Michaels Duo Work Up the Water Column to Win the Michigan State Championship
of Walleye Fishing Title
By Steve Weisman
GNWC Publicity Director
Working up the water column, the team of Craig Michaels and Kern
Michaels from Farmington Hills, ME focused on suspended fish and captured
the $5000 first place check and the Michigan State Championship of Walleye
Fishing title at Saginaw Bay on Sunday, August 28.
The Michigan State Championship of Walleye Fishing, which is the third
of seven such tournaments on the Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC) circuit,
found the winners also taking the Lowrance “YOU WIN!” award of two Lowrance
LMS-332C color sonar/GPS units valued at $1400, making the total first place
purse worth $6400.
The winners weighed four fish for 15.45 pounds, giving them almost a
four pound margin of victory. They also took home the Top Family Angler
Award presented by the FoodSource Lure Company of $200 in FoodSource Lures
to the top placing family team.
Second place and a check for $2000 went the team of Ed Clements from Bay
City, MI and Dennis Gulau from Midland, MI with a three-fish weight of 11.55
pounds.
The third place check of a $1000 went to the team of Greg Yarbrough from
Port Clinton, MI and Jeff Seyka from Milford, MI with a four-fish weight of
9.90 pounds.
The Cabela’s Big Fish Award of a $200 shopping spree and the optional
Big Fish Pot of $560 went to the team of Dennis Osborn from Warren, MI and
Kevin Kasak from Sterling Hts., MI with a 5.38-pound walleye.
“I want to thank the Chamber of Commerce in Au Gres for all of their
efforts in helping us put together the Championships, and also to the Arenac
County Walleye Club for their help at the tournament,” said GNWC Executive
Director Bernie Barringer. “The fish were definitely scattered, which made
things tough for the teams, but the teams kept after it and made the best of
a tough bite.”
The Michaels fished in 30 feet of water, but found their fish to be 5-10
feet off the bottom. Craig Michaels said, “Although there were fish in the
inner bay, we felt the more active fish had moved out to the outer bay. We
figured we would be in the top five, but as good as these teams are, we just
knew that somebody would bring in five or a limit.”
The winners pulled both chartreuse and silver spinners and used
one-ounce in-line sinkers. They felt, however, that the real key to their
success was constantly putting on fresh nightcrawlers.
“We use Walt’s big jumbo crawlers. We have used them for several years.
Every time we made a run, we would switch crawlers.”
Clements and Gulau, who captured the Yamaha Outboards Team of the Year
award during the regular tournament season, also pulled crawler harnesses.
However, gold blades and gold beads worked best. According to Gulau, they
trolled at a slow 1-mph in 23-28 feet of water in front of the Singing
Bridge. “We found a lot of baitfish in the area with the walleyes suspended
about half way down.”
Gulau continued, “I really want to thank the community. They had all
kinds of banners and signs out to welcome us. The local walleye club was
also a great help.”
Several other special awards were presented at Sunday’s weigh-in.
The “Yo So Close” award of a Yo Net folding net valued at $80 went to
the teams that placed just out of the money. They include Cy Kondel from
Byron, MI and Jon Freese from Swartz Creek, MI in 10th place; Don Howard
from Davison, MI and Pat Marr from Merrill, MI in 11th place; and Ted Peck
from Swartz Creek, MI and Tom Coulter from Mt. Morris, MI in 12th place.
The Towtector Comeback Award of a Towtector boat protector valued at over
$269 went to the team of Robin Spencer from Swartz Creek, MI and Peter
Ghering from Fenton, MI.
Those interested in checking out the standings, reading the releases
about any of the seven regions or simply learning more about the circuit can
access the GNWC website at http://www.walleyecup.com.
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.