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Web http://www.westmichiganwalleyeclub.org
October 2014
Marb
Dues $30 per year
WMWC
Board of Directors
President
Tom Pachulski (231-856-0387)
[email protected]
Newaygo MI
Vice President
Larry Pachulski (231-856-0424)
[email protected]
Newaygo MI
Clerk
Jim Graff (616-889-8711)
[email protected]
Grand Rapids MI
Treasurer
Gloria Szymanski (616-735-3334)
[email protected]
10823 2nd Ave. N. W.
Grand Rapids, MI. 49534
Directors
Newsletter Editor
Jack Pikaart
[email protected]
Board Meetings are held the first
Tuesday of the month at the Outdoorsmen in Jenison.
le Ey
e
s
A Scenic Trip to the North
By Tom Pachulski
One thing that club members who decided to make the long trip to the North are guaranteed to take in at Burt and Mullet Lakes is the scenic view. The combined acreage of the two
lakes is 37,480 acres and a long ride in between the two is very beautiful. The fall colors
were not totally in bloom but it was still very breathtaking - lots of water to fish and plenty of
room for them to hide in all those acres. The fish would not be very cooperative for most
anglers during prefishing the couple days before the tournament. Reports of two to six fish
were reported from the members staying at the motel. The big question was if the tournament
would be cancelled due to severe weather that Mother Nature was going to deliver to the club
on tournament day.
Sixteen teams showed up to the Tuscarora Township launch on Saturday morning to find
out the tournament would be delayed. Rain, thunder and lightning would keep the club from
taking off at
the scheduled 7 am.
At 8, the
Board made
the call after
watching
the radar
constantly
to send the teams off at 8:30. Teams took off in the rain but the severe
Continued on page 3
Date
Site
April 12
Launch/Champs
August 2
McKerchie, Barscewski
5 @ 47.17 lbs.
Lake Erie
Dood, Almy, Sanderson, Sanderson
5 @ 34.04 lbs.
Saginaw Bay
McKerchie, Barscewski
5 @ 20.00 lbs.
Saginaw Bay Dood, Dood, Almy, Sanderson, Sanderson
5 @ 20.94 lbs.
Youth Event
SUCCESSFUL
August 16
Hubbard Lake
September 20
Burt & Mullet
October 18
Hardy Pond
November 8
Muskegon Lake
Detroit River & Lake Erie
May 17
June 21
July 19
Weathered Out
Buist, Driesenga, Beukema
5 @ 8.72
Hardy Pond
Fisherman’s Landing
4 PM to Midnight
Hardy Pond tourney will begin at 7:30 with fishing beginning immediately.
Return to the launch will be at 3:30 with weigh in beginning shortly after that.
Meetings 4th Tuesday of each month @ 7:30 held at West Walker Sportsman’s Club.
2014 WMWC TOURNEYS
Paul Antonowitsch (269-349-3759)
[email protected]
Jake Brandt (616-402-7694)
[email protected]
Jim Brandt (616-340-1873)
[email protected]
Al Dood (616-706-0601) NTC
[email protected]
Nick Dood (616-293-4306)
[email protected]
Andy Kris (616.887.5350)
[email protected]
Kenny McNees (616-234-1374)
[email protected]
Ray Mulder (616 617-1204 )
[email protected]
Ed Szymanski (616-260-1319) DNR
[email protected]
Volume XXII Issue 7
2
storms had passed according to radar, but everyone was aware to be on the lookout for pop-ups. Marine radios were on and everyone
was ready to get out and catch some fish.
Would members making the run to Mullet Lake find the bigger fish and make the run worthwhile? Even though the tournament
was delayed and weigh-in remained the same, four teams decide to make the journey to Mullet and the rest made the short run to
Burt. The rain decided to give the club a break but the wind was constant throughout the day. Boat control was going to be a challenge along with making the fish bite that you did locate. By the end of the day, it was evident that it was a very tough bite. Crawlers
on harnesses or "Slow Death" and bottom bouncers were the key to most of the fish caught throughout the tournament.
What did the club take from this tournament? The largest fish taken by Jack Hott (3.37#) again was taken from Mullet Lake
showing the bigger fish are in Mullet. The winning weight of 8.72 pounds came from Burt Lake and was caught by Bryan Buist, Josh
Driesenga and Brant Beukema. Only three teams were able to weigh in a five fish limit showing how tough a bite occurred. The final
thing we take from this tournament and all tournaments is that Mother Nature dictates if we are going to able to fish. Thank you to all
the members who attended this outing for your patience in the delay of this tournament.
1 Bryan Buist, Josh Driesenga, Brant Beukema 8.72# for 5 fish We pre fished Friday started on the south end of the Burt
Lake in 40 fow and caught 2 shorts. We then ventured to the point off Maple bay in 30-40 fow trolling north through the 60 ft hole
picking up 3 keepers. We used crawler harness and cranks covering all depths of the water column. All our fish were caught on the
bottom. On tournament day we made a plan to head straight to the deep hole pulling two inline weights, four bottom bouncers and
two cranks. We trolled for about an hour before we caught our first fish and it was on a green smile blade and bottom bouncer as
were our second and third fish! We ended up running all bottom bouncers with smile blades and slow death at 1.2 mph. We trolled
north of the deep hole all day picking up a total of 10 keepers and 2 shorts. We had a great time and can't thank Larry enough for giving us some great tips!
2 Tom & Deb Pachulski 8.17# for 5 fish Deb and I started prefishing Thursday on Mullet Lake. We tried various locations and
managed three small keepers and a couple of shorts. All the fish were caught on bottom bouncers and various colors of crawler harnesses. Not real promising to make that long run through the channel and also knowing there was a great possibility of severe weather
on tournament day. On Friday, we fished Burt Lake and caught six walleyes of which only two were keepers. We concentrated
around the deep hole in the middle of the lake. The fish that we caught seemed to be on the northeast side of the hole. Only one fish
came on a planer board and the rest on 3 oz bottom bouncers directly off the backside of the boat. A green harness with a gold #3
blade seemed to catch most of the fish. Most of the fish we marked were on the bottom. The weather made our choice to go to Burt
Lake on tournament day. We headed back to our points from the previous day. You definitely needed to use a large drift sock to stay
under 1.3 mph with the strong winds. We made four passes in 34 to 37 foot of water and the fish were caught on the north end of the
hole. Again, we caught only one fish on a planer board and the green crawler harness. The rest of the fish were caught on 4 oz bottom
bouncers off the back end of the boat with slow death / blue and orange smiley blades. Larry had mentioned he had caught some fish
on slow death the previous day and we decided to give it a try and it paid off for us. We caught our 5th fish at 2pm and never even
gave it a thought we would end up in the top 10, let alone 2nd place with what guys caught on the previous day.
3 John McKerchie, Paul Barscewski
6.76 # on 5 fish We prefished Thursday afternoon at Mullet Lake catching 4 keepers
and losing a nice one at the net with a few throw backs. We fished the northeast side of island 25 – 28’ of water pulling spinners with
inline weights. Friday morning we tried the same area and could not catch a fish. We moved to the other side of the island by the
deeper water and caught 3 quick keepers by Dodge Point in 30-35’ of water. Then we moved to another spot west side just north of
Topinabee made 1 pass catching1 keeper, 1 short, and losing 1 on the first pass. Then it became to windy for boat control so we
moved straight across lake to the east side by Stony Point and caught 1 more keeper. 5 keepers and a few short ones all on 4-5 oz bottom bouncers in 30-35’ water but we could not catch them on inline weights. Tournament day we started by Topinabee again fished
about a mile stretch in 30-35’ of water and caught 1 to 3 fish on every pass ending with 9 keepers and several throwbacks. The best
spinner was a #3 chartreuse with silver back that we ran on back 2 corners of the boat with 5 oz bottom bouncers which caught most
of the fish. A few were caught on the boards with 4-5 oz bottom bouncers with #5 anti freeze and gold spinners all Colorado type
blades 1.3 speed. Fish were smaller this year we usually get nicer fish in Mullet but not as many usual, 3-5 a trip with hardly any
throw backs. We still haven’t fished Burt Lake yet. These are very nice lakes to fish and we always seem to catch fish there.
4 Todd Paquette, Rick Palasek 6.32# for 4 fish During pre-fishing we tried both Burt and Mullet Lakes. Don Schut, who fishes
Mullet Lake a lot, was kind enough to give me a few spots to try but for all of our efforts we were unsuccessful there. We returned to
the more familiar waters of Burt Lake. We found fish in the north end of the lake both west and north of the deep Continued on page 6
2014 Big Fish List
Josh Hankamp
Terry Sikkema
Tim Timmermann
John McKerchie
John Flynn
Paul Barscewski
Scott Mathe
Paul Antonowitsch
Pat Dorgan
Dean Johnson
11.62
11.29
11.00
10.50
10.44
10.15
10.11
10.05
9.89
9.83
Detroit
Detroit
Detroit
Detroit
Detroit
Detroit
Detroit
Detroit
Detroit
Detroit
3
Northland fireball jig
with a live minnow in 6’
of water.
For trout and especially
king salmon fly fishing
has become one of the
biggest thrills for me to
catch these species.
For muskies casting large
baits and having a monster muskie attack next to
the boat is also highly
addictive!
Member Profile
By Jim Brandt
Members Name: Paul Anotonwitsch
1. Tell the members a little about yourself?
Fishing was always a part of my life as I originally grew up
in Fairplain Township, which is part of the Benton Harbor
area, and I was always near the St. Joe River trying to catch
whatever would bite. While in high school my family moved
to Berrien Springs where the St. Joe River was close by
again. In Berrien Springs I was fortunate to have two farm
ponds in my backyard where I could fish for rainbow trout,
bass & panfish. I currently live in the Kalamazoo area and
have been there for nearly 30 years ever since I went to
KVCC and WMU for my Electrical Controls Engineering
education. I have been married to my very understanding
wife Krista for 23 years and I have a son Kurt who is ready
to turn 14 this weekend. All of us love to fish and we plan
our vacation activities around some sort of fishing adventure
whether it be in Michigan, Wisconsin, Montana or Florida.
5. Do you have any secrets
you would like to share?
I have tried to capture
most of my fishing secrets (along with some of
Nick Dood’s) in the power point slides that are
posted on the educational
section in the WMWC
site. I’m sure it’s been mentioned multiple times but don’t be
afraid to go shallow in the river 4 to 6’ depths or shallower
and try to keep at least one line high in the water column
when trolling for suspended walleye. Also occasionally you
or others in your boat should take a look to watch other fisherman around you and especially when jigging in the Detroit
River. If you see a nice walleye caught in the Detroit River
that is within casting distance of you mark a waypoint on
your GPS even though you may not be on the exact spot
where it was caught. Keep a mental note as to where that
walleye was caught in relationship to your waypoint and you
will begin to start a collection of waypoints that will generally hold decent fish for many years.
2. How long have you been a WMWC member and why did you
join?
It’s been around 16 years as it was in the spring of 1998
when I fished my first WMWC tournament on the Detroit
River and I have been hooked ever since. I first learned of the
WMWC from a guy I helped on Gun Lake who was stranded
while night fishing. I gave him a tow back into the county
park boat launch and at the launch he informed me about a
bunch of great walleye fishermen that got together and
formed a walleye club. He mentioned that it was a great
place to learn from one another the techniques of catching
walleyes. Back then Larry Parks would collect all the walleye fishing information in a weekly email report and there
was even a call-in phone number where you could listen to a
weekly fishing report from the club president.
3. How long have you been fishing and why do you enjoy it?
6. What is your favorite fish to chase other than walleyes?
I was fishing when I was old enough to hold a fishing pole as
I have pictures of me fishing at very young age (3) off a dock
for panfish. Once you get hooked on fishing it’s an adventure
that never stops. My fishing enjoyment came from my Dad
taking me fishing at the trout ponds in northern Michigan and
my older brother and neighbor taking me fishing on the St.
Joe River and various inland lakes around the Sister Lakes
area. Also with having access to the spring fed farm ponds in
Berrien Springs, heading to the ponds was always and adventure for me and my friends. The largemouth bass in these
ponds would often be in the range of 4 to 5lbs and would
give any Zebco 202 spin-casting outfit a workout. We also
used to stock these ponds with rainbow trout and perch and
we enjoyed harvesting these fish for a great fresh fish dinner.
I became intrigued with lures to catch more bass and rainbow
trout out of these ponds and so started my bad habit of collecting antique lures and all types of lures and equipment to
catch more fish. In my field of work I sometimes travel overseas and I have met some great fishermen in Germany and
Japan. Even though there may be a language barrier in these
foreign countries, fishing is common bond that all of us can
relate to and enjoy with sharing pictures and stories.
It’s a tough call but it would be King Salmon for their relentless power to the finish.
7. What is your favorite body of water to fish?
In the spring Lake Erie is a favorite as you can use multiple
methods to catch walleyes from vertical jigging to trolling
and you have so many great ports to access the walleyes from
pending the weather and wave conditions. In the late fall
Little Bay De Noc has become my favorite spot for catching
nice walleyes after dark.
8. Do you or your boat have any special characteristics (nicknames/
handles)
Pauleye – This boat name came about when I was jigging the
Detroit River with my nephew and we needed to come up
with a unique handle.
9. Who was your favorite club speaker and why?
There have been way too many great club speakers to pick
just one but Ken Clark, Todd Conner, Mark Martin, Troy
Walwood and Lance Valentine all have been some of my
favorites. They are all kind of like the Talsma furniture ad as
they are “fresh and local” in the way they have great local
knowledge and have new/fresh ideas on proven methods to
catch more walleyes!
4. What is your favorite fishing method/technique?
10. Do you have any suggestions to improve the club?
Hand to hand combat for me has always been my favorite
method and as far as techniques it would be:
For walleyes it is vertical jigging as my biggest walleye of
14.31lbs came from the Detroit River vertical jigging with a
Probably an odd reply to this question but “Ask not of what
the WMWC can do for you but what you can do for the
WMWC” - Volunteer as much as you can whether it be at the
club promotion events, helping out at Continued on page 5
4
Club New & Notes
October On Hardy
On the 18th of October the club will travel to Hardy Pond for our season’s seventh event. This event will also be the club's qualifying tournament for the chance to fish the 2015 Cabela's National Team Championship (NTC) in Junction City, Kansas on Milford
Lake. The tentative dates for the NTC are the last week of May 27 through 30 of 2015. Members fishing the qualifier at Hardy can
only fish two in a boat and will follow our normal club rules. If you are fishing the Cabela’s part as well as the regular club event, it
will be important that you write "Cabela's" on the green tournament card which you turn in for your boat board.
One more note on Hardy, the board has decided to alter the starting and ending times for this event. This change has
been made because of the time that it now gets light. Take off will be at 7:30 with return to the docks at 3:30. There will be no delay
in the time that you are able to begin fishing. You can start to fish immediately. The launch will be at Oxbow Park. Please remember
when backing your boat to launch, PLEASE turn off your head lights. They are very blinding. There will be members with lights
there to assist backing in so guys are able to see where the edge of the docks are.
President’s Corner
By Tom Pachulski
I would like to take the time to say "Thank You" to everyone who has taken the time who invested their time in the Belmont
walleye ponds. As I am writing this post, the results of this project are still unclear. We have seen some healthy walleyes while trying
to harvest minnows from the smaller pond; however, the larger pond remains a mystery. The reward will be seen in the next few
weeks when the DNR decides to harvest the walleyes and move them into inland lakes. The result, hopefully positive, is a learning
process for the club. This was the first year that walleyes were raised throughout the summer for the Belmont Ponds.
I can tell you that this project has helped with our process in getting youths involved in the outdoors. Today I received an email
from Assumption Belmont School. The 8th grade class, which takes nature walks down the Rouge River Trail, are very curious about
our efforts with the ponds and raising walleyes. They would like to have a speaker come to their class and answer questions. This is
great because the WMWC has sparked interest in their minds. Maybe it will even encourage their parents to become future WMWC
members.
Online Ballot Available
For those of you who have not yet voted for your 2015 tourney lake selections, Gloria has set up on the club’s website an
online ballot for you to do just that. Using the ballot link, you are able to fill in the form online and submit it without the hassle of the
USPS or trying to get it to a board member. Hopefully, this will allow more of you who do not normally vote to do just that. Please
check it out and if you have not yet voted, make use of the form to get your ballot in.
Profile from page 4
the walleye ponds, handing out boat boards, weighing in the fish
or the most challenging but rewarding of all is to be a board
member.
11. Do you have any suggestions to new members?
Don’t be shy and pick our brains. It took me a while to figure quite a few of these
walleye waters but you can turbo boost your fishing knowledge by attending the
club meetings and talking to the guys around you. As previously mentioned volunteering at the various WMWC events can gain you access to quite a few new fishing contacts.
12. Do you fish club tournaments/events and why?
There is no better way for you to learn to become a more organized and an efficient
angler in catching walleyes then participating in a WMWC tournament. The
WMWC tournaments even though are competitive do not have no way near the
pressure of fishing money tournaments on the MWC, NTC or other money tourney
circuits. Remember to always have fun at these tournaments no matter how tough
the fishing gets. Finding a great crew and getting kids involved so that you can
share your fishing memories will become a life-long friendship that goes beyond
fishing.
13. Are you open to fish with others or have others fish with you?
As far as WMWC tournaments I currently have a dedicated crew and also have the
good fortune of fishing with other crews/boats pending on how work schedules
impact our fishing time. If I’m pre-fishing and happen to have an open spot then
there may be a possibility of having others fish in my boat. Building a solid relationship with a dedicated fishing crew is not an easy task but occasionally we have
to adapt to scale and the conditions to make the best out of each fishing adventure.
14. Are you open to people calling you for rides?
Currently I have a pretty full crew for my boat. Pending on how many guys from
my crew are available to fish an event we often become part of another boat that is
generally full. I’m always eager to share fishing information and boat rigging tips.
5
Walleye Pond Update
The week of October 6 Matt from the
DNR and several club members met at the
Belmont walleye ponds to do the final pulls
of fall fingerlings from the ponds. Tuesday,
the day of the first pull, was much anticipated by the members hoping to see big numbers of healthy walleye. Just over 5000
walleyes were taken from the ponds on the
first day. Average size was 5.5" with many
between 7 to 9 inches and some bigger than
that. 2200 walleye went to Wabasis Lake,
1800 went to Big Portage by Jackson, and
Long Lake by Kalamazoo received 1000.
The nets were reset for a second pull on
Wednesday. The pull that day was not as
great but nearly 800 more were taken from
the ponds. These went to Duck Lake in Calhoun County. The last set was to drain the
ponds as completely as possible put copper
sulphate in to force the remaining fish toward the catch basin. It took until Friday
morning for the pond to drain. That morning
we pulled over 500 more fingerlings that
went back to Wabasis. Congratulations to Al
Davis who headed the club’s part of the
program on its success. With the success
this first year, Matt thinks this will be happening again next year.
hole near Colonial Point. That would be our tournament spot. On the first pass we landed our
first fish. The second pass resulted in a double, and on our third pass we had our fourth. All
fish caught on bottom bouncers, on multi-colored crawler harnesses, trolling 1.2 mph in 29-31'
feet of water. All this time the skies were threatening but as the storm clouds passed so did
our success. We didn't have another bite the remainder of the day. It was another great event.
5 Jack Hott, Dylan Hott, Rob Griffith 5.83# for 3 fish This is our first year of membership, our first season of fishing tournaments and personally my very first tournament ever. We didn't know anything about either lake and did not get a chance to pre-fish either
one. On the morning of the tournament we really did not know which lake we were going to
fish. We stopped at a local bait shop and they said Mullett was producing more fish than Burt
so that is how we chose where to go. We've fished for walleye in Canada for a few years now
but our only real experience was jigging for them. We had tried trolling a couple of times but
didn't have any success. We've done research and asked some friends and they suggested
trolling with crawler harnesses and some stick bait in 20 feet of water or so. We didn't catch
anything on the stick baits but the crawler harnesses worked very well for us. After we chose
Mullett Lake we decided to start in the south east corner of the lake (Scott's Bay) and troll
north. We stayed in that bay most of the time due to our early success of catching three nice
fish in the first few hours of fishing. After the bite died down we decided to jig the sunken
island on the south west area of the lake but didn't have any success. We certainly learned a lot
and can't wait for the next time we can participate in a tournament. I'm certain we'll be better
prepared and hopefully will place higher!!
6 Larry & Donna Pachulsk 5.58# for 4 fish After prefishing most of the day Thursday
using traditional methods looking for suspended fish in the northern part of the lake, it became
obvious that it was going to be a tough bite. We finished the day with one 17" walleye from
Burt that hit a Berkley Flicker Minnow in 50' of water. Friday we went back to the north side
of Burt and were not marking many fish at all. By 2:00 pm, we only had one 20" walleye that
also hit the same Berkley Flicker Minnow in 35' of water so we decided to change things up
completely by moving all the way to the south end where nobody was fishing. I switched a
couple of poles out with 12 footers pulling slow death on 4 oz BB's and trolled through the 50'
hole in front of the river. In the next hour we caught 2 keepers and 3 short fish and a few perch
all on the slow death rigs so that kind of lifted our spirits a bit.
After the delay in the tournament Saturday morning, we headed right back to the 50' hole
and tried to battle the wind to stay on the spot we caught them Friday. It was a challenge trying to control the speed but we picked up 3 keepers in the first two passes on the slow death
rigs off the front of the boat. We just kept picking up and running back south and making
passes through the big hole all day but the wind was making it real tough to control boat
speed. We finished off with 4 keepers and 4 shorts and some perch with all but one coming on
the slow death rigs on 4 oz BB's from the poles in the front of the boat. Although the fish in
Burt don't run large, it's still one my favorite lakes in Michigan to fish. I want to congratulate
Brian, Josh and Brant on their win. They are some really good fishermen.
8 Paul Antonowitsch, Scott Steffey, Al Dood, Warren Thaler 3.40 # for 3 fish
Al ,
Thaler, Steffey and I started Thursday morning pre-fishing Burt Lake. With the weather forecast not looking the best we knew we had our work cut out for us with the windy and rainy
conditions. Based on past Burt Lake tournament experiences we decided to make the run back
to the Colonial Point east side flat and the mid-lake area hole. We started north of Colonial
Point in about 35 f-o-w near area 44 on the Fishing HotSpots map and we started marking all
kinds of fish activity while trolling on a Northwest heading. We set out 10 crawler harnesses
rigs on boards behind 1oz inline fish weights 15-40’ back with crawler harnesses. We also
experimented with 2 rods in front of the boat with 4oz bottom bouncer rod for 12 presentations total. We ended up working further north into area number 45 on the Fishing HotSpots
map and would troll back towards Colonial Point in about the 25-50’ depths to pick up our 6
keeper ‘eyes. The majority of the ‘eyes came on the 1oz inlines and we did manage to catch 1
keeper on the bottom bouncer rig. The keepers ranged from 15-1/4” to 20” and we tossed back
1 ‘eye that was undersized. That day we also worked along the Southwest side near areas 33
(Chippewa Beach) & 34 (Wauban Beach) and ended up picking up a 20” rainbow trout behind
a bottom bounder rig in the 30’ depths. On Thursday our best trolling speed range was 1.0-1.3
SOG. Small gold, purple and perch colored Northland baitfish series with Indiana and Colorado style blades with green or purple beads seemed to be the best colors for the crawler rigs.
The bite at times was light so you really had to watch the boards and sometimes you had to
feed the ‘eyes the crawlers by letting the board drift slowly backward a few seconds before
gently sweeping it forward and applying steady pressure. For Friday we tried multiple spots
on the west side of Burt Lake from area 33 (Chippewa Beach) up to into Continued on page 7
6
Pts. Thru Hubbard
1 Paul Barscewski
John McKerchie
2 Paul Antonowitsch
3 Deb Pachulski
Tom Pachulski
4 Pat Dorgan
John Flynn
5 Al Dood
6 Josh Hankamp
Jack Hankamp
7 Donna Pachulski
Larry Pachulski
8 Mark Grab
9 Nick Dood
John Sanderson
Nathan Sanderson
10 Jim Brack
Leon Spindler
11 Randy Pluister
12 Ken McNees
13 Jim Graff
Mike Herrick
14 Rob Sharpe
Mike Johnson
15 Jordan Stoutmeyer
194
194
181
174
174
166
166
163
159
159
154
154
143
142
142
142
140
140
130
125
124
124
123
123
122
Wt. Thru Hubbard
1 Paul Barscewski
John McKerchie
2 Paul Antonowitsch
3 Jack Hankamp
Josh Hankamp
4 Nick Dood
Jon Sanderson
Nathan Sanderson
5 Pat Dorgan
John Flynn
6 Deb Pachulski
Tom Pachulski
7 Al Dood
8 Mark Grab
9 Jordan Stoutmeyer
10 Rob Sharpe
11 Ken McNees
12 Mike Johnson
12 Larry Pachulski
Donna Pachulski
13 Scott Steffey
14 Dean Johnson
Ken Vermeulen
Jim Stull
15 Jim Graff
114.12
114.12
101.94
95.04
95.04
95.00
95.00
95.00
91.64
91.64
88.96
88.96
86.12
83.89
82.87
82.70
80.79
78.19
74.48
74.48
72.51
70.70
70.70
70.70
70.01
Reports Continued from page 6
2014 Burt/ Mullet Lakes Results
TEAM
LBS
1 Bryan Buist, Josh Driesenga, Brant Beukema
8.72
2 Tom & Deb Pachulski
8.17
3 John McKerchie, Paul Barscewski
6.76
4 Todd Paquette, Rick Palasek
6.32
5 Jack Hott, Dylan Hott, Rob Griffith
5.83
6 Larry & Donna Pachulski
5.58
7 Al May, Roger Wrench
3.66
8 Paul Antonowitsch, Scott Steffey, Al Dood, Warren Thaler 3.40
9 Mike Herrick, Jim Graff
3.03
10 Mark Grab, John Flynn, Pat Dorgan
2.95
11 Randy Pluister, Jim Brack, Leon Spindler
2.51
12 Derrick Cross, Jeff McVey
1.40
13 Teams fishing with no legal fish
0.00
Ed Szymanski, Gloria Szymanski, Jan Stanton
Josh Hankamp, Jack Hankamp
Steve Kling, Tim Kling
Bruce Brasser, Ben Brasser, Mark VanVliet, Ian VanVliet
Fish
37
Boats 16
Total Weight 58.33
Members 41
#
5
5
5
4
3
4
2
3
2
1
2
1
0
PTS
40
39
38
37
36
35
34
33
32
31
30
29
10
Avg 1.58
WMWC Board Meeting Minutes
Not present Nick Dood
Ponds are a SUCCESS!!!!
Just over 5000 walleyes were taken on October 7th from the Belmont
walleye ponds on the first day. Average size was 5.5" with many between 7 to
9 inches. 2200 walleye went to Wabasis Lake, 1800 went to Big Portage by
Jackson, Long lake by Kalamazoo received 1000. October 8 we pulled nearly
800 more from the ponds. These went to Duck Lake in Calhoun County. See
other related stories. The board gives a HUGE THANK YOU for all who
have volunteered their time in making this program a success. The DNR was
very very pleased with the results.
Hardy Tournament: Take off will be at 7:30 return to the docks at 3:30
(this is a time change), you can start to fish immediately. The launch will be at
Oxbow Park. Please remember when backing your boat to launch, PLEASE
turn off your head lights, they are very blinding.
Hardy is also the Cabela's qualifier for 2015, the rules are only two people in the boat and each person must fish four club events this year. please
mark your boat card if you are fishing the qualifier.
October speakers at the October general meeting will be Jim & Jake
Brandt discussing Muskegon Lake night fishing.
If you have not voted for the tournaments for next year, please vote and
return to Larry or any board member by November 3rd, the ballet is again
included.
New members this month are Larry Mast and Tom Downs. Welcome
area 39 (Green Point) and then back North over
to areas 40 and 42 without catching any walleyes
for the day. We had the spread of 12 lines out
again with a 50/50 split of crawler rigs and crankbaits. That day we ended with several small perch
and picked up another nice 20” rainbow late in
the afternoon near Colonial Point. After talking to
Larry Pachulski later that day we got the tip that
he was catching ‘eyes behind bottom bouncers
using slow death hooks with the pinched-off
crawler technique. Come Saturday we decided to
make our way back over towards Colonial Point
to work the Northeast side. As we set up we noticed the sky was very dark towards the North
and heard some thunder off in the distance. We
then saw a brief flash of lightning that spooked us
so we pulled the lines from this area to make out
way back towards the Indian River. On the way
back to the Indian River we made the calls to the
other board members to check on what they were
experiencing with the weather but by the time the
calls were done the storm front had already rapidly blown by and the weather was starting to clear
up. From speaking to Larry P. regarding the
weather he mentioned that it was nice and sunny
in the South end of the lake and the waves were
much more manageable. Based on Larry’s tip we
ending up worked the South side of lake near
areas 29 and 30 in the 35’ to 50’ depths pulling 4
bottom bouncers and running 8 boards for 12
presentations. The only consistent bite for that
day was the bottom bouncer rods with the slow
death / crawler presentation. You had to be on
top of the bouncer rods as the bite was very light.
We ended up catching 3 keeper ‘eyes and several
shorts using this slow death / crawler method. On
4 of the boards we also started running slow
death behind 3oz & 4oz bouncers but it was
tough to catch the weak bites. The other 4 boards
with crawler rigs did not get hits that day. On
Saturday our best trolling speed range was 1.01.3 SOG. Luckily the weather cleared up and
held off for the remainder of tournament. It was
one of the toughest walleye bites that we have
experienced on Burt Lake but the conditions and
the insight from Larry P. taught us to slow down
and use smaller presentations when you are dealing with cold front conditions.
A reminder there is no general meeting in November.
McKerchie/ Barscewski Extend Lead
With but two events remaining in the WMWC tourney schedule John McKerchie and Paul Barscewski have extended their angler
-of-the-year points race lead to 13 points over second and 20 points over third with 194 total points. Heading into two events where
historically John and Paul have placed very well, it appears that they have a pretty firm hold on the top spot. There has been a shift in
the second and third spots. Paul Antonowitsch has moved into second from third with Tom and Deb Pachulski moving from fifth to
third. With the limited number of boats the fish the last two events as along as the top pair catch a fish in both events, their finishing
in the top spot would seem to be a lock. Stayed tuned to the results to see if indeed John and Paul can hold on to their second straight
angler of the year title.
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Tactical Tactics
The Fall Fight
By Jake Brandt
It’s that time of the year again, fall is upon us. The pleasure boaters are off the water, the hunters are in the woods, walleye fishing is hot and the chance’s for catching a trophy walleye are at their highest. There’s only one thing standing in the way, the weather;
rain, sleet, snow and especially wind. It’s going to get nasty out there, but all of us die-hards will be on the water because while the
elements are at their worst the fishing can be at its best. Ten to twelve pound fish are knocking at the door.
October and November are notorious months among the Great Lakes. 52.6% of all known shipwrecks within the five Great
Lakes have occurred during these two months alone. Many of you will travel over to Lake Erie or Lake Huron this fall, 63.6% of
their shipwrecks took place during these months and our very own Lake Michigan has had 59.3% of its shipwrecks during this time.
Approximately 6,000 ships have gone down in the Great Lakes and 30,000 sailors have lost their lives. These lakes demand respect
no more so than during the fall. The danger, risk and adrenaline rush are some of the biggest reasons why we’re all walleye fisherman. You sure don’t see many bass, salmon or pan fish fisherman out there this time of the year. It isn’t for the faint hearted but the
rewards can be tremendous.
The biggest challenge to catching fish in the fall, besides finding them, is battling the wind. When trolling the wind
needs to be behind the boat helping push it along. As long as the stern is perpendicular to the wind direction it will help keep the boat
straight. Depending on the wind speed, some adjustments may need to be made. If you have a Minn Kota Terrova or other autopilot
trolling motor it should always be in the water. Even if the wind is light and trolling cranks, I’ll still put it down and run it in tandem
with my kicker. The kicker is for speed while the trolling motor’s for steering and speed control. These new “smart” trolling motors
are like having a first mate in the boat at all times, it steers while you fish. Once the wind begins to increase the kicker turns off and
the trolling motor becomes the only source of motion. As the wind continues to build you may need to use a drift sock. There’s two
ways to utilize this technique: First, it can be placed off the front of the boat and hooked to the eye of the bow. It should be running
directly under the boat, so boat length will determine rope length, but a good starting point is about four feet. The other option is to
run it off the back of the boat. Two ropes are required for this, each one attached to the furthest back cleat on each side of the boat. It
should be running just behind the big motor but not so close that when the boat surges with the waves it goes into the motor and create a mess. It also shouldn’t be so long that it could tangle lines, again four feet leads for each rope is a good starting point but adjustments should be made based on cleat location and motor size. This is my preferred choice, it does take two guys, one on each side, to
get it into the water, but it’s surprisingly fast to set up. The wind can be a friend and make trolling in the wind a very effective tactic.
There are many other tactics that work during this time of year, such as vertical jigging spoons, jigging Raps, using blade
baits and casting cranks to name a few. Whether the bow mount trolling motors down, or the anchor, the boat needs to be pointed
into the wind. This cuts down on drag and allows the wind to flow around the boat rather than bashing into the side pushing it
around. With the bow pointing into the wind you can actually use the wind to help keep you in one spot. The wind will prevent the
boat from moving to either side, the foot peddle will move the boat forward and the wind will push it back. Both types of foot pedals
work great but they have their advantages and disadvantages over each other. Electric foot pedals are king when it comes to trolling.
With the ability to talk to the GPS along with autopilot and continuous mode, the bow mount becomes the best first mate a captain
can have. However, during these limited motion techniques the old school cable drive foot peddle still thrives. This is because the
electronic pedal is flat so when your foot’s on it you can’t tell which way the trolling motors is pointing. The cable foot pedal tilts
based on which way the trolling motor’s pointed. This means that you can tell which way the bow mounts pointed without looking at
it. This is a huge advantage in many situations. When you’re night fishing or battling the wind during the day, it’s great being able to
work an area without ever having to look at your trolling motor. This leaves you more time to look at your graph and where you’re
fishing. More importantly, it leaves your mind free to focus on catching fish. Some may say “well just put it spot lock mode and
you’ll be totally free to fish”.
Personally I don’t like this option. Many times I’ll be jigging or casting a very specific locations and fishing these spot
on a spot areas requires precision. As we all know the GPS doesn’t detect slight slow boat movement, so by the time the GPS realizes the boats moved and the trolling motor reacts to correct this you’ve already moved off the fish. Since the bow mount can’t detect
wind direction or strength it either takes too long to return to the spot or it over shoots it. Your presentation gets totally thrown off
and your livewell at the end of the day will reflect this. When your vertical fishing the bow mount is the only option to fish effectively but when casting there’s another, better all-around choice. This is the oldest of the old school, the anchor. Anchoring is a great
alternative to running your trolling motor. It’s silent, which can be a huge advantage in shallow water at night. It’s extremely precise,
just motor straight into the wind from where you want to cast, drop anchor and adjust the rope until you’re where you want to be. At
this point you’ll be casting with the wind which is yet another advantage of anchoring. As long at the anchor holds and the fish are
biting you won’t need to worry about boat control the rest of the night, just hunker down and haul them in.
October and November are legendary months here in West Michigan. Cold, rain, sleet and snow are on their way. These are
the least of our worries compared to the winds that come along with them. The fish are there for the taking but precise boat control is
vital to putting together a productive pattern. Trophy fish will be caught and you have no better chance at a fish of a lifetime than this
time of the year. Stay warm and more importantly stay safe chasing these trophy walleyes and don’t forget to have a good taxidermist lined up.
Boats of the Month
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8
9
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12001 Marsh Rd.
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10
Check out our deals on the web at
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www.outdoorsmenproshop.com
Amercia’s largest online firearms and
accessories mall.
Check out our supply of Moonshine Shiver
Minnows the bait Keith Kavajecz used to
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Store Hours
Mon—Fri
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Saturday
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When you find us, like us so you don’t miss any of
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We now are carrying
678 Baldwin Ave
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Jenison MI 49428
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Call 616 457 3630
Remember there is no November general meeting.
10823 2nd Ave. N. W.
Grand Rapids, MI. 49534
WMWC
2015 WMWC Tournament Suggestion Ballot
Below are the choices being suggested for the 2015 WMWC tournament season. Please make your selections by placing a check or
X next to your preferred choice for each month. Ballots need to be received by any board member by November 3, 2014 to be counted. Only one ballot is allowed per member. Please make only one selection per date. The board well tally the ballots and set a tournament schedule based on the selections made by the members.
April 18, 2015
_______ 1) Detroit River - US waters only
_______ 2) Detroit River/ Lake Erie - US and Canadian waters
May 16, 2015
_______ 1) Hardy Dam Pond
_______ 2) Houghton Lake
_______ 3) St. Clair River - US and Canadian waters
June 20, 2015
_______ 1) Saginaw Bay (AuGres)
_______ 2) Lake Erie - Port Clinton (US and Canadian waters)
_______ 3) Lake Erie - Port Clinton (US and Canadian waters) 2 day tourney
July 18, 2015
_______ 1) Saginaw Bay (AuGres)
_______ 2) Lake Erie - Port Clinton (US and Canadian waters)
_______ 3) Lake Erie - Port Clinton (US and Canadian waters) 2 day tourney
August 15, 2015
_______ 1) NO TOURNAMENT
_______ 2) Hubbard Lake
_______ 3) Croton Pond
___________________________________
Club Member Name (Print Please)
___________________________________
September 19, 2015
Club Member signature
_______ 1) Croton Pond
_______ 2) Holloway Reservoir
_______ 3) Burt / Mullet Lakes
___________________________________
Street Address
___________________________________
City State Zip
October 17, 2015
_______ 1) Hardy Pond
_______ 2) Gun Lake
_______ 3) Muskegon Lake - Daytime Tourney
November 7, 2015
_______ 1) Muskegon Lake - Night Tourney
_______ 2) Hardy Dam
_______ 3) Saginaw River / Bay
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