Great Plains Season Finale Set for Milford Lake
By Steve Weisman
GNWC Publicity Director
Everything’s on the line for the teams competing on the Great Plains
Region of the Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC).
One qualifier is left, and the teams head to Milford Lake in Kansas on
Sunday, July 17 to decide who qualifies for the Regional Tournament on
August 13-14 at El Dorado, KS and what team will win the Great Plains Yamaha
Outboards Team of the Year honors.
Heading into the Milford Lake Tournament, the team of Rich Farmer from
Wichita, KS and Cliff Doty from Lincoln, NE have taken the lead in the race
for the Great Plains Yamaha Outboards Team of the Year honors with a total
of 16 points. The team of Doug Duncan and Tim Brockman from Wichita, KS is
only one point behind with 17 points.
“This is a great way to end the regular season for the Great Plains
Region,” noted GNWC Executive Director Bernie Barringer. “It’s quite a
battle for the team of the year honors. Plus, I think the competing teams
will enjoy fishing Milford Lake.”
Milford Reservoir is Kansas’ largest artificial lake, with 163 miles of
shoreline and over 16,000 surface acres. According to Byron Johnson, owner
of BJ’s 66 bait shop, Milford has an excellent walleye population.
“Earlier in the spring, the walleye fishing was tremendous,” said
Johnson. “Then we had several days of rain in early June, which brought the
water level up close to five feet. That muddied the water, and fishing
really tailed off.”
Recently, however, fishing has improved again. “There was a tournament
here in late June that really produced some nice fish. If weather conditions
stay stable, I think fishing will remain good. In mid-July, the fish will
probably be deep-in that 20-30 feet of water,” added Johnson.
The tournament director will have the trailer at the Milford State Park
South Ramp 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 the Milford State Park South Ramp.
“I encourage the general public to come to Sunday’s weigh-in. There is
no cost to attend, and it is a great opportunity for folks to get a glimpse
at what tournament fishing is all about. The audience will also get to hear
from the teams and find out what presentations and tactics worked to trigger
the fish. This is a great way to learn about taking walleyes on this huge
body of water. It will also be fun because 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,” added Barringer.
For those interested in entering, the entry fee remains at $210 per team
for each tournament. Openings do still exist for the Milford Lake, 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 is happening in
all seven regions,” 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.