Hey Kyle Schuchard here,
Just wanted to share the results of the second FLW Walleye Tour event. I competed as a co angler at the 2nd stop of the eastern tour on the Illinois River in Spring Valley, IL. After leaving home Wednesday morning at 5:45 am Eastern time, I arrived in Spring Valley around noon Central time. We hit the registration meeting and I was paired up to be fishing day one with local pro Tom Giachetto. There was only a 41 boat field for this event as the economy is taking its toll on the tournament fishing industry like everything else.
Day1..
The morning was a great day to be on the water with barely any wind or weather on the Illinois River. With the take off at 7 am and the check in time being 3 pm we where off up river heading to the first spot. We ran about 2-3 miles up river to a large sand flat where about 25-30 boats in the tournament started day 1. The Illinois river is known for sauger and few walleye and we had a length minimum of 14″. The river was full of young small fish. Catching somewhere near 80 fish on day one vertical jigging the current over the sand flats was astonishing, and having only maybe 12 of those fish being over 14″. Our 5 fish limit for the tournament weighed in at 6lbs 12oz landing an 8th place spot.
Day2..
I was paired with Wisconsin pro Brad Davis, a veteran pro with multiple tournaments under his belt. We also fished the large sand flats in the morning of day 2. Our presentation was different than the first day. We trolled with the current using 4 rods with small inline spinners and night crawlers as well as a large one ounce jig tipped with a fathead minnow. We fished the flats for about 3 hours coming up with no keepers, a lot of the boats fishing the flats tossed in the towel and moved around the river by 10 am. Not seeing many nets along the flats gave the feeling the spot was pressured hard day one and not giving up many keepers to anyone. We packed up the rods and headed west down river to a spot Brad mentioned he caught quality fish during practice. We managed one fish squeaking by right at 14″ walleye which tend to have a bit more weight to them than saugers. After 3 passes along this shoreline we packed up and headed further down river to a spot where Brad fished day 1 and we only had one other boat fishing near us. Beats the 30 boat pack we started the day in. We changed tactics and now were trolling lead core line against the current with number 7 shad raps along a 13 foot ledge. Putting 6 more fish in the boat with only one measuring 16.5″ the only other keeper we caught all day. It was a very tough day for many boats with a lot of boats catching only a few fish. Even the event leader after day one bombed and didn’t catch any keepers day 2. We weighed in 2lbs 7oz day to giving me a 13th place finish overall. I missed the top ten cut by 1lb and a few ounces. But it was a great experience and learned allot about river fishing.
The points earned from the first two events has placed me 2nd overall in the championship chase for the Eastern Tour of the FLW Walleye events. I look forward to hopefully qualifying for the championship on Leech lake.
I want to thank everyone, and all my sponsors for the continued support.
Poor Boys Baits, Fish Belly, Wrex Racing, Midwest Anglers Resource, Basstar, Strikezone, UV Tackle, Optima Batteries.
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