Well, for the first time in quite a few events the Illinois Walleye Trail anglers had some beautiful weather for yesterday’s 3rd Points Qualifier on the Illinois River. With all of this abnormal weather we have been experiencing the river seems to be a little ahead of schedule. Water temps are in the mid 60’s which is roughly 20 degrees warmer than normal this time year. Resulting in the annual spawning run to be advanced by a week or two.
An astounding 71 teams set out yesterday morning from Barto Landing in Spring Valley, Il. looking for those big girls that have not yet spent their eggs. Naturally the females weigh more than the males, so they are the target this time of year.
Teams were using a variety of tactics from hand lining, pole lining, vertical jigging and trolling lead core in a variety of depth ranges. Many of the teams spoke of 30-40 keeper fish per day with and average size of 15-16″.
The IDNR fish hatchery was on site to take all of the tournaments catch back to the hatchery to complete their spawning process. A total of 399 fish were brought to the scales. 91 of those were males and 272 were females and 34 of which had already spawned. Only two walleyes crossed the scale and no dead fish.
Congratulation to Randy Carroll and Shawn O’Malley for winning this event. Their 13.60 pound basket secured the win for $3,400. They also had big fish of the tournament a 3.22 sauger good for $710!!!!
I would like to thank all of our sponsors for all of their help: Hennepin Marine, Lund Boats, Mercury Marine, Doc’s Custom jigs, Barb’s Tackle and Woodstock Line.
Place Team Names Fish Weight Big Fish
1 Randy Carroll, Shawn O’Malley 6 13.6 3.22
Big Fish Award for $710 3.22 Sauger!!
2 Ryan Vecchia, Bill Elliot 6 12.99 2.71
3 David Kolb, Rick Zachowski 6 12.8 2.65
4 Gary Merkel, Jason Wrosch 6 12.72 2.42
5 Dave Hall, John Smith 6 12.59 2.48
6 Chris Clemmons, Bob Hausler 6 12.58 2.57
7 Steve Sandor, Paul Durdan 6 12.49 2.43
Lund Boats $500 Contingency Bonus Highest Finishing Lund!
8 Steve Tyszko, Kenny Lookingbill 6 12.32 2.72
9 Ken and Dawn Dage 6 12.28 2.15
10 Brian Ernat, Doug Schlenz 6 12.23 2.62
$100 Hennepin Marine Gift Card!
11 Max Actis, Mike Stuckert 6 12.13
12 Dave Puetz, Jason Thies 6 12.01 3.04
13 P.J. Mathews, Aaron Willet 6 11.95
14 Joe Miller, Mark Barden 6 11.9
15 Mike Kruswicki, Bill Puetz 6 11.74
Doc’s Custom Jig Bonus!
16 Jim Preissner, Doug Lampen 6 11.55
17 Rob Crowe, Chad Vandermeersch 6 11.51
18 Jim Melton, Rick Funcannon 6 11.49
19 Tim Ahrens, Carl Holten 6 11.25
20 Barry O’Flynn, Jake Thomas 6 10.91 2.28
21 Ryan Feldott, Brandon Samolitis 6 10.81
22 Jerry Oberlocking, Tim Ware 6 10.78 2.44
23 Mike Thomas, Bob Horvath 6 10.71 1.96
24 Dave Kleszyk, Dave Zurawski 6 10.69
25 Mike and Scott Doucette 6 10.65 2.51
26 Tom Giachetto Sr. and Jr. 6 10.4
27 Jeremy Piacenti, Bryan Read 6 10.33 2.27
28 Craig Smith, Nick Wallace 6 10.28 2.58
29 Jim Hassler, Dean Sweaney 6 10.25 2.44
30 Jim McDonald, Jeff Steuer 6 10.22 2.36
31 Scott Pirnstill, Boston Gilberg 6 10.16 2.52
32 Greg and Jerry Gott 6 9.97
33 Ted Mathews, Nick Mathews 6 9.92 2.11
34 Brian Mazur, Mark Mazur 6 9.88
35 Cliff and Leslie Banks 6 9.85 2.06
36 Barney and Lindsay Barnhart 6 9.72 2.11
37 Jim Lukancic, Mike Varman 6 9.71 2.07
38 Steve and Brian Skupien 6 9.71
39 John Dalzot, Joe Perez 6 9.61 2.42
40 Rick Parrott, Mike Tatera 6 9.57
41 Roy Vivian, Mark Michaels 6 9.51
42 Steve Jones, Nick Mankos 6 9.4 2.09
43 Jim Klein, Tony Rue 6 9.27 1.83
44 Dan Plautz, Dan Grapenthien 6 9.04
45 Roy Perez 6 9
46 Mark Actis Sr. and Jr. 6 8.97
47 Wally Neumann, Freddy Ray 6 8.78
48 Tom Matejewski, Jim Bernabei 6 8.72 2.61
49 Bob Kidd, Matt Grimsley 6 8.62 1.84
50 Steve Lotz, Dave Daughenbaugh 6 8.4
51 Chad Knotteck, Ryan Muffler 6 8.39
52 Bob Apple, Brad Linton 6 8.23
53 Lyndon Hogg, Gerald Markovich 6 8.14
54 John Janosko, Mike Hornbeck 6 8.14
55 Adrian Cliffe, Alfredo Montero 6 8.13
56 Craig and Todd Greskoviak 6 8.13
57 Donny Farrell, Jim O’Donnell 6 7.88
58 Jake and Jim LaPine 5 7.55
59 Bill Elder, Toni Kosi 6 7.52
60 Bill Guerrini, Mike Hanson 6 7.33
61 Marty Berns, Maury Schmerbach 6 7.26
62 John Monterastelli, Rick Yanish 5 7.15
63 Don Pape, Paul Pankowski 6 7
64 Sam Wills 5 6.46
65 Scott Anzulas, Bob Jones 5 5.6
66 Mark Meravy, Frank Zator 4 4.77
67 Jeff Edwards, Bill Hetzler 3 3.91
68 Kevin Byrne, John Balla 2 2.7
69 Michael and Michelle Swalec 2 2.37
70 Dick Bennington 2 2.23
71 Gary Dominy and Rickey Perez 0
399 664.86
Total Total #’s