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Iowa Walleye Tournament Trail
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Spirit Lake Results
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Anglers fare well at Big Spirit
Gray and Dakin Take Top Honors at Spirit Lake Qualifier
By Steve Weisman
May 09,1999
Ardell Gray of Forest City and Don Dakin of Garner outdistanced the
60 teamfield in the third Iowa Walleye Tournament Trail (IWTT) at Spirit
Lake on Sunday, May 9.Their six fish weighed 14.55 pounds and earned them
a check for $1000. Inaddition, Gray and Dakin captured the Off-Shore Big
Fish Award with a 6.47pounder.
Second place and a $750 check went to Doug Burns of Woodward and Tony
Rydstrom of Marathon for their six fish weighing 12.38 pounds. The husband
and wife team of Bob and Angie Heaford of Mason City took third with a
six fish limit weighing 12.31 pounds. They also won the Abu Garcia Family
Anglers Award. Bait Rig Bucks went to the following teams: Wes Rose and
Todd Hough of Graettinger; Bob Burgess and Chad Thede of Ogden; and Greg
Lowenburg and
Joel Shaw of Fairfield. Although the weather changed from heavy clouds
and the strong northwest wind of Saturdays pre-fishing to bright sun and
a 15-25 mph southeast wind, the
teams found the walleyes were still on a bite.The winning team found
their fish in 22 feet of water and worked the outside break using leeches
and bottom bouncers. They had their big 6.47 pounder by 8:30 a.m. and were
sorting fish by 2 that afternoon. Burns noted that he and his partner also
worked a breakline in about 19 feet of water. However, they used a spinner
and bottom bouncer combination tipped with crawlers in the morning. They
then switched to leeches in the afternoon. The Heaford duo used a different
presentation enroute to their third place
finish. They trolled crankbaits on inside turns in the morning and
then worked the main basin of the lake by mid-day as they upgraded their
fish. IWTT Director Bernie Barringer was elated with the outcome of the
Spirit Lake Qualifier. To have 16 teams bring in their six-fish limit is
outstanding. In all, we weighed in 200 legal walleyes. There is no
doubt that Spirit Lake is one of the top fisheries in the state of Iowa.
Listed below are the results from Spirit Lake:
Team # Fish Wt. $ Won
1-Ardell Gray, Forest City 6 14.55 $1000
Don Dakin, Garner
2-Doug Burns, Woodward 6 12.38 $ 750
Tony Rydstrom, Marathon
3-Bob Heaford, Mason City 6 12.31 $ 600
Angie Heaford, Mason City
4-Kevin Peterson, Sheldon 4 11.71 $ 500
Larry Brown, Hull
5-Jeff Hoven, Matlock 6 10.73 $ 400
Trafton Beckman, Sheldon 4
6-Randy Mitchell, New Hampton 6 9.57 $ 350
Jay Thompson, Ames
7-Cory Batterson, Des Moines 6 9.54 $ 300
Rick Harney, Des Moines
8-Bob Grems, Estherville 6 9.10 $ 200
John Walz, Estherville
9-Rob Roush, West Des Moines 6 8.82 $ 150
Mike Heller, Clive
10-Curt Linneman, Garner 6 8.64 $ 110
Darrell Neubereger, Garner
11-Tim Harms, West Des Moines 6 8.60 $ 100
Chad Kruse, Alison
12-Gary Taylor, Forest City 6 8.14 $ 100
Ken Borrill, Clear Lake
13-Wes Rose, Graettinger 6 8.06 BRB
Todd Hough, Graettinger
14-Bob Burgess, Ogden 3 7.31 BRB
Chad Thede, Ogden
15-Greg Lowenburg, Fairfield 6 7.09 BRB
Joel Shaw, Fairfield
The fourth stop on the Trail will be the Mighty Mississippi River at
Clinton. This qualifier will be held on Sunday, May 23.
Sponsors for the 1999 IWTT
include:
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U. S Cellular |
Pepsi |
Mountain Dew |
Anyone interested in more information
on the Iowa Walleye Tournament Trail
should contact the Tournament Director: Bernie Barringer, (515)565-3389.
Walleyes Inc. website is maintained
by Randy
Tyler Fishing the In-Fisherman Professional Walleye Circuit, Masters
Walleye Circuit and the Team Walleye Circuit. All rights reserved.Copyright
1999/2000
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and Hamby's Beaching Bumpers, Goldeneye
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