Pro Kevin Merrill of Pierre, S.D., and co-angler Matt Hiller of Grand Rapids, Mich., brought in five walleyes weighing 16 pounds, 5 ounces Wednesday to lead day one of the FLW Walleye Tour Championship on Leech Lake. The pair now holds a 2-pound, 4-ounce lead over their closest rivals in the championship featuring 40 pros and 40 co-anglers representing 12 states and Canada fishing for top awards of up to $40,000 in the Pro Division and $12,000 in the Co-angler Division.
“What a day,” said Merrill, who said he had a steady bite all morning until around noon. “I really struggled in practice and hit a spot yesterday morning and picked up some bites where they chewed up the bait pretty good and that is where I went this morning and it worked out pretty good. I probably only caught 10 fish during practice and no over’s [26 inches or larger].”
Merrill was one of only a handful of anglers to bring in any over’s and he had two. “We caught our fish today near the launch, so hopefully if the weather is bad that will be a good thing and we won’t have to make a long run tomorrow,” continued Merrill. “The weather could play a large factor tomorrow. I will try and catch my five tomorrow, but I may not get my over’s, but I think there are enough under’s [14-18 inches] that we can get our limit.”
Rounding out the remainder of the top-10 pros and co-anglers after day one are:
2nd: Brian Brosdahl, Max, Minn., and Tim Depooter, Rock Island, Ill., five walleyes, 14-1
2nd: Terrence Filkins, Lake City, Minn., and Darrell Martin, Forest Lake, Minn., four walleyes, 14-1
4th: Pat Byle, Colgate, Wis., and Bryan Bayerkohler, Eagan, Minn., five walleyes, 13-14
5th: Scott Steil, Richmond, Minn., and Jason Anderson, West Fargo, N.D., five walleyes, 13-6
6th: Dean Arnoldussen, Appleton, Wis., and Cal Van Cleve, Wilmot, S.D., five walleyes, 13-3
7th: Bill Shimota, Lonsdale, Minn., and John Spiegel, Appleton, Wis., five walleyes, 10-13
8th: Nick Fautsch, Maddock, N.D., and Tim McClaran, Mansfield, Ohio, five walleyes, 10-9
9th: Chris Gilman, Chisago City, Minn., and Kyle Schuchard, Essex, Ont., five walleyes, 10-4
10th: Don Loch, Iron Mountain, Mich., and Jerry Chwierut, Lake Villa, Ill., three walleyes, 9-6
Overall there were 140 fish weighing 260 pounds, 1 ounce caught by 38 boats Wednesday. The catch included 17 five-fish limits.
