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Candle and Noble Named All-American Anglers

Category: npaa

 Jun 6th, 2012 by OutdoorsFIRST 

Modified Jun 6th, 2012 at 12:00 AM

Devils Lake, ND – Johnnie Candle of Devils Lake, ND and partner Dave Noble of Dixon, IL, once again showed that they are one of the top teams in competitive walleye angling.

On June 1, 2012 they placed 3rd out of 125 teams competing in the Masters Walleye Circuit event.  Then on June 2nd the duo placed 10th out of 213 teams competing in the Cableas National Team Championship.  The events were held simultaneously on Mille Lacs Lake in central Minnesota.  The top 25 finish in the National Team Championship earns the team All-American Status for 2012.

The MWC event was the first of the year for Candle and Noble.  They will also compete at Lake Winnebago, WI, Lake Oahe, SD and Cass Lake, MN later this year.  The goal is to score enough points to qualify for the prestigious World Walleye Championship which they won in 2010.

The National Team Championship consists of teams from all across the country that were awarded spots from their local clubs and tournament circuits.  Johnnie and Dave represented the Lake Region Anglers Association from Devils Lake, ND.  This is the largest team championship for walleye anglers in the country.  This was the 2nd time in 3 years that the team has finished in the top ten in this event.

Candle and Noble fished live bait rigs on many types of structure between 23 and 33 feet of water.  Leeches proved to be the best bait, but a few fish were caught on night crawlers and Berkley Gulp! Killer Crawlers; a new bait that Candle aided in the testing. 

The regulations at Mille Lacs Lake prohibit anglers form keeping any walleye between 17 and 28 inches in length.  The team found keeper size walleye between 14 and 17 inches on the sand flats in the north end of the lake, then switched gears to the main lake mud flats to find a lunker.  One day one of the events, Candle landed a 6.59 pound beauty that was also the largest fish of the day for the MWC event.  That fish proved to be the key to the two top finishes.