The 2005 Minnesota Walleye Trail (MWT) State Championship was held recently on the Gull Lake chain of lakes near Brainerd. The season finale was won by the team of Bryan Winterfeldt and Darrin Herd, from Dassel and Hutchinson, respectively.

     Winterfeldt and Herd weighed tournament limits of 6 walleyes each day of the two-day event for a total weight of 27.36lbs earning them the MWT title worth over $6,800.00 in cash and merchandise. Landing in second place and cashing a $2,000.00 check were the team of Bill Bednar and partner Shane Gilbertson, both of Montevideo. Bednar and Gilbertson weighed a total of 11 walleyes over two days for a total catch of 18.50lbs. Netting third place, worth $1,000.00, were Tony O'Keefe and Tank Bungarden of Morris. O'Keefe and Bungarden weighed in 11 walleyes over the two days for 17.43lbs. Big Fish of the event went to Tom Sather of Minnetonka, and his partner Curt Anderson of Crystal, with a 5.57lb walleye caught on the first day of the tournament.

     Winterfeldt and Herd were fishing live bait rigs with red hooks tipped with nightcrawlers over the tops and against the sides of weeds in a bay on the north end of Gull Lake concentrating their efforts in the 10 -14 ft range. They would use almost a flat of nightcrawlers during the tournament sorting through sunfish to get to the walleyes they needed.

Bednar and Gilbertson, who finished both days in 2nd place, worked live bait rigs with red or chartreuse hooks tipped with red-tails over some real small 34' - 41' deep humps out in the middle of the north end. They sorted through 30 - 40 fish each day to come up with 11 legal ones to weigh.

MWT veteran's O'Keefe and Bungarden charged up from 11th place on Day One to end the tournament in 3rd place with a nice 2nd day catch of 6 fish weighing 11.40lbs. O'Keefe and Bungarden were also fishing live bait rigs with red hooks tipped with red-tails. They worked two 22' - 29' deep humps in the middle of the north part of Gull Lake along the west side on the first day and worked a hump out in front of Steamboat Bay on the second day before returning to their original spot from Day One later in the day.

Total payout for the 2005 MWT season exceeded $65,000.00.

Sponsors of the Minnesota Walleye Trail in 2005 include Warrior Boats, Drift Control Sea Anchors, Reef Runner Fishing Lures, Miller Brewing Co., Beckman Nets, FishingMinnesota.com, Sonny's Color Printing, LakeLady Custom Rod Builders, Glenwood Chamber of Commerce, Erichsen Marine Canvas, JB Lures, Lakeborne Tackle Co., Aqua Innovations,  Glasstite Truck Caps, and Phelps Tackle Co..
For more information, call PoleBender Outdoors at 507-764-2668 or log on to www.polebender.com.