weight when the wind kicked up and we were moving a little faster.

Skarlis narrows the gap at second

Day one ended with Iowa pro Tommy Skarlis in second place at 9 ounces off the lead with 7-7. A day later, after catching 8-2, Skarlis remains in second, but with 15-9, he’s trimmed the gap to five ounces. In a tight race like the one unfolding on the Illinois River, that’s a significant advancement.

“I was begging for another 7 pounds, but 8 pounds – I’m tickled to death,” Skarlis said.

As with day one, Skarlis fished 1/16- to 3/8-ounce Lindy X-Change Jigs tipped mostly with 2 1/2-inch Berkley Gulp minnows in smelt and a new prototype color. Boat control is always a critical element of vertical jigging, but extreme wind ratchets up the challenge. Skarlis praised the rough water handling and efficient fishing platform of his Ranger 620VS, along with what he has on the bow.

“Thank God for Minn-Kota (trolling motors),” Skarlis said. “I have 101 pounds of thrust on my motor and I was using 70-80 of them by the end of the day. I have Optima batteries so I have plenty of power, even if I have to stand on that Minn-Kota all day long.”

“We put three fish in the box really early, but then we struggled and we struggled and we struggled,” Skarlis said. “I missed a couple of bites and lost a couple of fish. We weren’t using stingers (initially), so I threw some Lindy stinger snells on (the jigs) and that made the whole difference in the world because the last three fish came on that stinger snell and they came in the last 35-40 minutes of the day.”

Balla takes third

John Balla of Bartlett, Illinois started day two in 11th place, but his 8-pound, 8-ounce bag combined with his 6-9 from day one moved him up to third with a 15-1 total. Balla reported a slow day and said he thinks a thorough day one whacking had something to do with it.

“The areas we’re fishing have so many boats in there and they were picking off so many fish yesterday that it was slim pickings today,” he said.

Boat control was challenging in today’s stiff wind, especially for those who were vertically jigging. Balla countered the wind’s effects by upsizing to 5/8-ounce Lindy Fuzzy Grub jigs. He tipped the jigs with live minnows and ran stinger hooks on his rigs.

David Kolb of Rockford, Mich. added 7-7 to his day one score of 6-12 and move up four notches to fourth with 14-3. Kolb vertically jigged with 1/2-ounce jigs and Finesse Minnow tails. An early jigging effort didn’t pay off for Tom Keenan, but the Hatley, Wisc. pro regrouped, switched to Rapalas and lead core line and sacked up 7-3 to finish fifth with 13-2.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros of day one on the Illinois River:

6th: Ryan Jirik of Rhinelander, Wisc., five walleyes, 12-13

7th: Chris Gillman of Chisago City, Minn., five walleyes, 11-9

8th: Jason Przekurat of Stevens Point, Wisc., five walleyes, 10-12

9th: Pat Byle of Colgate, Wis., four walleyes, 10-11

10th: Dan Stier of Mina, S.D., three walleyes, 10-10

Beasley holds on to co-angle lead

Steve Beasley of Macomb, Mich., got off to a strong start with Courts on day one. He was part of another 8-pound catch – this one 8-2 – on the second day while paired with Skarlis. Bringing a total of 16 pounds, 2 ounces into the final round, he holds a 1-pound, 9-ounce lead.

“It was really slow until about midday, but Tommy (Skarlis) stuck with his game plan and when the fish turned on, we were ready and we nailed them good,” Beasley said. “Tommy really emphasized that we stay vertical and go really slow on the uplift. We didn’t get any fish for the better part of the day, but when they decided to hit, we had the technique.”

Rounding out the top five co-anglers of day one on the Illinois River:

2nd: John Spiegel of Appleton, Wisc., five walleyes, 14-9

3rd: Craig Cayemberg of Valders, Wisc., five walleyes, 13-4

4th: Jim Milewsky of Bondurant, Iowa, five walleyes, 12-15

5th: Thomas Kaus of Lake Zurich, Ill., five walleyes, 12-3

Day three of FLW Walleye Tour competition on the Illinois River begins as the field takes off from Spring Valley Boat Club at 7 a.m. Central time Friday for the final day of the opening round.