Bill and Nick Ball Win Bago Walleye Club Tournament
Category: npaa
May 10th, 2014 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified May 10th, 2014 at 12:00 AM
The Bago Walleye Club kicked off their first tournament of the season at Winneconne, WI on Sunday, May 4th.
It was a tough prefish for the father and son team of Bill and Nick Ball, who took first place with 19.6lbs. They fished the tournament working a ½ mile stretch on Lake Winnebago where they trolled breaks and humps. They put four in the box early in the day and then hit a three hour dry spell. After picking up their fifth fish, they wouldn’t get bit again. They believe that the fish repositioned when the wind shifted.
Bill had bought one bait earlier in the week that was similar to a color that had worked well in the past for him. Sure enough, it came through again on tournament day and it was a scramble to go through the tackle trays and find other similar colored stick baits that would also end up producing. Bright colors worked during prefishing, but they wanted dark for the tournament.
In second place was the father and son of John and Jordan Peebles weighing 19.36lbs. They too decided to fish the tournament on Winnebago after having a good prefish there. When they got to their spot, nobody was there and the wind conditions were right.
Within the first hour they had four of their weigh fish. After a few hours without a bite, they went to another spot in the same area and picked up their last fish.
They were making short passes in three feet of water in a rocky area. Color and size were important, as all of their fish came on a small crank in two colors. Once the wind slowed down, their bite also slowed down.
Winnebago also produced for Karen Hendrix and John Noble after Poygan and Winneconne turned up nothing of promise during prefishing. In two ½ mile passes they had five hits by trolling cranks in 3-5 feet of water at 1.7mph. The bite for them was best when the sun was out and the wind was blowing. Number 4 metallic colored cranks worked best. They weighed 17.85lbs.
The next tournament is June 22nd out of Oshkosh.
For more information visit bagowalleyeclub.com
The Bago Walleye Club is sponsored by Triton Boats, Mercury Marine, PowerPole, The Boat Doc, Midwest Shooter’s Supply, Smooth Moves Seats, Hummingbird, OffShore Tackle, Sargento Cheese National Exchange Bank and Trust, Kiel Bait and Gun, Blanck’s Supper Club, Fat boy’s Bar and Grill Woodeye’s Bar and Grill, Big Eye Custom Lures, Quality Metal Fabricators, Critters Sports, Holiday Food and Sport, Black’s Lake Aire Supper Club, Tews Two Sports Shop, Altitude Roofing, Wendt’s on the Lake Supper Club, and Lucas Taxidermy.