Mudline Triggers Bite at Milford Lake Tournament
By Steve Weisman
GNWC Publicity Director
In the heat of the summer, go deep for walleyes, right? Not always! The
team of Brian Heiland and Jeff Schulte from Spearville, KS proved that as
they worked a shallow 8-12 foot mudline that brought them a six-fish limit
weight of 19.39 pounds and the $1000 first place check at the Great Plains
(Kansas-Nebraska) Region’s Milford Lake Tournament held on Sunday, July 17.
This was the fourth and final regular season for the teams fishing the
Great Plains Region of the Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC).
Second place and a check for $500 went to the team of Steven Meyer from
Eudora, KS and Corry Brewer from Olathe, KS with a six-fish weight of 13.46
pounds.
Meanwhile, the team of Greg Mekelburg from Yuma, Co and JD Baker from
Hoxie, KS took third place and a check for $200 with five fish weighing
13.06 pounds.
According to GNWC Tournament Director Greg Liebel, the positioning for
the Yamaha Outboards Team of the Year standings really took a big swing with
the team of Doug Duncan and Tim Brockman from Wichita, KS using their 7th
place finish at Milford Lake to win the team honors with 24 points.
Mekelburg and Baker ended up in second place with 26 points.
The team of Erik Everhart from Gypsum KS and Shane Bartlet took the
Cabela’s Big Fish Award of a $200 Cabela’s shopping spree and the $120
optional Big Fish Pot for their 8.04-pound walleye.
Heiland and Schulte’s decision to go shallow was the opposite of what
many thought would work. “Everybody talked about going deep and using
crankbaits, but we’re jig fishermen. We didn’t have much luck yesterday in
pre-fishing, but we thought we would start off the morning on this point,
and we caught a fish right away.” A 1/4-ounce jig with a pink or orange head
worked best. “We also used a three-inch curly tail group and a
nightcrawler,” noted Heiland. “We just stayed on that point.”
Meyer and Brewer also worked jigs but chose to fish in 28-32 feet of
water on a flat scattered with rocks. “The fish were there right away, and
we had our limit by 8 a.m.,” said Meyer. “We used our trolling motor until
the wind began to pick up, then we drifted until the wind really got strong
and then we anchored.”
For Mekelburg and Baker, #4 and #5 jointed Shad Raps and lead core were
the keys to their third place finish, but it did come with a price. “We lost
30 crankbaits today. We were working three humps and had to dig bottom to
trigger the strike. As we came up on top, there was a lot of brush, and
that’s where we lost the crankbaits.”
Baker noted that their bites all came while trolling into the wind.
“Usually, we get them going with the wind, but today it seemed that the
snapping motion caused the fish to bite.” He jokingly added, “I think I
might have broken even today!”
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 Wayne Hyman and Kecia Shellito from
Athol, KS in 5th place; Robert Purcell from Missouri Valley, IA and Allen
Meyers from LaVista, NE in 6th place; and Doug Duncan and Tim Brockman from
Wichita, KS.
For those interested in learning more about the GNWC, call
1-800-890-FISH (3474), or email the GNWC at [email protected].
With the regular season now over, GNWC Executive Director Barringer
talked about what is coming next for the Great Plains Region. “The Great
Plains Regional Championship brings the top teams together at El Dorado,
Kansas on August 13-14 to decide the Regional Championship.”
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.