WalMart FLW Walleye League Championship off to a Great Start

High spirits and good moods dominated the chilly morning air as the Boaters and Co Anglers of the FLW Walleye League Championship readied themselves for the first day of competition here on Lake Wissota in Chippawa Falls, WI.

Today's forecast calls for 79 degrees, mostly sunny skies, and light Southwest winds.

All the anglers competing this week have qualified through a series of three FLW Walleye League events in four different divisions throughout the country. There is a Wisconsin Division, Michigan Division, Minnesota Division, and a Heartland Division. The top 30 from each division were invited to the No Entry Fee League Championship.

Boaters will be fishing for a top prize valued at $53,000.00. The top prize is a Ranger 621 powered by either a 250HP Yamaha or Evinrude Motor.

The Non-Boaters will be competing for the top prize of a Ranger Reata 1760, rigged with a Minn-Kota Trolling Motor, Lowrance Electronics, and trailer...valued at $22,000.00.

Boaters and Non-Boaters were randomly paired by a computer draw. They will change partners each day. Each day, Boaters and Co Anglers fish together for a combined daily boat weight. The entire field fishes the first two days, and then they cut to the top ten Boaters and Co Anglers for the third and final day of competition.

I talked to a handfull of Boaters about how their prefishing has been and what their expectations were going out this morning.

When I spied this boat, I had to find out who owned it. Dan Steffens of Wisconsin is "Trolling for Homes", and is trying to help our four legged friends. I thought that very worthy of an interview, so first up is Mr. Dan Steffens!

Juls: How did you get here, Dan? I see from your shirt you're associated with Pamp's Marine, so I take it you qualified through the Wisconsin Division, right?

Dan: Absolutely, that's what it's all about. (smiles) I had a 2008 Ranger and a 2004 Ranger before that, and I'm very very happy with my Rangers.

Juls: How much river system and actual lake do you guys have to fish?

Dan: The river coming into the lake is quite long. When you get a ways up the river, it's about 4 feet deep with a lot of rock. There's no more venturing from there, for me. (laughs) The lake is about 4-6 thousand acres. I'm not exactly sure.

Juls: How many days of prefishing did you get in?

Dan: I've been here since Saturday morning. My Partner and I came in here to do a little prefishing. The first day was not...well, it wasn't a really great day. We had a couple of smaller fish. On the second day there, we got into them pretty good. We're hoping to hang on to these fish, and we're hoping they will be there for us the next couple of days.

Juls: What size fish are you catching, since there is a slot of protected fish here from 14-18 inches?

Dan: We've caught a bunch of them in the slot limit. We caught three of them out of the slot limit, and everything else is underneath the slot limit, or in the 12-14 inch range.

Juls: So, what are you expectations going out today? What do you think it's going to take to make the top ten cut for Saturday?

Dan: Well, I think to make the top ten, you're going to have to bring in 5 fish a day...bring in the 5 little fish. And, I think somebody's going to be lucky. I did catch a nice one during the week here. I had one about 34 inches.

Juls: They DO exist. (giggles)

Dan: (chuckles) They Do exist. He was about 12 pounds. I wish I had him today. There are some big fish. My partner had a 27 1/2 incher that he boated, so....we also had an 18" and a 20. So, hopefully, today I can pull one big fish and sit in the rocking chair.

Rob Lampman is here fishing the Boater side too. That name might be familiar to anyone who follows the FLW Walleye Tour, because Rob won the FLW Tour Championship on the Mississippi River in Moline, IL back in 2005 where he took home a hefty check for $125,000.00!

Rob and Paul DeVoss, both of Wisconsin, have worked together for several years now and both of them have qualified for this Championship. Let's start with Rob....

Juls: Hi Rob. How many days have you two been prefishing?

Rob: All total...I put in about 4 days of prefishing.

Juls: Have either of you ever fished this lake before?

Rob: Never.

Juls: How big is this body of water?

Rob: The main body of water, it looks to me like...oh...3 miles North and South and a little under a mile on the East and West. Then there's little creeks. I don't know the actual acreage, but it always sounds bigger than what it actually is.

Juls: So, we should be able to see all the boats?

Rob: Ah, if anyone's going to ask me where I'm going to be fishing, I'm going to say, "I'm fishing within sight of the launch". (Laughs)

Juls: So, how was your prefishing? What can we expect here?

Rob: I have yet to find that over fish. That 18 inch plus. I have yet to see that. I've scored on a few that were 17 and 3/4's. You know...they get you hoping and everything.... (rolls his eyes)

I think this is going to boil down to a numbers game. I think there's going to be some nice fish caught, but I don't think it's going to be the numbers everyone thinks...at least that's what I anticipate here.

Juls: What are you expectations for today?

Rob: I expect to put 5 fish in the boat. I plan to work hard to put those 5 fish in the boat, and if that right fish comes, that would REALLY make my day, because I think it CAN happen. I know we're in the right area, as far as the fish we are looking for. I never really focused on any one area very long, so I'm looking for the ones I need to put in the box. After that, we'll let the cards fall where they may. I think if you put 5 fish in the box, that are between that 13 and just under 14 inches.... I think if you do that, and don' buckle under, and keep anything smaller than 13 inches, I think you might do ok.

Turning to my left, I find Rob's partner on the tour and leagues, Paul DeVoss.

Juls: Hi Paul. Rob just gave up your prefishing info, so let's go to another topic. When you two show up to a new body of water, how do you break it down?

Paul: Well, we take off in our own boats in opposite directions and start working with different presentations and techniques until we find what's working and use that information for other areas around the lake.

Juls: Without telling me what you guys are going to be doing, can you tell me what kind of presentations will work for anyone else who might plan to visit Lake Wissota in the future? What kind of structure is here?

Paul: There's a lot of steep breaks, a lot of flats...you've got people pulling lead core, people pulling bottom bouncers, people jigging, you've got people running bobbers. Pretty much anything you want to do here you can do!

Juls: Well, we know what Rob's expectations are going out today...what are yours?

Paul: I'd like to get my two big fish right away! (laughs) And, THEN I can put those little ones in. But, he's got a great point...we need those bigger slots..the 13-14 inch fish.

Jason Halfen not only fishes the FLW Walleye Tour as a Co Angler, and the FLW Walleye League Minnesota Div. as a Boater, but he is also a Chemistry Professor 9 months a year, and a Fishing Guide on Lake Wissota 3 months a year.

Juls: How long have you been a guide on this lake?

Jason: For about the last 5 years.

Juls: What kind of techniques/presentations will people be using here?

Jason: Well, there's a real diversity of structure here. Shallow weeds that people can fish. There's open water that people pull spinners and harnesses over. There's a Lead Core bite right now. There's kind of  longline over shallow rocks that poeple can do. Really, it speaks to a lot of people's strengths. A lot of people will catch fish in a lot of different ways.

Juls: How many days of prefishing did you get in?

Jason: I had probably.... over the last month, maybe 12 days of prefishing.

Juls: What are your expectations going out?

Jason: Based on my experience, I hope that I can get at least one over 18. Right now, at this time of year, those overs are very hard to come by. The one's people catch will be very well fed. An 18 inch fish will look just like a 22 incher...they have that much girth to them. So, if you can get one or two of those, I think you'll be in great shape. I think there's also going to be a bunch of bags with 12-13 inch fish in them.

John Balla won the Heartland Division and is one of the 4 division winners headed to Bismarck in a couple weeks for the FLW Walleye Tour Championship.

The winner of each FLW Walleye League Division was also invited to fish the FLW Walleye Tour Championship coming up Sept. 30th through October 3rd, in Bismarck, ND. Tour competitors will compete for a chance for up to $150,000.00 cash on the Pro side, and $20,000.00 cash on the Co Angler side. The Divisional "Anglers of they Year" are as follows:

Wisconsin: Brian Gustke

Michigan: Rick LaCourse

Heartland: John Balla

Minnesota: Toby Kvalevog

Juls: Hi John, how many days of prefishing did you get in on Lake Wissota?

John: I got in here Saturday about noon, so I've been prefishing since about noon on Saturday, but I've been having some mechanical issues for the last day and a half.

Juls: Were you able to get that resoved?

John: Not completely. So, I was off the at 9:30 yesterday. Yesterday, I was off the water at noon. Tried to get it figured out, and it's been reduced down to one thing, so I might have to resort to taking the cowling off a couple of times (frustrated laugh) to keep going. I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed. It's kind of an intermittent problem. It's running...then, it's not running. But, the part's coming in today, so I'll see what the dealer here in town can do to get me running good again. It will be all good and 100% on Friday, but maybe not today.

Juls: So, you've had that to deal with...

John: Right, so...I've probably had a total of 3 and 1/2 days of prefishing time here.

Juls: How has your prefishing been? What are your expectations going out today?

John: It's been pretty good actually. For the short time that I had, I was able to find some fish that I think are the "right" ones. Not a lot of them...and, I've stayed away from some of the spots after I did find some. There's plenty of the 12-14 inchers. I don't know how picky I'm going to be with the 13-13 7/8ths. 7/8ths or 3/4s...I don't think it's weight is going to change that much.

I've caught enough fish each day to know that I can probably catch those perfect "unders", but I'm really going...

Juls: (laughing) I can't believe we're talking about this....

John: (laughing) I know! What I'm worried about is a dead fish penalty. Some of those fish only weigh 8oz, which is a "dead fish penalty", so I could actually come in with fish and have a zero weight! (more laughing) We should have no problem keeping those fish alive though, so I'm really not that worried about it.

The other things was I had to get a smaller net. The hoops in my Beckman are too big! (laughing again). So, I had to go get a smaller weave on the net, so they wouldn't go through it.

To me, it's all about the "overs" though. I think if I can catch 4 overs in the two days, I'll be fishing Saturday. Three maybe? But, four for sure.  The better bite seems to be in the morning, so I'm going to go target those bigger fish first. Then, I'm going to go fill up on the smaller fish later on.

How will all the competitors do today? Check back this afternoon to find out. If you can't make it down to the weigh in site, you can watch the results within minutes of them happening, here on Walleye Central's Live Leader Board at www.liveleaderboard.com. Just click on the Lake Wissota link in the FLW Walleye Leagues current event there on the homepage.

The weigh in festivities this week will begin at 3PM Central Time for today and tomorrow at the Chippawa Rod and Gun Marina.

The final day weigh in will be at the Host Wal-Mart Store at 2786 Commercial Blvd., Chippawa Falls, WI 54729, and will start at 4PM Central Time.

FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit www.FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player's Advantage, visit www.FantasyFishing.com.