Wednesday April 7th, 2010

Gary’s Day 5 Pre-Fishing at Detroit Report:

It’s about 7pm Eastern time as I sit to write today’s pre-fishing report. The thunderstorms are moving through Detroit so it looks like tomorrow morning will be a wet start to the first day of the 2010 FLW Walleye Tour event here at the Detroit River. Chris and I left the dock and got out on the main Lake to eliminate some water. Today, we brought four nice walleyes to the boat. Chris had the hot stick catching three of the four. I’m pleased to note, however, it’s my choice of bait we caught most of them on yesterday and today. We’ll talk more about the baits after the tournament and where we were but you might get a hint if you watch the Day 4 and Day 5 videos. We were dumped on a couple times during the morning by passing rain showers and the wind picked up as we headed back to shore about noon. On the way back to the hotel, we registered for the event, ran some errands, did some boat chores, then cleaned up to attend the rules and registration meeting. There are 57 boats at this event. A disappointing showing but tournament director, Sonny Reynolds, remains upbeat for the rest of the season and walleye tournament fishing in the future. My pro partner for tomorrow is Rick Zachowski from Milwaukee. I’ve known Rick for several years and have helped support his efforts with youth education following the tournament events at each location. I’m not sure where we’re going, either the River or the Lake, but I know he’ll work hard to put us on fish. You can follow the weigh-in at the FLW website we have linked from our site starting after 3pm Eastern time. Chris is the fourth boat out in the morning. By the way, Kevin and Marty picked up three today while Jim and Jesse caught one so it was a little slower day for them. I hope to have video from Rick at the start and end of the day–there’s no video during the tournament day when the pro is concentrating and finding and catching fish! So, for everyone who’s been reading and looking at the videos, thanks for your interest in Walleye Wisdom. Let’s wish each contestant a safe, good day of competition on the water!! Spike

Tuesday April 6th, 2010

Gary’s Day 4 Pre-Fishing at Detroit Report:

Hey, Walleye Wisdom watchers! Chris and I had a great day on the water and I encourage you to view the videos from Day 4. We started in the river and I managed to catch a really nice fish to start the day jigging. We checked out the spot then Chris decided I shouldn’t miss at least one day on the Lake so we headed the Ranger 620 out to the big water. We caught another four fish trolling cranks with me catching three of the four on baits I suggested!! Two males and two females came to the boat with one really nice fish. We left the spot and headed back to clean up and get ready for our final pre-fishing tomorrow morning before the FLW Tournament rules meeting late afternoon. Kevin and Marty caught a couple walleyes today along with some smallmouth bass up river while Jim and his young partner, Jesse, caught around 12 walleyes jigging in the river. Jesse, Marty, and I will be paired with our pro partners tomorrow following the rules meeting. Be sure to go to the FLW link on our site to check out the tournament coverage and watch the weights as we come across the scales Thursday and Friday. Our final pre-fishing report will be tomorrow. Not sure where we’ll be but hope to have a good report for you tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who’s watching WW videos and your coming to visit our site! Spike”

Monday April 5th, 2010

Gary’s Day 3 Pre-Fishing at Detroit Report:

I wanted to start writing today’s summary before going to put the videos on youtube for you…it was a tough day: “Tragedy Strikes Day 3 Pre-Fishing at Detroit River”…Chris and I had driven to the Elizabeth Park launch at Trenton to meet with Ron Hunter from Lowrance and have Ron do an update on Chris’s unit. I had walked over to purchase a pass to use the launch for the day when I looked back toward the cement launch area and saw a man fall to the concrete, flat on his back and having difficulty breathing. Chris ran down from Ron’s RV and I ran over from the Park office. The man’s son was calling 911 while Chris and a friend of the man performed CPR. Apparently, the man had suffered chest pains out on the water and they raced back to the launch site. We waited in what seemed like eternity for the paramedics to arrive. They took over, got the man in the ambulance, and rushed off for the nearest hospital. The man’s name was Paul and I did not get his last name or the name of his son or friend. We got out on the water still shaking from the experience and were saddened to learn mid-afternoon the man had died. We only hope there’s a great body of water for him to fish up in Heaven. Today’s exeperience shows us how fragile life is and how we must enjoy each day and tell the people who matter to us how much we love them each day. Now, for the fishing report: Kevin went out to the main lake and caught one walleye then came into the river and caught another five. Jim stayed in the river during the day and ended up boating ten walleyes. Chris and I stayed in the river all day, too, moving from spot to spot. We managed to catch four smallmouth bass at the same time on a rock pile just up from downtown Detroit. We finally caught a walleye late in the day in the mess of boats down by the “candy canes”. We stayed on the water later to try and make up for the lost time this morning. Thanks, everyone, for checking out Walleye Wisdom and our daily reports from Detroit. Spike

Sunday, April 4th, 2010

Gary’s Day 2 Pre-Fishing at Detroit Report:

“Chris and I managed to catch three nice walleyes today! Actually, Chris caught ’em and I caught a Goby! We stayed in the river all day and moved around a lot checking spots. Our biggest was a walleye just under 29 inches–a spawned out female. Kevin caught three out on the main lake trolling while Jim and Marty came through with six all in the river jigging! Tomorrow brings another day as we mix it up and each pro attacks a different area to see what’s working. Thanks to everyone following the reports from Detroit on WW!! Gary”

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

Gary Speicher and Chris Burns are fishing the FLW Detroit River tournament currently taking place at the Elizabeth Park Marina, Trenton, MI. Here are some details about their first day on the water:

Hi, Walleye Wisdom readers! Chris Burns and I started jigging with half ounce jigs tipped with plastics and worked our way up to where most of the locals were which was just below the power plant. We switched over to pole-lining with three ways running Number 7 Shallow Shad Raps on a ten foot leader with four ounce lead weights off the three way. We trolled up river weaving in and out of the other boats slip jigging down the river. There were all kinds of boats from all over the upper Midwest on the river! We finished up on the East side of the river doing the same thing while the wind and rain picked up (up to 25 mph) and we ran through a bunch of Chris’s spots from being here in 2007. Chris’s pro team of Kevin O’Malley and Jim Hughes were on the water today, too. Kevin, Marty Barksi, and Barry Gropp did catch two Muskies (pic here) while jigging for walleyes up by downtown Detroit. Jim got on the water mid-afternoon and was fishing by himself. No bites for him either. Tonight, the “team” will plan their strategy for tomorrow, Easter Sunday. Take care everyone. Gary

From the sound of it the water conditions are pretty rough so lets wish Chris and Gary good luck and safe passage!

Today’s videos will be uploaded as soon as possible so keep checking back on the video page.

More tournament info can be found here.