Wisconsin angler promises National Walleye match championship with 30-pound bag in 2 times

As Parsons hauled his 2nd bag of walleye to the weigh-ins Friday, April 30, in Oacoma, the Wisconsin angler was emotion fairly great about his odds of finishing in the best 10 of the Bass Professional Shops and Cabela’s Countrywide Walleye Tour event. Small did he know his 31 kilos of walleye that he caught for the duration of the two-day match would crown him the top rated place and a $81,922 check, which provided $15,000 funds and a new Ranger fishing boat.

“This is a heck of a body of drinking water, but the key in this match is catching the 20-inch and more than. You can capture the 20-inch and below fairly a great deal anywhere in the technique,” Parsons said of the Missouri River. “The last time I was right here in the Chamberlain-Oacoma region was in 2007, but I enjoy this method. Chamberlain is suitable up there at the major of some of the most effective destinations to fish the river.”

Parsons saw achievement employing live bait during the tournament, which was held in Chamberlain-Oacoma for the very first time of the Nationwide Walleye Tour’s existence. The fathead minnows he utilized proved to be the proper preference, as he was ready to reel in four walleye more than the 20-inch mark. His largest fish of the match measured around 27 inches. Immediately after his very first working day on the water, Parsons caught 15 pounds of fish, adopted by a different 15-pound bag on Friday.

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“When the h2o is chilly like this and the fish are lethargic, it is genuinely fantastic to set a significant fathead on the line. That was the activity changer for us,” he reported.

Heading into the remaining working day of the two-day match Friday, Parsons was sitting in fifth put amongst the 100 execs competing, trailing a 19-pound bag that was the chief of Thursday’s opening spherical.

As section of the guidelines of the tournament, anglers had all of Lake Francis Circumstance to fish, which stretches a very little in excess of 100 miles. In whole, the lake covers approximately 102,000 acres and has a optimum depth of about 140 toes. Parsons claimed he was hooking a lot of fish in “much shallower” h2o than he believed.

Thinking about it is been about a 10 years due to the fact he fished Lake Francis Scenario, Parsons, together with quite a few of the anglers, trekked to Chamberlain about a week ahead of the event to sense out the waters. The selection to pre-fish was one that Parsons stated he “did not regret.”

“Some of the fish have spawned and some haven’t. The fish ended up a large amount shallower than what most men and women ended up heading in these bays,” Parsons reported. “We labored tough and place a good deal of hrs in in the course of the pre-fish. It was chilly as heck, but I was happy I did it.”

Chamberlain-Oacoma’s possess Troy Lorenson made his hometown happy, as the local professional angler completed in the best 10 out of the 100 professionals. Lorenson reeled in 28 pounds of walleye to complete eighth general in the tournament, earning him a hard cash prize. Execs who finished in the top 28 received prize revenue. Four South Dakotans completed in the top rated 10 on the pro angler aspect of the function.

On the co-angler aspect, Minnesota native Chris Stassen fished his way to the best of the 100 amateurs. Stassen’s 31 pounds of walleye propelled him to a initially put complete, narrowly topping the second spot finisher, John Herd, of Alexandria, Minnesota.

When lots of of the anglers weren’t far too familiar with the waters, Stassen is no stranger to Lake Francis Circumstance.

The amateur angler has been fishing the Missouri River in Chamberlain-Oacoma for approximately a ten years. As a Marshall, Minn., indigenous, Stassen doesn’t have to travel really considerably to fish Lake Francis Situation, which is a minimal above a 3-hour push from his property.

“I totally love this place. I’ve been coming in this article each calendar year for the past seven several years,” Stassen stated. “These pros put me in the suitable places, and I just experienced to make the appropriate casts.”

Producing his way toward the weigh-ins Friday, Stassen stated he was confident that he fished his way to the major 5. But he didn’t hope to arrive out on major of the five co-anglers who had been in the lead with 27 to 28 lbs . of walleye.

Chamberlain indigenous Brennan Lockwood completed in ninth spot among the co-anglers, earning himself a top rated 10 finish.

Anglers hit the drinking water at 7 a.m. and had to weigh their day’s catch of walleye by 4 p.m. on the Arrowhead Cedar Shore resort on the two days of the function. The pro-newbie design tournament makes it possible for each and every boat to have two anglers, and 100 of the fishermen are professionals, when the remaining 100 are newbie co-anglers. Every professional angler fishes with a distinct co-angler in the match, which are chosen randomly.

Out of all the walleye spots in the Higher Midwest, Chamberlain-Oacoma was picked to host the opening tournament of this year’s tour for a motive, tournament director Anthony Wright stated.

“This is just a great fishery,” Wright mentioned. “It is a person the greatest in this area, and we saw that today.”

The Chamberlain-Oacoma function is the to start with of four tournaments for this year’s Nationwide Walleye Tour. Up coming cease of the tour will choose put in May possibly at Sturgeon Bay, Wis. Mobridge, S.D., is a person of the remaining destinations on deck for the summer season tour, creating South Dakota the only state to host two of the Nationwide Walleye Tour tournaments this 12 months. Professional anglers and co-anglers who complete in the top rated 40 in the regular year activities will qualify to compete in the tour championship on Sept. 22-24 in Ottertail, Minn.

Wright deemed the 1st celebration of the tour a “huge results.” Considering only one particular boat didn’t catch their restrict of 5 walleye in the course of the total two-working day event, Wright explained Lake Francis Situation proved its prestige as one of the very best walleye fishing hubs in the Midwest.

“It’s extraordinary to see how quite a few boats weighed in all of their 5 limit of fish. I could not have been happier with how properly this event went. We love Chamberlain,” Wright stated.