VISA /  "Mississippi River Quest"September 26, 1997 

Red Wing Minnesota

A professional fishing career that has come to full flower has also come full circle for 38 year old Jim Bell of Blaine Minnesota. Bell rang up a $40,000.00 victory in the final round of the VISA/Gore "Mississippi River Quest" just on waters upstream from where he won his first NAWA tournament event in Lacrosse Wisconsin.. After the first two days of grueling competition of what started out as a 35 pro field the field was narrowed down to 10 which set the stage for an exciting final day weight in. Bells final day limit of six walleyes weighting 21.86 lbs was the largest catch of the three day tournament. Bell had actually finished in second place the previous two days but under the new Quest format all 10 anglers remaining start from scratch the third day for a final shoot-out and everbody equal.Bell credited his many years of fiver fishing as the catalust for his second NAWA victory. Bell and his amateur partner Greg Olson of Pulaski Wisconsin devoted much of the week to fishing shallow water areas near deep drop offs jigging rods rigged with 1/8th to 1/4 ounce bucktail jigs and no bait. they had to be presented in water as shallow as four feet the walleyes would barely nip the jig so close attention was needed.Bell's $40,000.00 top prize included a new Tournament Pro 170 boat equipped with a 150 h.p.  motor and trailer.Olson, an 18-year-old tanker truck driver, won a fully-rigged Superfisherman 170SC with a 90 h.p.  motor and trailer worth $13,500.Though Bell and Olson caught most of their fish on small bucktail jigs, Bell said the bigger ones came while trolling. Once they had caught six keepers, they moved out to deeper water and trolled Reef Runners and s this is what brought them the bigger fish.

In his first high stakes Mississppi river shoot-out Norb Wallock of Conover Wisconsin became NAWA's "Quest Champion" which was based on a point system determined by the anglers position of finish in the four 1997 "Quest Series" events. This brought Norb a new  Norb and his amateur partner Steve Haynes of Duluth Minnesota took second place winning $10,000.00 by also working small hair jigs in shallow eddies. "The trick was to get the boat moving downstream at the same speed of the current and keep the jig as verticle as possible, " Wallock said "As soon as you varied just a little bit you would not get a bite. In regard to his "Quest Championship he a a consitent year and was also able to nail down a victory in the tournament out of Fairport Harbor on Lake Erie. In third place was Chuck Miller of Green Bay Wisconsin winning with a final day catch of 14.62 lbs and netted him a fast $9,000.00 crediting his finish to being in the right place at the right time.On September 27 th tournament anglers will return to the water for day one of the - "Mississippi River Quest team event the sixth and final event of this years new NAWA high profile two day team competions. The public is also invited to a free outdoor mini sport show and and a NAWA sponsored kids casting contest. TOP 10 "Mississippi Quest pro" anglers

PLACE	NAME	CITY	STATE	TOTAL WEIGHT	PRIZE  VALUE
1	Jim Bell	Blaine.	Minnesota	21.86	$40,000.00
2	Norb Wallock	Conover	Wi	18.37	$10,000.00
3	Chuck Miller	Green Bay	Wi	14.62	$9,000.00
4	Eric Naig	Cylinder	IA	14.27	$8,000.00
5	Scott Fairburn	Mendota Heights	Minnesota	13.38	$7,000.00
6	Jim Peterson	Elk River	Minnesota	12.31	$6,000.00
7	Michael Herrick	St. Louis Park	Minnesota	11.28	$5,000.00
8	Dale Stroeschein	Sturgeon Bay	Wisconsin	10.63	$4,500.00
9	Ron Seelhoff	Lewellen	Nebraska	9.69	$4,000.00
10	Ross Grothe	Apple Valley	Minnesota	8.34	$3,500.00

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Red Wing Minnesota Mississippi River Quest Team event day 2
 

The long and rough boat ride to Wabasha resulted in smooth sailing to a $1,740.00 victory for Rochester Minnesota, brothers Tim and Steve fields during day 2 of the - "Mississippi River Quest Team Event."I figured there were bigger walleyes further down the river , but the high winds today meant we had to battle the waves," said Steve. "Boat control was alot tougher in the wind too, but we adjusted and caught the fish we needed."According to Tim, another big key was not getting frustrated at the amount of gear that was lost." we were live bait rigging on a wing dam and the rocks would eat alot of our rigs,"he said. "We spent a lot of of our time tying more rigs after we used our supply up around noon, but it proved the best way to catch fish. There six fish limit weighted 16.52 lbs.Another local team Dale sogla and Tim dick grabbed second. the lake city anglers weighted in a six fish limit of 16.09 lbs and collected $1,050.00 in day two winnings.Sogla credited the teams commitment not to let there bad luck on the first day of competition affect the outcome for today. Sogla and Dick finished in 47th place on day 1 after failing to weight in any fish."Tim and I went back to our rooms last night and discussed what had happened." said sogla. "We put together a new game plan for today and stuck with it"Sogla and Dicks pattern consisted of jigging an eight foot deep trough on the Wisconsin side of the river."It was mostly the jigs with the live bait that caught the walleyes." said Dick. "We caught one keeper on the bucktail. but bait made the difference today.Joe Thelen of Coon Rapids Minnesota and Pat Hess of Anoka Minnesota hauled in day two's third best basket of 15.21 lbs and they collected $940.00 for their efforts.