Andersen / Solum Go Back to Back

   Winning back-to-back tournaments on the MWT seems like an improbable feat with the quality of anglers we have seen on the Trail over the past six plus years, however it has happened before.  Twice before in fact.  Mark Daschner and Troy Behsman were the first to do it, winning the 2001 State Championship on Madison Lake and followed it up by winning the opening Qualifier in 2002 on Lake Benton.  Then in 2004 Wayne and Tom Johnson would win the fourth Qualifier at Otter Tail Lake and followed that up by winning the State Championship on Woman Lake.

  

Dave Andersen and Jeff Solum are no strangers to the Le Homme Dieu Chain, as Jeff lives in Alexandria.  That fact didn’t help them to catch a lot of fish, as they caught a total of seven for the day, but they were the right fish.  Their six fish limit would tip the scale at 19.81lbs and earn them their second consecutive win worth $2,500 and the First Place wood.  Fishing out of a Warrior boat also qualifies Dave for an additional $1,000 from Warrior Boats through their High Achievers Bonus Cash Awards Program.

  

Andersen and Solum started their day on Victoria by working out from the 16’ weedline a bit with Hi Tide live bait rigs consisting of a ¼ oz sliding sinker with a plain hook and a leech on a 4-foot snell.  At about 10:00am they would hook up with the second largest fish of the event – an 8.76 lber.  That walleye would be worth $150 in the Big Fish pot.

  

Moving into Le Homme Dieu in the afternoon, Dave and Jeff worked the northwest corner of the southern basin with the same Hi Tide rigs and boat five more legal fish here. 

  

Team Shatek – Ron from Lakeville and his son Andy from Cannon Falls – would finish the day in 2^nd place, less than a quarter pound back from 1^st.  Their 5 fish basket would weigh in at 19.60 lbs and include a 7.05lber.  Their catch would earn them $1,500 and the Second Place plaques.

  

Team Shatek would also be found working this same NW corner on Le Homme Dieu with live bait rigs.  Working over a small 27’ hump with leeches on chartreuse hooks about seven feet behind a pencil sinker the pair would boat a 26 incher.  In the afternoon they would move over to Lake Geneva and use the same rig along a 15’ weedline out in front of the Bible Camp.  They couldn’t find that 4^th slot fish that they so badly needed for the win. 

  

   Finishing in the 3^rd Place spot would be Randy Klasen of Maple Grove and his partner Joe Hyser of Minneapolis.  Their six fish limit would weigh in at 19.01lbs and earn them $1,200 and the 3^rd Place plaques.

  

Klasen and Hyser were also on Le Homme Dieu, spending the day in the northeast corner of the lake.  They found plenty of active walleyes along a weed line and worked the 17’ – 35’ range. They had boated 3 walleyes in the first hour and a half when they nailed a 26’er at about 8:30.  About 9:00 their bite shut down for a few hours but they stuck with it and added a chartreuse bead to a red hook and started catching fish again in the afternoon.  They had landed 13 legal walleyes and at 2:40 boated number 14, which was a nice one and allowed them to upgrade one of their big fish just before it was time to come in.

  

While most of the walleyes to cross the scales seem to have come from Le Homme Dieu, the largest walleye of the day came from Carlos.  Fishing a hump that topped out at 15’ in front of the Mount Carmel Camp, Dan and Rick Savage from Brooklyn Center and Stacy, hooked into a 9.82lb beast.  The pair used a jumbo leech on a red hook adorned with a yellow bead trailing a ½ oz bottom bouncer on a 5’ snell.  Their Big Fish of the day earned them $500.