Chris Gasser - 4/13/2003

Fremont, WI- Despite an excellent week of prefishing, many anglers at the "Weekend of Walleye" held at Fort Fremont Marine had their plans dramatically changed by the fickle Wolf River and the spawning walleyes it holds.

The "Weekend of Walleye" festivities started on Saturday with the third annual Fort Fremont Marine/Patriot Power Boats Walleye Classic. With a field of 48 boats participating in the family orientated tournament, it was the largest field to date for the event.

Local anglers Pete Gregor and Dan Wheaton overcame what turned into an incredibly tough bite to win the event and take big fish honors with one walleye that weighed 5.14-pounds. Gregor and Wheaton went to a spot over 1 1/2 hours up river near the Little Wolf River to where they stated that the day before the tournament they caught several fish well over 20 inches.

Fishing hair jigs tipped with minnows, the winning fish was the only fish over 15 inches they could muster on Saturday. Though they were disappointed at first with their apparent lack of success compared to the day before, it turned out that one fish was enough for the win turning their disappointment into jubilation.

Dave Schutt and Scott Guell placed second and also second in the big fish pot with a 4.16-pound walleye.

John Lind and Joe Schmoldt took third place honors with single fish weighing 2.44 pounds.

Though there were only 48 teams signed up for the tournament, pay-out was based on a full field of 50 boats thanks to Jeff Thompson of Fort Fremont Marine who bought the final two places to allow for the full pay-out.

"This was by far the best tournament we have had yet" Said Tournament Director Denny Fox. "Though the fishing went from great to unbelievably tough, my compliments to the competitors for keeping an upbeat attitude making for an enjoyable event." Fox added " I would also like to thank all the people that helped to make this event a success especially Steve Poll and all the people at the World Walleye Association, Steve Worrall of Walleyefirst.com for posting the results and pictures on their internet site and the Weyauwega/Fremont scouts for having the great chili and snacks available."

On Sunday, the "Weekend of Walleye" continued at Fort Fremont Marine with the opening tournament in the World Walleye Association WI/UP Team Challenge sponsored by Patriot Power Boats.

Though the fishing stayed as tough as it was on Saturday, some teams did manage to find fish willing to bite.

Dan Bodinger and Fiance Kris Coffeen, fishing in their first WWA together, started their tournament partnership off right catching two fish weighing 8.07-pounds giving them the win. They also had the big fish of the tournament weighing 4.34-pounds.

Bodinger and Coffeen traveled approximately two hours to get to New London where they caught their fish. Bodinger and Coffeen were using jigs tipped with minnows in 6ft of water fishing the river in downtown New London.

"We caught the smaller one right when we got there." Bodinger said, "Then the big one came right when it was time to head back. I mean right at the last minute!" When asked if there was anything else he would like to say about their day he added, "Oh yeah, I would like to thank my brother Steve for letting me use his boat."

George Peterson and Doug Wartgow placed second with 6.47 pounds. They were fishing a deep corner cut with overhanging timber near Red Banks using jigs tipped with minnows working the jigs right in the submerged timber. "We would lose 10 jigs for every fish we caught. But now we know it was well worth it" said Peterson.

Third place was Brian Bliske and Ron Moderow with a catch weighing 4.7 pounds. They were fishing near Orihula vertical jigging Zip Lures and jigs tipped with minnows. "We caught a lot of small fish throughout the day," said Bliske. "We just kept sorting through the small ones until we would catch a 15 inch fish."

Steve Worrall from Walleyefirst.com was on hand to post results and pictures from the tournament on the Walleyefirst website.

For complete standings on this tournament or for information on upcoming WI/UP Team Challenge division tournaments visit the WWA website at www.worldwalleye.com.

WWA WI/UP Qualifier - Winnebago Chain Results