194 competitive teams headed out this morning for the first day of the Master's Walleye Circuit, sponsored by Mercury Motors.

The two person teams will be fishing for a first place prize of $28, 600.00! 32 other teams will cash checks this weekend too.

The Central Division's "Angler of The Year" title will be awarded tomorrow afternoon, along with a substantial check of over $8,000.00.

The morning started out beautifully with warm sunrise and partly cloudy skies with a gentle west wind.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly after noon. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 81. West northwest wind between 7 and 13 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Anglers were talking about the tough bite, due to higher than normal water levels, but also said that the "mud bite", or "trolling bite" had just started to take off, and were hopeful that it would continue to get better over the weekend.

Here are their replies (by team number. Please check the Live Leader Board for individual team member names):

Team 56: "I don't know. I think we're going to try our best, and I hope we find a lot more fish than we've found the past five days."

Team 67: "Well, the pre-fishing's been really good the past couple of days. The mud turned on, so hopefully it'll turn on for the rest of the week".

Team 139: "Well, pre-fishing was pretty good for us. We found fish on Monday actually, and I checked them three times, and there's some good quality fish there. We're going to have to compete against some other boats on that spot, but if we wait them out then we can do well."

Juls to team 139: Are you fishing the "Big Lake", or are you up river on the rest of the system?

Team 139: "Yes. We're on the lake. It'll be interesting, because we're supposed to get some 15-25mph winds today, and that might change something. But, I feel pretty confident. We're going to go for it!

Team 43: "I'm fairly confident. We're going to bebop around to a few rock spots... we got a few fish located in the "mud" too. It's like a milk run...we hit a few rock spots and bobber fish them, and we'll try to pull a few...try to get a limit. And, then we'll go out to the mud and get five big ones. It can work out real well. We'll try to get 15 pounds today, and try to stay in the hunt...that's the big thing. The first day you can't win it, but you sure can lose it."

Team 42: "As good as anybody I guess. It's a little bit of a tough bite, but I think the mud bite should start going. A lot of guys have been trolling pre-fishing, and waiting for them to go, and the water is finally starting to warm up. A couple of guys I talked to said they were getting them a little later in the day, so hopefully it will start a little earlier today. We'll do a little jigging to start and then we'll go out to the mud".

Team 19: "Not Good! We'll see. Everybody else is getting them, so I hear. I guess we're just going to go out pre-fishing again. We'll see what happens. We're going to make some changes and do some looking around, so hopefully that will pay off today".

Team 127: "Pre-fishing has been slow, but it should start turning around here while it's warming up, so things should pick up".

Team 193: "I think our chances are pretty good. The weather is good...calming down...and the mud bite should start today."

Team 181: "Nice limit. That's what we're here for! We're just going to go out and scrounge around. There's a West wind today, so we're probably going to head to the other side of the lake." (Note: the take off is on the West shore of Lake Winnebago).

Team 1: "I think it's pretty good today. We've had some pretty consistent fish all week, and we'll just see if they hold up today with the water dropping a little bit".

Team 31: "I think we have a good chance of bringing in a limit. Hopefully we can just get into a couple good ones today. That's what it's going to take...a couple lucky bites".

Team 113: "Everything's changing in the lake. The big fish are starting to bite out on the mud flats, which creates a whole new avenue of decision making. We'll know by 11 O'clock how much gambling we need to do... and, the more you gamble the more likely you will lose, so I don't think there's a real good chance that we'll be in the top 10. But, we're going to fish our hearts out, and if we get a couple of big fish, we'll be right there with them.

(Team 113 just recently took 2nd in the Merc Nationals and 6th in the Otter Street...this is a team to watch)