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Team Johnson “Rig”
State Championship
Actually the 2004 edition of the MWT’s
State Championship on the Woman/Girl Lake chain near Longville was
rigged by the top three teams.
Very favorable weather dominated the
2day event as did live bait presentations. Day One began overcast and
breezy with a 12—18 mph NW wind which would create a very manageable
walleye chop on much of the lake for the 31 competing teams. Most teams
were live bait rigging on Woman Lake with crawler presentations and some
were pulling crankbaits with leadcore in the deeper portions of the
lake. As the Day One weigh-in would come to a close it became evident
that rigging live bait was the dominate method as the top three teams
were all using nightcrawlers. Bryan Winterfeldt of Dassel and partner
Don “Chip” Neubarth of Hutchinson would weigh in with an impressive
23.60 lb, six fish limit to take better than a 3 ‘A lb lead over Team
Gibbons. Pat and Jim Gibbons from Lino Lakes and St. Paul, would also
weigh a six fish limit, with 19.98 lbs of walleye. Setting in third
place heading into Day Two were Team Johnson, Wayne from Miltona and Tom
from Ottertail, who also weighed in a six fish limit at 19.04 lbs.
Three seven pound plus walleyes were
weighed on Day One with the biggest, a 7.61 pound walleye, caught by
Team Gibbons. They would collect $200 cash from the big fish pot for
the day. Second largest big fish for Day One would go to Mark Daschner,
Armstrong, IA, and partner Troy Behsman, from Cleveland with a 7.58
lb walleye worth $110.00.
The weather forecast for Day Two was
similar to Day One except for a 180 degree turn in the wind direction -
from the NW around to the SE. Could this reversal in wind direction
affect some of the top teams patterns and open the door for some of
those teams fishing less wind dependant locations to make a move on Day
Two? There was a strong southerly wind on Friday, the last day of
prefishing, and many of the teams reported good fishing then.
Day Two dawned overcast but would
quickly clear off to bright sunshine. A mid morning boat ride would
find that most teams were scattered throughout Woman Lake and that most
were sticking with their Day One patterns. A quick check of Winterfeldt
and Neubarth, the current leaders, would find them with 3 fish in the
box by 8:45am. Plenty of time left in the day to fill out and
maybe put a big kicker fish in the box to make them unreachable with
their 3 1/2 pound Day One lead. Another check in early
afternoon found Team Johnson, currently in third, with a limit and they
had a big fish to go with it. The final day weigh-in to was shaping up
to be a close one.
Team Gibbons,
sitting in second place after Day1, would be the first of the top three
teams from Day 1 to weigh in. With a five fish basket at 11.18 lbs, they
would take over as current leaders with a total weight of 31.16 lbs. No
one else would threaten to overtake the lead until the final 2 teams.
Team Johnson, with a 6 fish limit would weigh first. They indeed had a
big fish, a 6.26 lb’r, added to their other 5 would give them
19.87 lbs for Day 2 and a total of 38.91 lbs. They would become the new
leaders with only Winterfeldt and Neubarth to weigh. They would need
15.32 lbs to win the State Championship. Bryan and Chip would bring a
considerable 6 fish limit to the scale but they lacked the big fish
mentioned earlier. Tom would set the sizeable basket on the scale and
punch in a 13.59 weight giving them a total of 37.19 lbs. Just 1.73
lbs short of what they needed giving the 2004 MWT I State
Championship to Wayne and Tom Johnson!
The top three teams were all rigging with
crawlers in and around weeds in the l2’— 18’ depths. Winterfeldt
and Neubarth caught 18 - 19 weigh fish each day and were able to
upgrade several times compared to Team Johnson who would only upgrade
once on Day One and twice on Day Two.
Team Johnson, fishing out of a
Warrior boat outfitted with Walleye Masters Splash Guards, were able to
backtroll blown crawler rigs slightly faster than normal into the 10—20
mph winds concentrating their efforts over the 16’ - 19’ mid-lake humps.
In addition to the $5,000.00 first
place check and meet plaques, Wayne and Tom, who finished 6th
in the Team of the Year standings, will also receive a $1,800.00 gift
certificate from Warrior Boats pair of WristSaver rod and reel combos.
Because Team Johnson was fishing out of a Warrior Boat, the Official
Boat of the MWT, Wayne and Tom will these also cash a $1,000.00
bonus check through Warrior Boats Cash Tournament High Achievers
program for their 1st place finish! Altogether, over $8,000.00 in cash
and prizes! Congratulations to Wayne and Tom Johnson on an impressive
win. |
