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Team
Collignon Sail to Win at Gull
Persistence paid off in a big way
for the duo of Mark and Chad Collignon. The pair from Rose-mount and
Farmington found the little hump off shore from the Sandy Beach Resort
and just to the south of another popular pair of humps known as “The
Hat” and fished that one locale all day. And who could blame them?
Besides the fact that they landed a 28 1/4”er at 7:30am, they
had the spot to themselves. Well that is if you don’t count the
sailboats that showed up. Not long after beginning to fish Team
Collignon found themselves literally surrounded by sailboats as the
Gull Lake Regatta began. The sail boaters were courteous though and
even moved their finish line so as to not interfere with any MWT
tournament fishermen. Mark & Chad said they hardly noticed the
distraction though as they concentrated on catching walleyes. During a
tough bite such as the one we experienced at Gull Lake, one could not
afford to miss a single bite.
The Collignons’ caught a total of 4
walleyes during the day with 3 being of tournament legal size. Besides
the 6.79 lb. 28 ¼”er, the pair added a 23” and a 23 3/4“walleye to their
ice box by about 11:30am. Their 3 walleyes would tip the scales at 14.25
lbs and be enough to claim the top spot worth $2,000 at the Gull Lake
Qualifier.
A tough bite usually means slow
presentations and live bait tactics, and that’s just what the top three
teams did. The little hump that the Collignons fished was covered with
small rock and rubble, topped off at 23 feet, and was surrounded by 60
foot of water. Mark and Chad moved slowly and stayed on top of the hump
with their trolling motor. The pair used a lindy rig equipped with a
plain green hook and a leech on the end of a 10 foot leader to entice
the walleyes to bite.
Capturing
second place were the team of Pat Mulroy of Minneapolis and Tim Fritz of
New Prague. They also weighed in 3 fish for a total of 12.61 lbs
but took the run and gun approach and netted $1,250. Each of their 3
legal walleyes came from a different spot on Gull. The pairs first
walleye came off of Grassy Point in 12 feet of water. The 17”er fell for
a lindy rig adorned with a leech. Next stop for Pat and Tim was the “Bow
Tie”, one of Gull’s most popular spots for walleyes. Rocks and
scattered weeds attract walleyes here throughout most of the summer.
Motoring around the edges with a lindy rig and a leech the pair hooked
up with their second fish in 29 feet of water. The 28 ½’ walleye
would later tip the scale at 7.01 lbs.. They found their 3rd legal
walleye by pulling the same lindy rig and leech combination along some
wind blown shorelines but stayed out in about 16’ to avoid spooking the
fish in the clear water. Their 7.01 lb’r would prove to be the “Big
Fish” of the Gull Lake Qualifier by less than 1 tenth of a pound over
Paul and Doug Ranallo’s 6.93lber.
Mulroy and Fritz earned an
additional $500 in the Big Fish pot for their efforts, plus they each
received a Drift Control Sea Anchor from Drift Control. Team Ranallo
would take home $230 cash from the Big Fish pot in addition to their 4
place check of $800.
Despite having a total of 4
walleyes, Jeff White of New Brighton, and partner Steve Resch, Jr. from
Blame came up just less than a tenth of a pound short of what they would
need to take second place and settled for third place honors with a
total of 12.53 lbs. worth a check for $1000.
White and Resch camped out
at another popular mid lake structure known as “The Hat”, just to the
north of Team Collignon’s location and used the same approach, a slow
presentation with live bait rigs. Similar to the Collignon’s, White and
Resch used a lindy rig with red hooks and green beads attached to a 9
foot leader. The pair found 2 walleyes right away in the morning using
crawlers in 21’ to 24’ of water. They discovered some clam beds on the
humps and concentrated on those and added 2 more walleyes to the icebox
around noon. |
