DEVILS LAKE N.D. – Pro Jason Feldner of Minnewaukan, N.D., and co-angler David Dedecker of Orion, Ill., brought in five walleyes weighing 17 pounds, 15 ounces Thursday to lead day one of the FLW Walleye Tour Western Division tournament on Devils Lake. The pair now holds a mere 3-ounce lead over their closest rivals in an event featuring 62 pros and 62 co-anglers representing 17 states and Canada fishing for top awards of up to $35,000 in the Pro Division and $7,500 in the Co-angler Division.
“It was just an incredible day of fishing,” said Feldner, who is fishing in his first FLW tournament. “Everything just clicked right for us today, we caught our fish in the right order – we had a 19 1/2 inch first then came the 19 ¾ inch and I knew this was going to be a good day. The fish were suicidal today, we must have caught 40 or 50 fish.”
Being a guide, Feldner is no stranger to Devils Lake and remained very tight lipped about areas fishing and baits he is using. He did offer up that he is using crawlers and has a reserve of eight spots to go to, however, today he only used 2 1/2 of those spots.
Rounding out the remainder of the top-10 pros and co-anglers after day one on Devils Lake are:
2nd: Troy Sand, Portland, N.D., Don Karlgaard, East Gull Lake, Minn., five walleyes, 17-12
3rd: Kevin McQuoid, Isle, Minn., William Drake, Horace, N.D., five walleyes, 16-15
4th: Rick Geffre, Pierre, S.D., Ted Kaminski, St. Anthony, Minn., five walleyes, 16-3
5th: Scott Larson, Mayville, N.D., Doug Weidenhammer, Ham Lake, Minn., five walleyes, 15-14
6th: Bjorn Horgen, Deer River, Minn., Troy Cox, Jonesboro, Ark., four walleyes, 15-12
7th: Dave Randash, Dilworth, Minn., Peggy Severson, Fort Pierre, S.D., five walleyes, 15-8
8th: Chad Schilling, Akaska, S.D., Chris Reinhart, Hatton, N.D., five walleyes, 14-13
9th: National Guard pro Mark Courts Harris, Minn., Kraig Gellner, Langdon, N.D., five walleyes, 14-1
10th: Paul Meleen, Isle, Minn., Jason Anderson, West Fargo, N.D., five walleyes, 14
10th: Edward Piekutowski, Moorhead, Minn., Jason Svir, Cando, N.D., five walleyes, 14
Overall there were 250 walleyes weighing 607 pounds, 11 ounces caught by 62 boats Thursday. The catch included 39 five-walleye limits.
In FLW Walleye Tour competition, pros and cos are also competing for valuable points in the hope of qualifying for a shot at the 2010 FLW Walleye Tour Championship held on Leech Lake in Walker, Minn., Sept. 23-25.
Anglers will take off from Woodland Resort located at 1012 Woodland Drive in Devils Lake at 7 each morning. Friday’s weigh-in will also be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at Lake Chevrolet located at 123 5th Street NE in Devils Lake beginning at 4 p.m.
About FLW Outdoors
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 189 tournaments in 2010. FLW Outdoors has also taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing awarding the largest prizes in the history of fantasy sports. FLW Outdoors memberships are available featuring numerous benefits including Player’s Advantage. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FantasyFishing.com.