Chris Gasser - 7/19/2004

Adams County, WI- Brad and Kurt Knoll trolled their way to victory in the final one-day World Walleye Association WI/UP Team Challenge held on sprawling Lake Petenwell Sunday, July 18th, 2004.

The WWA anglers were greeted with mild temperatures, calm winds and clear skies on tournament day and most of the teams had high expectations going into the day since many stated they had relatively good pre-fishing results.

The concern was to catch fish that would fit the state imposed slot limit for Petenwell, which allowed teams to keep fish from 15 to 20 inches, and two fish over 28 inches.

"Going into the tournament, several teams I talked to were catching too big of fish," said Steve Poll, Executive Director of the WWA and Tournament Director for the WI/UP Division. "Which isn't usually a problem at a tournament but with the slot size restriction we knew it was going to come into play at this tournament."

But as in all tournaments, there are teams that figure out how to catch the right fish and the team of Brad and Kurt Knoll did just that.

Brad and Kurt were trolling crankbaits on the North end of the flowage along a breakline to catch their five fish winning weight of 9.18- pounds. "We had a good day today." Brad Said, "Four of our five fish we had by 9:30 A.M."

Though no teams caught a fish over the 28 inch slot limit, Brad and Kurt did help their cause by having the big fish of the tournament which weighed 2.34-pounds.

Jim Hughes and Dave Ehlke took second place with a five fish limit weighing 7.63-pounds. Unlike the Knolls who got their fish in one spot, Hughes and Ehlke had to run around to different spots to get their fish.

"We first jigged timber in the South part of the lake for two of our fish," Jim said, "Then we ran north and trolled crankbaits for two fish then we ran south again to get our last one."

Jason Robinson and Dan Kehoe took third with a five fish limit weighing 7.27-pounds.

Robinson and Kehoe were jigging stumps in the river. They were tipping their jigs with night crawlers and caught their limit by 10:00 A.M.

The next stop for the WI/UP Team Challenge will be the final event of the year for the division. It will be the two-day qualifier, July 31st and August 1st at Little Bay De Noc.

To see pictures of the winning teams and a complete list of how all the teams finished, visit the WWA website at www.worldwalleye.com which is hosted by the leaders in multi media technology, OutdoorsFirst Media. Or watch for results on all the WWA tournaments in the Badger Sportsman magazine in upcoming issues.

For information on fishing the World Walleye Association, a "Tournament Circuit For Fisherman, Run By Fisherman", visit the website or call 920-924-2100

The World Walleye Association is proudly sponsored by Yarcraft Boats, "The Dry One!"

Payout: 36 teams
1-Brad Knoll,Kurt Knoll $1,856.00
2-Jimmy Hughes,Dave Ehlke $940.00
3-Jason Robinson,Dan Kehoe $640.00
4-Brian Kordus,Patrick Kordus $470.00
5-David Lange,Karen Betzner $370.00
6-Mark Kordus,Tony Dowiatt $320.00
7-Chris Gasser,Bill Gasser $200.00


WWA WI Qualifier - Petenwell Lake Results