Walleyes Inc. Action packed adventures in walleye fishing on the internet.

• 2001 Schedule and Results
• MWC Sponsors
• MASTERS WALLEYE CIRCUIT TEAM OF THE YEAR 1997
• MASTERS WALLEYE CIRCUIT TEAM OF THE YEAR 1998
• MASTERS WALLEYE CIRCUIT TEAM OF THE YEAR 1999
• Spring Valley  Picture page

Date	Sponsors	Location	Town	State
March 24-25 Tournament Info  Results		Illinois River	Spring Valley	Illinois
April 21+22 Rescheduled Sept 8+9		Mississippi River	Dubuque	Iowa
May 1-5 Rescheduled Oct 16-20 Tournament Info  Results	Treasure Island Casino and Resort Championship	Mississippi River	Red Wing	Minnesota
May 19-20 Results		Big Stone Lake	Ortonville	Minnesota
June 23+24 Tournament Info  Results		Little Bay De Noc	Escaba	Michigan
May 19-20 Results		Big Stone Lake	Ortonville	Minnesota
June 23+24 Tournament Info  Results		Green Bay	Oconto	Wisconsin
August 11+12 Results		Lake Erie	Geneva	Ohio
September 22+23  Tournament Info  Results		Lake Pepin	Lake City	Minnesota

Locating mid-summer walleyes in Lake Erie's Central Basin can be a bit like finding a needle in a haystack. Tom Walters and Andy Schmidt  found the whole sewing basket during the MWC's first visit to Geneva-On-The-Lake Aug. 11-12. The circuit veterans from the Fond du Lac, Wis., area reduced the big pond to one productive quarter-mile stretch, and caught a tournament limit of eight walleyes weighing 59.38 pounds for their first MWC victory and a $5,000 paycheck

Like many of the top finishers, Walters and Schmidt made the 26-mile run
east from Geneva-On-The-Lake to the Conneaut area where local charter captains had been consistently taking good numbers of fish over 70-75 feet of water. Using crawler harnesses, they put together consistent days of 29.12 pounds and 30.26 pounds to edge Patrick Kotowski and Greg Olson, who finished at 54.52 pounds.

"When you're fishing 75 feet of water, there's a lot of water column to
fish," said Walters. "Big Jon is one of our sponsors, so we were using our
downriggers and going in increments until we hit some fish. Once we
determined depths, we started finesse fishing by using the sliding discs Big Jon makes and snap weights, and putting everything out on boards."

Schmidt said finesse was a key to getting the larger fish to bite. The
winners had the biggest day one walleye with a 9.89-pounder and carried two
to the scale Sunday that weighed almost nine pounds apiece. "I think that was a key with the clear water and just the size of the fish out there," he said. "They weren't young fish trying to chase down a quick meal and they've got plenty of bait out there so they didn't need to hit our spinner rigs. I think getting it right where it needed to be depth-wise, using clear Vanish fluorocarbon line on our leaders and keeping the rigs away from the discs and snap weights was a key. There wasn't any connection to the rest of the tackle,  so to speak, and I think that made a big difference."

Due to the time of the year, the Ohio DNR specified this to be a harvest
tournament.  Nearly half a ton of fish was donated to St. Augustine's Church, Cleveland's largest hunger center.  The fish were cleaned by volunteers from the church.
 
 

Pat Kotowski and Greg Olson Second Place

Bill Becker and Jeff Becker Third Place

The next stop on the circuit is Dubuque, Iowa, and the Mississippi River
Sept. 8-9. The Masters Walleye Circuit is a program of the nonprofit organization Wildlife Forever and  is used as a venue to raise money for conservation. 
www.wildlifeforever.org or  www.wildlifeforever.org or the Masters
Walleye Circuit web site at: www.walleyecentral.com
For more information Contact: 
Pete Wuebker
Wildlife Forever
952-833-1522
pwuebker@wildlifeforever.org
Wildlife Forever's Masters Walleye Circuit is supported by these 

Walleye Central