What’ll It Take In Bay City?

May 14th, 2010 by OutdoorsFIRST

Modified May 14th, 2010 at 12:00 AM

Will it be harnesses or cranks? Bottom bouncers or divers? Jigs or spinners? Shallow or deep? Bay or river?

Those are the $30,000 questions to be answered after that first place check is claimed in the second annual AIM Saginaw Bay Walleye Tournament May 20-22?

Whether it’ll be won in the river or bay, 50 AIM pros and their co-anglers will be after the largest numbers of ‘eyes in the bay in nearly 70 years.

Returning to the city that kicked off AIM’s first-ever tournament last year and introduced its unique Catch-Record-Release™ fishing format to the public, AIM anglers are sure to bring excitement to the virtual weigh-in stage daily.

Here’s what some of the pros, and co-anglers, who will be on board with a pro each day of the event, think it’ll take to post the winning weight, and why. But first, here’s why AIM is debuting its second season again in Bay City during the city’s annual BayFest Festival.

According to Michigan DNRE, Saginaw Bay’s walleye population is at near-record highs, with numbers not seen since the 1940s, when a perfect storm of commercial overfishing and invasive alewives, voracious predators of walleye fry, caused numbers to crash.

But the walleye population exploded after 2003 when the alewife population itself collapsed, and it’s been growing exponentially since. Where will the fish be in two weeks?

“Our creel census workers say the fish are out of the upper river,” according to MDNRE fisheries biologist Jim Baker. “The early spring caused fish to spawn a week to 10 days early, and rains flushed them into the bay. Opening day fishing was good but it’s fizzled out.”

Others, however, say that it ain’t necessarily so.

The fish will still be close and in the river, predicts AIM pro Mark Gwizdala, who lives in Kawkawlin, on the bay’s west shore.

“This is going to be a wide open tournament,” he says. “I don’t think the fish will be real deep but the shallow bite doesn’t seem to have happened yet because the water is gin clear in the bay. The river will definitely play into this, since the first two places came out of it during an early May MWT tournament.”

“But, it could be cranks, jigs, spinners, anything this time of year. A lot will depend on the weather,” Gwizdala adds.

Dennis Gulau of Midland, a few miles inland from the bay, who’s fished it since he was a child, and who finished sixth at last year’s tournament, agrees.

“I think it’s going to be very similar to last year, but expect weights to be better. The fish we were catching last year are two- to three inches longer this year. Tommy won with a little over 100 pounds for three days and I expect the winner to be close to that this year, too.

“I was a little surprised that the winners came from the river last year so with the river producing so well it could see more pressure,” the second-year AIM pro says. “Last year we had pretty good winds so the bay was riled up and the bite was off. But if we had decent weather it could have easily been won there too,” Gulau says.

David Hunt of Adrian, MI, south of Ann Arbor, one of 50 co-anglers fishing with the pros is looking forward to learning more about the bay, and walleye in general. And, he has a special motivation. “I’m an 11-month cancer survivor, so any fishing trips I’ve been putting off, I’m doing now.”

“I’ve been fishing walleye for 10 years, most of the time trolling Lake Erie. My partner Tom Lerch (also a co-angler in the Bay City tourney), and I wanted to learn more about walleye, so we’re very excited about this great opportunity,” he said.

Lerch, from neighboring Onsted in southern Lower Michigan, echoes Hunt. “The AIM pros are the best out there and we want to learn to be better walleye fishermen, which is why we signed up. We can’t wait to get there.”

Skarlis feels weather and water temperature will dictate where to fish this year. “Last year was a late spring and a lot of fish were still in the river and the mouth. But I think this year that will be even more important. Fish will be a lot farther into the bay. So trolling with planers and crawlers or crank baits will be the presentation that will win it,” he says.

“A lot of people say that I won the tournament last year in the river, but I weighed in as many fish trolling as I did jigging. The other factor is that the locals heard about what we did and have been pounding them in the river.

The other new factor is that it’s going to be vital to pay attention to depths and patterns, whether it’s a flat or a sharp break, for instance. It’s going to be very important to have accurate cartography like the new Navonics North or East chip. It’s just recently updated to map the bay in one-foot increments, the most accurate available. That was the key to getting me a second in the PWT and first place last year.”

And the same goes for last year’s winner, Tommy Skarlis, of Waterloo, Ia. The bay has been kind to him over the years, with several top 10 finishes and a second place finish in the PWT championship.

“I just love fishing there. It’s got one of the greatest classic tackle shops in the world, Frank’s Great Outdoors. I love staying at the headquarters hotel, Bay Valley Inn, and love visiting Bay City’s really cool restaurants. And, I love coming here because I’m able to pre-fish with a good friend of mine, John Mundrala.

AIM’s tournament coincides with Bay City’s second annual BayFest, in Veteran’s Memorial Park on the west side of the Saginaw River downtown. Enjoy entertainment, outdoor-related events and displays, fun for kids, food and more, while also cheering on your favorite pro and co-angler during each afternoon’s virtual weigh-in. For more on the festival, contact the Bay Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, 888-229-8696, or go to tourbaycitymi.org.

All AIM Pro Walleye Series™ tournaments are three day events. The full field of boats (Pro Anglers and Co-anglers) will fish the first two days. The Professional provides the boat and all the fishing tackle and bait for the day. Each day the Co-angler will be paired with a different Pro Angler and have the opportunity to learn “secret” techniques. The top 50% of the Pro Anglers – based on cumulative weight over the first two days – will fish the third day of the tournament. These Pros will be paired with Co-anglers selected by random drawing at the pre-event Rules Meeting. At this date a few Co-angler entries spots are still available, and the cost is only $250.

AIM Marketing Partners:

South Dakota Tourism, Bay Mills Resort & Casino, Lund Boat Company,
Mercury Marine, Crestliner Boats, JJ Keller Fishing Team, Navionics,
Fin-Tech Tackle, John Butts Outdoors, Rutting Ridge Outfitters,
Oahe Wings & Walleyes, Optima Batteries, Worldwide Marine Insurance,
Pier of d’Nort piers, Me and My Catch photo replicas, The Judge Tournament Ruler, Rite in the Rain Paper

What’ll It Take In Bay City?

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