It’s been a long, long time since I fished a weather shortened walleye tournament event but the rough weather at Sturgeon Bay, WI, made up for it this past week! Our rules/registration meeting on Wednesday found the flag whipping in the wind and the NWT pros a little edgy after a sketchy pre-fish looking for and catching the Green Bay walleyes out on the big bay. We were told upfront by tournament director Anthony Wright Friday might be a no fish day because of the weather report for Friday. Sure enough, we got to fish only on Thursday because they called it around 5am Friday noting a small craft advisory in effect for the day. Unfortunately, we could not fish on Saturday because the DNR will not issue a permit to fish Memorial Day weekend. I’m sure there has been plenty of discussion about the selection of the dates for this event since it was called. Anyway, I did not practice with any pros but did make a couple new friends from Hayward, WI: Ranger Pro Bill Kutka and his traveling partner, Dave Keller, at our lodging spot, the Beach Harbor Resort. If you’re in the Sturgeon Bay area, you might want to check out the resort which caters to the many bass and walleye anglers that come to Sturgeon Bay. My Day 1 partner was local Green Bay guide Scott Valleskey. When Scott’s not fishing or spending time with his family, he’s protecting his community as a firefighter. Turns out we’ve been Facebook friends for a while. Scott picked me up at the resort and off we went to launch at the Sawyer Park boat ramps. We were boat number 57 and due in at 3:40pm. There were 110 pro boats in the event, each hoping for a successful catching day. Scott and I headed for Green Island where we cast Rapala Rippin Raps along with quite a few of our closest pro friends. No luck. We moved west, trolled spinners for a while; then ran north and cast the Raps on a big piece of structure he wanted to check. With no success and time running out, we headed back to Green Island where Scott saved our day with a 7.37 pound walleye that he marked, cast to, and caught! That one fish garnered me 50th place. I want to thank Scott for running a Ranger 621 with Smooth Moves seats and a full windshield! Our time ran out. As we started back, I thought what could make this day WORSE–then it started to rain!! It rained at the weigh-in and the rest of the day. Please check out the Pro/Co results at the National Walleye Tour website and the summary story of the event. Congratulations to the winners of the one-day event!! Our next tournament is on Lake Erie out of Huron, OH, on June 24-25. I hope to get a couple days in of practice before the third NWT tournament of 2021. Hope you enjoy the pictures and videos posted by Mike G. Tight lines…Spike