Hickey, Duckert Maintain Day 1 Lead to take FCIS I.O.W.A. State Championship

Oct 7th, 2009 by OutdoorsFIRST

Modified Oct 7th, 2009 at 12:00 AM

By Steve Weisman
I.O.W.A. Publicity Director
Three fish and a first place check for $3000! On a weekend when triggering big walleyes to bite was difficult, the team of Travis Hickey and Joseph Duckert from Mason City put together a three-fish weight of 14.70 pounds to easily outdistance the rest of the field and win the two-day FCIS I.O.W.A. Team Walleye Tournament Trail State Championship held on Big Spirit Lake and East Okoboji this past Saturday and Sunday.

How’s this for size? A 4.08 pounder on Saturday and a 5.63 pounder followed by a 4.99 pounder on Sunday! The winners also took home the Smooth Move Seat certificates, $700 for taking the optional Big Fish Pot both days and also the Abu Garcia Big Fish Award.


	Top three teams:Travis Hickey and Joseph Duckert, first place; Scott Peterson and Mike Peterson second place; David Murray and Jason Lee, third place.

Second place and a check for $2000 went to the father-son team of Scott and Mike Peterson from Ogden with a three-fish weight of 5.87 pounds. They also pocketed the $500 Lund Award for the highest placing team fishing from a Lund boat.

The team of David Murray from Carlisle and Jason Lee from Denison made the most of their one fish, a 5.45-pound walleye, to take the $1500 third place check. Murray and Lee also won the Comeback Award and a free entry to one of next year’s tournaments for advancing the most places over the two days by going from a tie for 25th place on Day 1 to their 3rd place finish on Day 2.

Troy Loeckle from Floyd and Wes Loeckle from Mason City garnered the $500 Wright County Motors Contingency Award for their 9th place finish and the highest placer of an owner of a Wright County Motors vehicle.

Steve and Becky Miller earned a $100 check from FCIS Anglers Choice Insurance for weighing in the smallest fish, an .88-pound walleye.

Payouts went through 9th place, with places 10-15 all receiving $100 checks from FCIS Anglers Choice Insurance.

The drawing for the $860 vacation package to King’s Pointe Resort of Storm Lake went to the team of Lance Hamen from Stratford and Kevin Kackley from Stanhope.

I.O.W.A. Tournament Director congratulated all of the teams for their efforts. “The weather really made it tough, but nobody gave up, because they know how good of a walleye fishery these two bodies of waters are. The big fish are there as evidenced by the five fish over four pounds. Congratulations go out to Hickey and Duckert. They made the most of their fish and were able to do what no other team could do.”

The winners both shook their heads as they discussed their game plan. “We went in like everybody else hoping to catch some 14 inchers,” said Hickey. “Both days we pulled with lead core and Junior Thundersticks in 18-20 feet of water at 1.8-2.0 mph.”

That plan soon changed when they caught their 4.09 pounder around 8 a.m. on Saturday, and it became evident at the Day 1 weigh-in that the fish were going to be far and few between. With nearly a two-pound lead, Duckert said their plan for Sunday was to try to catch some 14 inchers. They were especially concerned because they had not had the chance to pre-fish East Okoboji prior to Sunday’s action. However, they stuck to their plan and worked the 18-foot basin out in front of Bridges Bay. By 9:30, they had a 25 ½ and 24 ½ incher in the boat. Later they had to release a 23 inch walleye. They both agreed that this was really a pretty good weekend!

The Peterson duo took the opposite approach and worked live bait with slip bottom bouncers. Their two keepers on Sunday were caught on blue chubs, and the one on Saturday came on a hook and a leech. Mike noted, though, that they both felt the hook made a difference. “We used a red hook and a chartreuse bead and trolled at .5 mph.” Scott added that they fished 4-10 feet of water.

Following the weigh-in, Higgins reflected on the 2009 season. “It was great to see so many new teams become part of our circuit. We increased our numbers, and feel really good about that. Our sponsors have been great supporters all year long, and I want to thank them and look forward to partnering with them again next year. A big thanks goes out to all of the volunteers that helped out at the Championships and to J. & K. Snowmobiles for letting us use one of the Arctic Cats to transport fish from the scales back to the lake.”
All of the latest news on the I.O.W.A. circuit can be found at the I.O.W.A. website (www.walleyepromotions.com).

Anglers interested in learning more about the I.O.W.A circuit can call (515) 571-1085 or they can email the I.O.W.A. staff at [email protected].

Corporate sponsors for 2009 include Lund Boats, Mercury Outboards, ShoreLand’r Trailers, Brightwell’s Boathouse, MinnKota, Humminbird, Berkley, Cabela’s, Smooth Move Seat Mounts, FCIS Anglers Choice Insurance of Forest City, King’s Pointe Resort of Storm Lake and Wright County Motors of Belmond and Clarion.

Hickey, Duckert Maintain Day 1 Lead to take FCIS I.O.W.A. State Championship

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