Duncan, Brockman Win Wilson Lake Tournament
Category: Tournament
May 31st, 2005 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified May 31st, 2005 at 12:00 AM
Doug Duncan and Tim Brockman from Wichita, KS found the winning combination and weighed in a six-walleye limit weight of 10.50 pounds to take the second tournament on the Great Plains Region (Kansas/Nebraska) of the Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC) on Sunday, May 29 at Wilson Lake in Kansas. Duncan and Brockman won $1000 for their efforts. Second place and a check for $500 went to the team of Chad Richardson from Milford, NE and Britt Hazen from Mulvane, NE with a six-fish limit weight of 9.78 pounds. The team of Rich Farmer from Wichita, KS and Cliff Doty from Lincoln, NE took the third place check of $320 with a six-fish limit weight of 9.02 pounds. Meanwhile, Dennis Vance and Shelby Vance from Selden, KS took the Cabela’s Big Fish Award of a $200 Cabela’s shopping spree and $120 in the Big Fish Pot for their 3.71-pound walleye. Duncan and Brockman found their fish at the upper end of the lake, trolling jointed Shad Raps and Hot ‘n Tots over a 3/4-mile stretch of the river channel. “We found these fish during pre-fishing. We began the morning anchoring with a jig and worm. However, we only caught short fish,” said Duncan. “About 10:30, we began trolling.” They ran their lures 150 feet behind the boat and found most of their hits came in 12-14 feet of water. Duncan noted, “We trolled at 2.5 mph.”However, it was not by choice. “We had to use the big motor, and that’s the slowest we could go. The team that caught the big fish was able to use their kicker.” Firetiger and bright orange were their best colors. Richardson and Hazen went with bottom bouncers and nightcrawlers, while fishing deep, main lake points at the lower end of Wilson Lake. They found success using both a spinner with a glow blade and a plain hook with a glow bead. Richardson noted, “We tried cranks, but we didn’t have much success. We caught our fish in 15-35 feet of water.” The third place team chose to work points near the dam with orange and yellow colored jigs tipped with a nightcrawler. According to Farmer, “We trolled back and forth over under water points and found the fish laying close to the breaks in 18-25 feet of water.” Doty added, “It helped to be fishing with somebody like Rich who knows the lake so well.” GNWC Tournament Director Lyle Heidenwith commended the efforts of the top teams. “The weather had been up and down, but we had seven teams bring in six-fish limits. Each of our top three teams used a totally different presentation to catch a limit of walleyes. I think that’s what made this tournament such an interesting one.” The Yo So Close Award, provided by AMFYOYO, manufacturer of the innovative stowable folding landing net, went to the three teams just finishing out of the money. They include Austen Hamilton and Eric Frederking from Sylvan Grove, KS in 5th place; Robert Purcell from Missouri Valley, IA and Allen Meyers from LaVista, NE in 6th place; and Monte Orth from Hays, KS and Lonnie Orth from Wichita, KS in 7th place. The next tournament for the Great Plains teams will be Sunday, June 26 on Nebraska’s Lake McConaughy. For those interested in entering this or any of the remaining qualifiers, call 1-800-890-FISH (3474), or email the GNWC at [email protected]. Heading into the June 26th tournament, the team of Doug Duncan and Tim Brockman have taken the lead in the race for the Great Plains Yamaha Team of the Year honors. Their first place win at Wilson Lake and a second place finish at Sherman Reservoir give them a comfortable lead with three points. The teams of Rich Farmer and Cliff Doty and Chad Richardson and Britt Hazen are next in line with 11 points. “We are at the midway point of the year, and I encourage people to check out our website at www.walleyecup.com. I think they will find it extremely interesting to see how tournaments are going in each of the seven regions,” said GNWC Executive Director Bernie Barringer. Major national sponsors for the GNWC include Skeeter Boats, Yamaha Outboards, Lowrance Electronics, YoNet Folding Nets by AMFYOYO, Aqua-VU, Aqua Innovations, Cabela’s and UpNorthOutdoors.com. National championship sponsors are Towtector Shield and the VIB”E” Lure Company.