Marinchek, Kindt Take Great Plains Opener
By Steve Weisman
GNWC Publicity Director
With two walleyes weighing over seven pounds and a total weight of 22.72
pounds, the team of Bruce Marinchek from St. Joseph, MO and Justin Kindt
from Gladstone, MO rolled to victory at Nebraska’s Sherman Reservoir on
Saturday, April 30 as the Plains Region kicked off their season on the Grand
National Walleye Cup (GNWC) circuit.
In addition to the $1000 first place check, Marinchek and Kindt also
captured the Cabela’s Big Fish Award of a $200 Cabela’s shopping spree for
their 7.6-pound walleye.
Second place and a check for $450 went to the team of Doug Duncan and
Jim Brockman from Wichita, KS with three walleyes weighing 7.75 pounds.
The team of Greg Meckelburg from Yuma, CO and J. B. Baker from Hoxie, KS
took the third place check of $200 with three walleyes weighing 7.45 pounds.
Although the key presentation of the Lindy rig and minnow combination
was the same for the top teams, Marinchek and Kindt shared the subtle
differences that triggered their success.
First, they knew after several days of cold, blustery weather that going
into the tournament it would be a finesse bite. So they lengthened their
snells and used six-foot long leaders.
Secondly, they worked 30-foot depths in the area where the big walleyes
had been taken during the hot bite two weeks ago.
It really helped their confidence when their first two fish were 7.6 and
7.3 pounds. Still, they knew that Sherman Reservoir could yield impressive
weights.
GNWC Tournament Director Greg Liebel commended the efforts of the top
teams. “They had to fight through some really tough weather conditions
during both the pre-fishing and then the weather today. It was cold, gusty
northwest winds pushing 25 mph and even snow flurries in the morning. Even
though Marinchek and Kindt brought that great weight to the scales, they
were concerned up to the end that they might not have enough.”
The Yo So Close Award, provided by AMFYOYO, manufacturer of the
innovative stowable folding landing net, went to the three teams just
finishing out of the money. They include James Knaggs and James Knaggs,
JR. from Ogallala, NE in 4th place; Brian Heiland and Jeff Schulte from
Spearville, KS in 5th place; and Dennis Vance and Shelby Vance from Selden,
KS in 6th place.
Liebel added, “Sherman Reservoir is a beautiful, scenic fishery. The
weather made things tough, but it is a tremendous fishery.”
The next tournament for the Great Plains teams will be Sunday, May 29 at
Wilson Lake in Kansas. For those interested in entering this or any of the
remaining qualifiers, call 1-800-890-FISH (3474), or email the GNWC at
[email protected].
“Now that the tournaments are underway, I encourage people to check out
our website at http://www.walleyecup.com. I think they will find it extremely
interesting to see how the teams do in each of the seven regions,” said GNWC
Executive Director Bernie Barringer.
Major national sponsors for the GNWC include Skeeter Boats, Yamaha
Outboards, Lowrance Electronics, YoNet Folding Nets by AMFYOYO, Aqua-VU,
Aqua Innovations, Cabela’s and UpNorthOutdoors.com. National championship
sponsors are Towtector Shield and the VIB”E” Lure Company.