Lake City, MN – There were no knock-knock jokes or head butts between these two Marx brothers, but rather tons of smiles and high-fives. Minnesotans Don Marx (Rockford) and Joe Marx (Clearwater) fished their first Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit tournament and captured the win on Lake Pepin on September 16 & 17th. The duo brought in 8 fish over two days totaling 40.33 pounds and cashed $24,884. They showed a field of 192 teams “a thing or three.” They won with over a fifteen pound margin.

“This is unreal,” shared Don. “Part of what feels so good in accomplishing this is going up against such a large field -- full of great local anglers as well as big names in fishing.” Joe piped in that he hoped it would be a fishing career stepping stone for them – which is just getting going. “We’ve fished smaller tournaments and had some success, but we wanted to put a slice of our winnings into a major tournament and give something a lot bigger a try.” Don agreed. “We hope this will open some doors for us for more things. We probably had the smallest boat with the smallest engine in the entire field – yet we got it done!” The size of the field and the professionalism of all the anglers overwhelmed the young guys – but they felt ready to step up to the challenge. They promised to be back next year now that they have had a big tournament experience.

The key to the team’s success was working their number one spot very strategically, trolling in the Vermillion River at the head of the lake; and also stopping to cast specific spots in the same area. In both cases they used jointed crank baits for their presentation. Purple was the key color and worked in a number of color combinations while trolling; particularly purple/green and purple/yellow. Finesse casting seemed to be most effective with green chartreuse shads, rolling the baits over the rocks and logs. “You can lose a lot of baits with this strategy, but the fish really responded to this presentation,” shared Don.

On day one the brothers probably had an 11-plus pound walleye in the basket; weighing three fish totaling 15.89 pounds. We don’t know the exact amount because only teams in the “big fish pot” are allowed to weigh a fish in contention for the angler-organized cash bonus. They didn’t get in because they arrived early for registration before the big fish pot was even open – no one was there to take their entry. They came back for the meeting but thought they could still get in after the meeting was over – but circuit policy is to close the big fish pot after the meeting starts. “Now that we know -- we won’t let that happen again,” said a chagrinned Joe. The big fish pot paid $1,105 for the biggest fish each day; gone with a rookie error. Their five-fish 24.44 pound basket on Sunday propelled the team from 4th place to first….their nearest competitor 15.09 pounds behind them.

Paul Fournier of Andover, MN & Ryan Olson of Cambridge, MN received a $200 additional cash bonus from Lindy for being the top finishing team using a drift sock during the tournament along with two new Lindy Drift Control products. Fournier & Olson finished in sixth place and cashed a check for $4808.

The $1000 Ranger Cup bonus was awarded to Jeremy Goddard of Green Bay, WI. Goddard and partner Steve Zegers also cashed the $100 Panther Marine Tech bonus. They finished in 4th place and cashed in $8573.

A $500 Tommy Docks Comeback Award for moving up 65 places from day one to day two was awarded to another set of brothers – Dan and Dean Krukow from Rochester, MN. The Krukow brothers also caught the biggest recorded fish of the tournament – at 9.69 pounds – which landed Dan and Dean another $1105.

Inhibitor Tough Times cash bonus of $100 was awarded to Ed Mucha of Shabbona, IL and Todd Maas of Johnston, IA.

MWC sponsor Ice Armor awarded Mark & Cathy De Deker of Larsen, WI with two sets of new Ice Armor cold-weather outer wear.

Farm & City Insurance Services drew the Van Dyne, Wisconsin husband and wife team of Ron and Vickie Goldapske for two new inflatable PFDs. FCIS also assisted at least one team with required safety equipment to pass morning inspection. The Goldapskes went on to take 2nd place in the tournament – cashing in $11,981. They were the only team in the entire 192 field to bring in 5-fish limits both days for a total of ten fish.

Food Source Lures paid out cash and “real food” in a game for the anglers awarding $100 to Wisconsinites Mike Schaeffer (Fond du Lac) and Chuck Wenzel (Brillion).

Frontenac Sportsmens Club did their usual stellar tournament operations work with the MWC. A dedicated walleye conservation fund of $2880 has been sent to the Club for their efforts in improving this spectacular river fishery.

Tournament Statistics

Number of Teams: 192 Number of Fish: 497
Total cash and prizes: $132,844 Total Weight: 1156.12 pounds
Water Temp: 62 degrees Big Fish: 9.69 pounds

Average Weight: 2.32 pounds
Water Clarity: Green with algae

Winning Pattern: Casting and trolling jointed crank baits in an area full of big rocks and tree stumps

Inside Tip: Purple color combinations for trolling, chartreuse green for casting, and finessing the bait to roll over the rocks and logs

2006 MWC Team of the Year goes to Jeff Manz and Greg Yarbrough

Jeff Manz of Vanderbilt, MI and Greg Yarbrough of Port Clinton, OH were crowned new Team of the Year for the Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit. The duo enjoyed a very successful season. Their East division rolled up with 10th place at Saginaw Bay, 9th place at Detroit River/Lake Erie and 3rd place at Henderson Harbor, New York on Lake Ontario. Their MWC Challenge tournament at Bays de Noc was a 4th place finish. Beautiful custom trophies with the MWC logo and stylized walleyes were presented to the team. Additionally, custom-made Team of the Year rings will be ordered with each of their names engraved inside. The race for points netted Manz and Yarbrough a cool $13,000 bonus. Each of the 2nd through 5th place teams received their own cash bonus of $1750 and customized plaques. Those four teams were:

David Kolb of Ada, MI and Dan Byers of Cedar Springs, MI

Brad Bull of Mason City, IA and Wes Rose of Terril, IA

Scott Aydelotte of Garner, IA and Jim Trow of Ames, IA

Jeff Seyka of Milford, MI and Todd Robinson of Hubbard, OH

2006 MWC Central Team of the Year honors go to reigning World Walleye Champs Aydelotte & Trow

Last fall Scott Aydelotte & Jim Trow captured a big win, the 2005 World Walleye Championship. When they started the 2006 season they set a new goal of team of the year before them. And they reached that goal in the Central division with 589 points. A $6298 bonus was awarded to this new Central Division Team of the Year. $848 was given to runners up in top five rank positions. Those teams were:

Brad Bull of Mason City, IA and Wes Rose of Terril, IA – 549 points

Mark Piper of Green Bay, WI and Randy Blasczyk of Green Bay, WI – 538 points

Tim Harms of Owatonna, MN and Chad Kruse of Allison, IA – 523 points

Mark Bruley of Ham Lake, MN and Joseph Fisher of Forest Lake, MN – 521 points

Don Olson of Andover, MN and son Michael Olson of Coon Rapids, MN were awarded the Cabela’s MWC Central Family Team Honors as Father and Son Team.

Kevin and Karen McQuoid of Isle, MN jolted to the top of the points race for MWC Central Husband and Wife Team of the Year with their 16th place finish worth $1000 at the Lake Pepin tournament. The McQuoids also cashed an additional $966 for their 2nd place big fish on day two at 9.19 pounds.

The Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit World Walleye Championship will be up next -- October 4-7at Prairie du Chien, WI, on pools 9 and 10 of the Mississippi River. For more information on the Cabela’s MWC go to www.masterswalleyecircuit.com or call the MWC office at 877-893-7947.

Next year’s championship roster is now set with all the teams’ points in place. The field of 59 teams will fish the Detroit River and Lake Erie, October 3-6 of 2007. The Championship qualifiers have been selected as follows:

8 from the East:

Manz & Yarbrough

Seiferlein & Kaniszewski

Kolb & Byers

Rhodes & Kuffer

Johnson & Defibaugh

Curmi & Jurik

Bringedahl & Conner

Seyka & Robinson

32 from the Central:

Aydelotte & Trow

Bull & rose

Piper & Blasczyk

Harms & Kruse

Bruley & Fisher

Solis & Wilson

Goddard & Zegers

Fournier & Olson

Preissner & York

Hoinacki & Palacek

Christianson & Munsch

McQuoid & McQuoid

Gasser & Gasser

Olson & Olson

Blosser & Tomlinson

Lauridsen & Haugland

Dahl & Stack

Russell & Shimota

Peterson & Sawyer

Boudreau & Curt

Skorich & Swanstrom

Michael & Mannerino

Warland & Kuchenmeister

Courts & Courts

Henriksen & Zollar

Sidor & Miller

Keller & Kropp

Rasmussen & Jakusz

Kordus & Hettinga

Kenik & Guerrini

Saunders & Willes

New & Dodge

14 from the Challenge:

Okada & Okada

Koester & Rhodes

Eshbaugh & Behr

Hausauer & Larson

Baumgardner & Hood

Zawicki & Sowinski

Pulkinen & McInerney

Carlyle & Johnson

Davis & Gies

Casper & Casper

Skupien & Kleszyk

Snyder & Kjoberg

Waltz & Barach

King & Kreger

5 from Cabela’s NTC

Fike & Fike

Mensing & Mensing

Bieker & Bieker

Ianiro & Stebbins

Rhodes & Gaines

Cabela’s is the title sponsor for the Masters Walleye Circuit. Official Sponsors are Lindy Legendary Tackle, Lowrance Electronics, North American Fishing Club, Mercury Motors, Outdoor Life Network (OLN), Ranger Boats, MotorGuide and Toyota. Associate sponsors are Salmo Performance Lures, Panther Marine-Tech Products, Tommy Docks, The Inhibitor, Food Source Lures, Ice Armor, Pennzoil Marine, Farm & City Insurance Services and Walleye Central.