Green Lake Third Stop for Minnesota Region of GNWC
By Steve Weisman
GNWC Publicity Director
The challenge of Green Lake and its clear water is next for the teams
fishing the Minnesota Region of the Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC).
Scheduled for Sunday, June 26, the Green Lake Tournament is the third in a
series of four tournaments concluding with the Minnesota Region Championship
on Lake Bemidji September 10-11.
Along with the push toward the Regional Championship, the top teams are
in a battle for the team of the year honors. The team of Michael Marushin
and Jeffrey Clem from Minnetonka, MN leads in the race for the Minnesota
Region’s Yamaha Outboards Team of the Year award with 13 points, followed by
the team of Corey Bohn from Kensington, MN and Jason Overby from Marshall,
MN with 21 points.
“Green Lake is a great lake to hold a walleye tournament,” said GNWC
Executive Director Bernie Barringer. “It is a clear, deep lake with
tremendous structure. Plus, we are heading into the part of the schedule
when there is a lot on the line for the teams on the GNWC circuit.”
Dave Kendall, who is employed by Mel’s Sports Shop, says that the recent
May Fly hatch has moved the walleyes away from the shiner bite to more of
the nightcrawler and leech bite. “Right now the best bite during the day has
been trolling crawlers or leeches in 25-40 feet of water, following the sand
grass line, which is at about 25 feet.”
By late June, anglers might also be trolling crankbaits for suspended
fish, also. “We have had a similar weather pattern to last year, and a year
ago fishermen caught suspended fish pulling Rapalas,” added Kendall.
The tournament director will have the trailer at Salsbury Park from 6-8
p.m. the evening before the tournament to take late entries and answer
questions. Take-off is at 7 a.m. with the weigh-in commencing at 3 p.m.
sharp at Salsbury Park.
“I encourage the general public to come to Sunday’s weigh-in. There is
not a charge, and folks will get a chance to see what tournament fishing is
all about. Also, we will have a couple of Aqua-Vu underwater cameras set up
in our release tanks so that the public can see how they work. The audience
will also get to hear from the teams and find out what presentations and
tactics worked. The weigh-in is a great way to learn about taking walleyes
on Green Lake,” added Barringer.
For those interested in entering, the entry fee remains at $210 per team
for each tournament. Openings do still exist for the Green Lake qualifier,
and Barringer encourages interested anglers to contact him at 1-800-890-FISH
(3474), or email the GNWC at [email protected]. “I also encourage people
to check out our website at http://www.walleyecup.com and see what the Grand
National Walleye Cup is all about,” added 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 FoodSource Lure Corporation.