Bies and Eimers Win GNWC Opener on Lake Francis Case
By Steve Weisman
GNWC Publicity Director
Even an intense thunderstorm in the early morning hours couldn’t slow
the walleye bite down on the Missouri River¹s Lake Francis Case on the South
Dakota Circuit’s first leg of the Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC), Sunday,
May 4.
David Bies of White Lake and Glenn Eimers of Chamberlain weighed a
six-fish limit of 13.36 pounds and took home the first place check of $1300.
They outdistanced the second place team of Daron Peterson of Humboldt
and Dale Peterson of Sioux Falls who weighed in a limit good for 11.67
pounds and a check for $675.
Third place and a check for $400 went to Lee Pulse of Kimball and Scott
Handel of Chamberlain. Their six walleyes weighed 11.37 pounds.
The Petersons also captured the Berkley Family Angler Award for the
highest placing family team and earned $250 in Berkley product.
The Abu Garcia Big Fish Award went to the team of Scott Sortino and
Allan Burkard of Sioux Falls for their 4.26 pounder. They won two Abu Garcia
6500 Linecounter reels for their effort.
GNWC Executive Director Bernie Barringer had this to say about Sunday¹s
qualifier, which headquartered out of Cedar Shore at Chamberlain. “It was
definitely the calm after the storm. We had an intense thunderstorm hit in
the night, but by the time we were checking boats, the skies were clearing
and it turned out to be a great day. We had 19 teams weigh six-fish limits,
and a lot of the teams caught and released several others.”
Most teams headed south of Chamberlain and worked the points and river
breaks to catch their fish. Pulse and Handel cast jigs shallow along points
and then went trolling later to try to catch a kicker fish, while the top
teams trolled lead core line, pulling Shad Raps and Wally Divers in a
variety of colors.
“I was really happy with the way the first qualifier in South Dakota
went. The accommodations at Cedar Shore were excellent and the location
worked great. This is a great fishery, and the GNWC would certainly like to
come back in another year,” added Barringer.
Next up on the South Dakota Circuit will be Lake Kampeska on Sunday,
June 1.
Major sponsoring partners for the GNWC include Ranger Boats, Mercury
Outboards, Berkley, Abu-Garcia, The Sportsman Channel and
UpNorthOutdoors.com.
For those television viewers who do not have The Sportsman Channel and
wish to watch the GNWC¹s television series Walleye Wisdom, be sure to call
your cable company or satellite television provider and ask them to include
it in their package.