Walleye tourney draws anglers

Second installment of tournaments features familiar face

By Doug Monson

As the first of the boats start gliding up to the landing at 8:54 p.m. Tuesday, a small crowd, mostly those strolling out from Westwood Marina Bar and Grill, begins to gather on shore.

Then comes Tim Hobbs, president of the Southern Minnesota Walleye Association, who pulls in with his truck, pops down the tailgate and situates the digital scale.

One of the first boats, the team of Dan Griep of Cleveland and Bill Holland of Le Sueur, settles into the boat launch, and Griep hops out to fetch the truck and trailer.

“Did you get anything,” Hobbs asks as he pulls out a notebook.

Griep smiles and holds up his spread hand: “Five,” he says. “Biggest one is 21 inches.”

Griep quickly moves off to retrieve the truck. There are 21 boats out fishing the second Tuesday Nite Walleye Tourney, a series of eight regular-season tournaments and one season-ending tournament.

The boat launch is busy, and another team has found a spot to put their trailer in. This team is fielded by Roger Kramer of Le Sueuer and Stu McKee of Cleveland. They tell Hobbs they have four to weigh, and Hobbs diligently pencils them in.

A late onlooker stumbles up and asks who’s caught what. Someone points out Griep’s team has five, and McKee’s team has four.

“It don’t matter,” he says to another onlooker. “I want to see Stu’s weight.”

Tuesday Nite Walleye Tourneys have been taking place for 11 years, but McKee and Kramer have only fished the last four.

They have, however, won the last three, missing their first year by a point.

McKee says he and Kramer work well because they share the same philosophy when it comes to fishing walleye.

“I think we work extremely well together,” McKee says. “We don’t throw the same plugs.”

McKee and Kramer worked for their four in shallow water, a pattern of fishing McKee learned on Lake Tetonka after years of chasing walleye fresh from the Department of Natural Resources Waterville hatchery.

“A lot of people,” McKee says with a chuckle, “think they shouldn’t be in two feet of water.”

But he and Kramer have pulled out several big fish in the shallows, including a couple of eight pounders on Madison Lake in 2008.

“(Roger) follows my theory that the biting fish are the shallow fish,” McKee says. “Shallow fish are the hungry fish.”

Long before the Tuesday Nite Walleye Tourneys, McKee was learning the ropes from various pros. The Cleveland native says he learned a lot while working for Bill Linder at the Linders’ In-FisherKIDS Camp Fish.

But he credits a different Linder for much of his success.

“I’d have to say, Al showed me a lot up there at Camp Fish,” McKee said.

McKee also fished the Masters Walleye Circuit, finishing as high as ninth place for team of the year honors in a field of 1,477 teams.

“I figured that was quiet the accomplishment for a kid out of Cleveland,” McKee says.

The weigh in
Troy Bessman slips in ahead of the team of Kramer and McKee, and Hobbs quickly weighs three fish.

“4.67,” he tells Bessman, who takes his three fish and returns to teammate Steve Wolfe.

Then Kramer steps up with four fish. He and McKee watch as the total weight is read.

“13.03,” Hobbs says. This elicits a response from the crowd as those gathering around repeat the weight.

Then two of their fish are weighed individually for the big fish prize, a secondary pot anglers can enter into each night for $10.

The first fish weighs in at 4 pounds, 5.7 ounces; the second fish weighs 4 pounds 3.5 ounces.

More talk from the gallery.

McKee and Kramer head off to their boat.

“You want these Rog,” McKee asks. “They’re too big for me.”

“Naw, let’s throw them back,” Kramer says.

McKee thinks his weight will hold up, but he says his good friend Griep knows his stuff, and five fish will be awfully tough to beat.

Griep and Holland return with their five fish.

Griep says they came in at 11 pounds, 3.1 ounces, which isn’t enough to take the Lake Washington tournament, but is good enough to keep Griep and Holland in first place overall.

The pair won the Lake Elysian tournament May 26 with one fish, but that one fish gave them 10 points, and the second place finish at Lake Washington gave them a season total of 19 points, four ahead of the team of Kramer and McKee.

Next up, the teams will travel to Madison Lake June 16 for the third installment of Tuesday Nite Walleye Tourneys.

McKee isn’t worried about the early-season gap in the standings.

“You get five points just for fishing a tournament,” McKee says. “Anything can happen.”



For more on the Tuesday Nite Walleye Tourneys, visit Doug Monson's fishing blog.