A whopping 105lbs, 10 oz of Green Bay walleye propels Rohloff and Busse to over $125,000 in cash and prizes in their wire to wire win.

A whopping 105lbs, 10 oz of Green Bay walleye propels Rohloff and
Busse to over $125,000 in cash and prizes in their wire to wire win

Marinette, WI – June 4th , 2023 – One variable that cannot be changed when planning a event, no
matter the location, is the weather, it always comes into play. Traveling to the Great Lakes for a
tournament means the possibility of some wind and waves that must be planned for. Fortunately,
for this field of 278 teams from 18 states across the country that earned a spot in the 2023 Bass
Pro Shops and Cabela’s National Team Championship (NTC) in Marinette, WI, mother-mature
played nice most of the week allowing nearly perfect boating conditions allowing angler to scour
every inch of the Bay of Green Bay looking for walleye and boy did they see some walleyes.

Along with light winds, high skies, and lack of precipitation, another variable came in to play
that many anglers found both challenging and intriguing at the same time. These conditions for
days on end made for some of the clearest water conditions you’ll ever see on the waters of
Green Bay allowing anglers to actually see “pods” of walleye, lots of walleye, that simply would
not bite. For some, watching walleyes follow their bait for yards without striking was very
frustrating but also allowed for a learning experience not often seen first-hand with the naked
eye. The fish are there, they just would not bite.

Scott Rohloff (Watertown, WI) and Lance Busse (Freedom, WI) traveled far and wide across the
bay and finally learned what it takes to trigger the big, shallow walleyes to eat. On day 1 they
decided to target walleyes about as far away as their Mercury powered Ranger boat would take
them into big Bay De Noc. A 70-mile run one way and 70 miles back to Marinette was a gamble
but it paid off with day one big basket of 5 fish for 39lbs 10oz. A basket of fish like that also
forced them to take the same gamble and “make the run” on day 2 which rewarded them with
33lbs-11oz. Their two-day tournament limit sat at 73-05 an easily kept them in first place going
into the All-American Top-25 third and final day of the NTC.

Scott and Lance learned that because the fish were very finicky, they needed to change things up
slightly to catch them. Rohloff said, “It seemed like most other teams we saw were targeting the
top of rock piles and boulders. The fish were there but they wouldn’t commit for us so we
pushed just off the structure and made casts around the edges from a distance in deeper water in

10-15 feet. I think that with these fish being so tight-lipped around the boats in shallow water
with flat conditions our decision to push into deeper water onto the transitions from rock to sand
made the difference.” “We kept it simple. Purple hair-jigs caught all of our fish.”

All-American Top 25

There is a reason why the All-American Top 25 teams, all 50 anglers who make it to the final-
day earn custom made rings signifying their accomplishment. It is very hard to get to the final
day the stakes are high and every decision counts big. On day three, the All-American Top-25
teams were greeted with the wind that some were looking for to help the fishing conditions. With
a steady breeze from the north, teams had to make some decisions on how far they were willing
to travel. After about 10-miles of travel toward their tried-and-true spot that had gotten them into
the number one spot up in Big Bay De Noc, Rohloff and Busse had to make the decision that that
with the extra wind and slower travel they wouldn’t be able to make it there and back with
enough time to catch their fish they had go to plan B and fish “memories” near Cedar River. It
was a hard decision calling a last minute audible but it proved to be the right decision. With
spinning rods in hand, the Wisconsin team rose to the top in a field of the best grass roots
walleye club anglers from across the nation and managed to post another large bag of 32lbs-
05oz. pushing their three-day total weight to 105-10 lbs. This monster bag rewarded them with a
huge pay-day totaling over $125,000 that included a brand-new Ranger 620 Pro with Mercury
250hp ProXS, $25,000 cash, $8,000 Ranger Cup Bonus, $250 BPS/Cabela’s gift card for the
day-1 biggest basket, coveted 1st place trophies, event jerseys, and All-American Rings.

Here is a look at how the rest of the top five teams finished:

2nd Christopher Bartsch and Mario Nanna 84-13, $10,000 cash

3rd Steve Labs and Luke Cieslewicz 80-13, $8,000 cash

4th Andrew and Jacob Hugo 80-08, $6,000

5th Josh and Don Wiesner 79-13, $5,000 cash

The total payout in cash and prizes for the 2023 Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s National Team
Championship was $276,910.64. Nearly 333% total payback on entries in cash and prizes was
awarded to teams from 18 states. The largest sack during the championship was 40-15 lbs. wascaught by Jake Becker and Tyler Mueller earning day 2 big basket award of $250 gift card from
Mercury Outboards. The heaviest walleye was caught on day 1 was a 10-03 walleye caught by
James Miron and Jacob Lanning earning them a $250 gift card from Bass Pro Shop s and
Cabela’s. Day 2 big fish was 11-3 walleye earning a $250 Bass Pro Shops gift card from The
Walleye Federation for John Gillman and Kal Ustishen.

The staff and anglers would like to thank the “Fish City”, Marinette, WI for rolling out the red
carpet this past week. The out-pouring of support from the city, its workers, citizens, the Moose
Lodge and other volunteers proved vital in making an event of this magnitude go off without a
hitch. Thank you for the support!

Walleye Federation clubs across the country can now look ahead at 2024. The announcement has
been made that the 2024 Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s NTC is headed to the south shores of Lake
Erie out of Lorain, OH in May 2024!

The Walleye Federation, based in Ponca City, Oklahoma, manages the qualifying process via
TWF sanctioned walleye clubs all across the US and Canada and co-produces the event
alongside the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Marketing Sponsorship Team. Qualifying is going on
now, for details on how to earn a spot in the 2024 Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s NTC or to get
your walleye club signed up, visit walleyefederation.com, or call (580)765-9031

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Western Nebraska Walleye Series Results on Lake McConaughy Mega Tournament May 20-21, 2023

OWF 3rd Qualifier on Berlin Lake

OWF 3rd Qualifier Results on Berlin Lake

 

This past weekend’s showdown for qualifier #3 brought the Ohio Walleye Federation’s teams to the shores of Berlin Lake. Berlin is the sight of the historic championship from 2022 where record bags were weighed. Oh, what a difference a year can make.

The pre-fish was reported to be less than stellar from everyone that I talked to. The prior weekends highs in the 80’s was met by a 50-degree temperature drop mid-week with lows in the 30s and frost reported on the ground. Berlin Lake and river has nearly 80 miles of shoreline between the lake and all of the creeks that flow into it which give the fish the upper hand in this one.

The consistent thought on Sunday morning was that the fishing had to get better. Though there was a great positive attitude amongst competitors, the walleye did not cooperate for most teams. Catching fish and cashing a check in an extremely tough bite is something to really hang your hat on. These were the teams that were able to do just that.

It is “rinse and repeat” for Anthony Naples and Christopher Durkin. They pulled out a squeaker of a win by .05 pounds with 3 fish for 9.59 pounds for their second consecutive OWF win. Naples and Durkin have gained a reputation of being one of the top teams in Ohio when it comes to catching fish with a jig and crawler. That expertise came in handy as they reported that they caught their 3 fish doing just that. They told the crowd at weigh-ins that they were jigging in anywhere from 2-8 feet of water. Christopher actually told the crowd that he owes his success to a lucky shirt. This is the 4th consecutive tournament that the team has won including 2 tournaments that weren’t with the Ohio Walleye Federation. They are 1 hot team.

The 2nd place team of Nathan and Lyle Miller narrowly missed out on their 1st OWF win. They were in 2nd place with the only 5 fish limit weighed in of 9.54 pounds. They too were jigging in shallow water. They reported catching their fish with a combination of live bait and plastics.

In 3rd place, was the team of Aaron and Randy Hall. They weighed in 3 fish for 8.52 pounds bringing home a good check and 3rd place plaques. They reported catching all of their fish “cranking”. They said that they had to throw their crankbaits all the way up to the bank and bring it back from there. The team leaned on their local knowledge to grind out the bites that they got.

In 4th place with 2 fish for 7.26 pounds was Adam and Carl Momirov. They reported using a jig and night crawler in the many willow bushes around the lake to catch their fish.

Rounding out the top 5 was the also extremely hot captain Rick Mulraney with teammate and daughter Emily Mulraney fishing with him at Berlin. Rick and Emily weighed 2 fish for 7.09 pounds. This was Emily’s first tournament fishing with her dad, and she seemed to really enjoy herself! Rick reported catching his fish in shallow with 1 coming on a jig and night crawler and the other coming on a blade bait.

In total the 26 teams fishing there was one 5 fish limit weighed in and a total of 27 fish with grand total weight of 76.58 pounds from Berlin Lake.

The OWF is now taking a couple of weeks off due to the holidays and to allow the teams from the club fishing the National Team Championship a chance to compete in that. Good Luck to the teams representing the club on the National stage. Hopefully everyone brings home a Top 25.

Our next event will be on June 11th at Chautauqua Lake. After last year’s inaugural event on the lake, we are anticipating it to be bigger and better than last year. There is speculation that if the fishing cooperates it will take north of 30 pounds to win that event! Can’t wait to find out and make sure you don’t miss out on the opportunity to fish in it.

The Ohio Walleye Federation would like to thank our title sponsor Erie Marine Sales for all of the support that they provide to us. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be able to provide 100% payout at all tournaments.

For additional information or to sign up for an event please check us out on Facebook – Ohio Walleye Federation or on our website; www.ohiowalleyefederation.com.

2023 Ohio Walleye Federation Qualifier #2 Lake Milton

For Immediate Release

2023 Ohio Walleye Federation

Qualifier #2 Lake Milton

 

The Ohio Walleye Federation just concluded the second tournament of the season on Lake Milton. As is usually the case with the 1700 acre reservoir the anglers were concentrated to small areas and the fish were spread out throughout the lake.

Teams that got a chance to get out and pre-fish the few days before the event were rewarded with beautiful sunshine days and high sporadic clouds. Reports were given that there were many fish over the 15” minimum length being caught with a few of those fish 20”+ that would be needed as a “kicker” to push you from an average bag to being able to compete for a win.

After a minor boat ramp adjustment that was made at the last minute on Saturday evening, teams arrived to Millers Landing Boat ramp with some definite changing conditions. Clouds had filled the sky and the temperature in the morning was about 20 degrees warmer than had been the past few days. Looking at the weather forecast it was told rain was coming and they weren’t lying. Anglers were faced with a few hours of rain during the competition day.

The team of Anthony Naples and Christopher Durkin persevered  through the raindrops to pull out an impressive win. The team weighed 3 fish for 10.95 pounds with a Lake Milton giant kicker of 6.49 pounds. Naples and Durkin were 2 fish short of their tournament limit and still won by almost 3 pounds. Taking home $1700 for the day’s fishing. Talking to Christopher at weigh-in, he stated that they were fishing one of their favorite stretches in the river and jigging, live bait, either a minnow or night crawler on a jig. He said that they would cast up onto the bank and work the jig back to the boat that was sitting in roughly 12 feet of water. The team also wanted to give out a huge assist to Joe Yackmack for his lending them a landing net on tournament morning when it was realized that the team had left theirs at home. Durkin told the crowd that they would have never been able to land that big fish without borrowing that net.

The 2nd place team of Rick Mulraney and Chaun Martin trolled leadcore in 10-14 foot of water to pull in a 5 fish limit that weighed in at 8.21 pounds good for 2nd place plaques and $1050. Rick and Chaun were pulling flicker shads in a variety of colors on the lake’s south side. Rick was also the winning captain in qualifier #1 and after this impressive showing has taken commanding lead in the OWF points thru 2 events.

In 3rd place, that paid out $800 was the always consistent team on Lake Milton of Bobby Honaker and Kevin Kalinowski with 5 fish that weighed 6.57 pounds. Bobby and Kevin said that they bounced around to multiple different spots looking for fish to jig up. They two used a combination of live bait, minnows and night crawlers. Bobby and Kevin were also the winners of event #2’s NTC Side Pot winning a paid entry into the 2024 Bass Pro Shops and Cabelas National Team Championship, presented by the TWF.

In 4th place with 5 fish for 6.35 pounds was Dan DeBenedictis and Ciprian Donici they won $600. They were also jigging, and said that most of their fish came jigging boat docks with live bait. Dan stated that after a productive morning jigging they then switched to trolling to the shallow waters next to the boat docks as well. Dan stated that there was no particular lure or color that worked better when they were trolling.

Rounding out the top 5 was the team of Matt Simunick and Tommy Delvecchio with 5 fish for 6.09 pounds good for $400. This is Matt and Tommy’s 2nd season fishing with the OWF and their first top 5. Good job gentlemen! Matt reported that he caught all of his fish trolling flicker shads on the south end of the lake as well. He said that his fish were all from 8-12 foot of water.  

In total the 26 teams fishing there were five 5 fish limits weighed in and a total of 67 fish with grand total of 97.91 pounds from Lake Milton.

The OWF season now moving its focus to Berlin Lake on May 21st. Berlin was the sight of last year’s Inland Lake Championship and there were some impressive bags weighed in. The OWF record for largest 1 day bag ever weighed of 31.54 pounds was pulled out of Berlin last summer.  Make sure to get your registrations in.

The Ohio Walleye Federation would like to thank our title sponsor Erie Marine Sales for all of the support that they provide to us. If it weren’t for them we wouldn’t be able to provide 100% payout at all tournaments.

For additional information or to sign up for an event please check us out on Facebook – Ohio Walleye Federation or on our website; www.ohiowalleyefederation.com.