“The pros have had a really tough bite with the weather and falling water temps during practice,” commented my traveling co-angler partner, Tom Harrison, as we drove from Suamico to our registration and rules meeting for the second National Walleye Tour event of the tournament season. The town of Marinette, WI opened up their new community rec center for us so we could register, have a great meal, then hear the rules and pairings for the Green Bay tournament. The weather had improved so the prospects for getting around on the Bay looked good for Day 1. My partner was Justin Schneider from Chilton, WI. Justin is one of the “hot” sticks the NWT is counting on to grow the sport. “We’re going to be doing several presentations tomorrow…so be ready!” Justin exclaimed as we left the rec center. Tom and I were fortunate to stay at Grace and Gary Mongelli’s home in Suamico so we had a fifty minute commute back up to Marinette each day. I found Justin in his Mercury powered Warrior boat at the launch site early Thursday morning. We were boat number 107 and due back in at 4:00pm. Justin was right–we cast Rapala Rippin Raps on his first spot and caught a 9.36 pounder the first hour!! The bite died so we moved into the Marinette River (he called it the nursery) and picked up a few more. Then, we went back to our primary spot north up the lake and caught another big fish! All I could catch were small fish but I was pleased I didn’t miss netting the fish we caught. The five walleyes we weighted came in at 26.36 lbs. Day 2 found me in boat 108 with Bill Sutton from Lindenhurst, IL. Our weather started out like Day 1 but ultimately the north winds would pick up and create problems for anglers who fished south of the launch. The Mercury Ranger Pro guided his Ranger 621 up to the same area I had fished with Justin! We pulled Berkley Flicker Minnows and Flicker Shads over the rock humps in 10-12 feet of water hoping to entice the walleyes up to bite. “That was a good start,” Bill said when we pulled two fish in our first half hour. But the bite died until the wind picked up early afternoon when we caught our best fish. We missed two reeling in at two different times. Bill guided us back for our 3:00 date at the NWT weigh-in. Our catch totaled 13.10 lbs. A crazy thing happened at the weigh-in: a thunderstorm with strong west winds blew in and disrupted the end of the weigh-in. Chip Leer hustled anglers through and Eric Olson’s youth presentation was cancelled because of the weather turn. Thanks to Eric for handing out the rods, reels, and other gifts to the kids who came. I finished in 21st place with my two day total of 39.46 winning $870 (gas money!). John Hoyer from Orono, MN led the field with a whopping 80.33 lbs netting $86,921! John reminded me he was in my boat as a co out of Escanaba years ago! Dillon Robinson from Walnut Grove, MN won the co-angler title with 74.25 lbs and $7217 in winnings! Please go to the NWT website using our link to read the full stories about each day. Thanks to both of my pros, Justin and Bill, for two great days on the water! Thanks to Grace and Gary for providing lodging. Our third stop will be Sault Ste Marie, MI July 25-26. Mike and I hope you enjoyed ready my story and looking at our pics and videos from Green Bay! Spike