Masters Walleye Circuit > Tournaments

Great Walleye Tournament Fishing Starts Here!

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Detroit River Tournament
April 13 - 15*, 2012

(built in bad-weather day)

Sandusky Tournament
May 29, 30 & 31, 2009

Fact Sheet
Maps
Sandusky Area Hotels
Sandusky Area Restaurants
2008 Results
2009 Roster
Pre-tournament Press Release
Post-tournament Press Release
2009 Results

May 30, 2009
Record Breaking Basket on Lake Erie!

A record two-day basket was set by the winning team of Dennis Lantzy of Warren, Michigan and Steve Vande Mark of Linwood, Michigan on the phenomenal fishery of Lake Erie, weighing in 86.38 pounds. This was their first Cabela's MWC victory cashing in $13,300 in total with sponsor bonuses from Ranger Boats and the Oxygenator. The previous two-day basket record was set in 2007 on Lake Ontario at 85.07 pounds.

"Breaking the record feels great," shared Lantzy, a retired cop from the Detroit area. "Long after I'm not fishing anymore,that record will still be in the books. It is a way to live on in the MWC." Lantzy fished his first walleye tournament, theMWC on Lake Winnebago in 1996 and got just as hooked as the walleyes they caught this weekend. He's been fishing asmany competitive tournaments during these last 13 years as he could.... and was thrilled to get his first victory. "I tookhome a lot of checks in the past but I never finished on top before. This is great." His circuit partner Steve Vande Mark won an FLW on Bay de Noc in 2007 as a pro-angler. Both have fished numerous local tournaments in the past, winningsome along the way. But this victory is more sweet as the competition in the MWC is the toughest these guys have comeup against. "You look at a dozen teams bringing in 40-plus pounds on day one of this tournament and you know that anyone of them could have walked across the stage with this win," said Lantzy. The team attributes their success to just a little bit of serendipity.

"We weren't happy with the fish we were pulling on our #1 spot on Friday, so we moved to our #2 spot," shared VandeMark. "But a funny thing happened," added Lantzy. "The bolt on my trolling motor came out and I was worried that if we used it we'd lose it." Their strategy? Don't panic. They improvised by lifting the cover of their Cabela's wrapped Ranger620 rod locker and turned it into a sail. They were forced into a slower troll than they would have picked – but it reallyseemed to be the trick for the bite they needed. "I think the stealthy quiet and going so slow that we could hang up on thebottom was the key," added Vande Mark. "We probably looked a little funny with our rod locker open like a sail, but itworked perfect for just the right speed – about .5 to .9 mph. We just let the wind take us – it worked great."

The #2 spot that ended up producing the 8.6 pound average fish weight for a circuit record was on the Northeast side ofPelee Island in Canadian waters. They found the perfect stain that they wanted and went right to the shallow 13'-18'depth. "Fish come out of the sunlight and move into the stain," added Lantzy. "Most of the other teams were much deeper– we zeroed in on the shallows." Aside from the uncommon sailing maneuver, the rest of the techniques were fairly typical for Lake Erie trolling. Perch pattern and glow-in-the-dark No. 5 blades with Cabela's iridescent beads on theirspinner crawler harnesses. They used their in-line planer boards -- but more like bobbers as they were only out 5 to 10feet. That provided a very quick response to moving lines or bringing them in quickly, keeping baits in the water more ofthe time. Hanging up on the bottom was critical to the large fish.

On Saturday the wind and water clarity changed and they needed to make some adjustments. All the moves were right.As the cloud cover and sun would change they would move from 13' water to 25' water and switching depth. For the complete press release, click HERE.

Sandusky Final Results

Sandusky Winners share the details and techniques of their victory

Lantzy and Vande Mark describe their record breaking tournament

May 29, 2009
Lake Erie Producing Big, Beautiful Walleyes for our Anglers

Day 1 is in the books and over 1,861 pounds of fish were caught with 285 fish brought in – a 6.5 pound average. Paul George & Bret Tirpek of Trenton, MI have a Greg Yarbrough of Port Clinton, OH & Jeff Manz of Vanderbilt, MI have over a pound-and-a-quarter lead with 43.03 pounds for five fish.

Here's the first 5 places after day one...

1: Boat #55 - Paul George of Trenton, MI & Bret Tirpak of Trenton, MI
Day 1: 5 Fish, 43.03 lbs
2: Boat #3 - Nate Capton of Niagara Falls, NY & Dave Waldeck of Sanborn, NY
Day 1: 5 Fish, 41.65 lbs
3: Boat #10 - Dennis Lantzy of Warren, MI & Steve Vande-Mark of Linwood, MI
Day 1: 5 Fish, 41.64 lbs
4: Boat #17 - Robert Gooding of Lincoln Park, MI & Michael Gooding of Monroe, MI
Day 1: 5 Fish, 41.11 lbs
5: Boat #1 - Jeff Manz of Vanderbilt, MI & Greg Yarbrough of Port Clinton, OH
Day 1: 5 Fish, 40.98 lbs

Big fish of the day honors go to Tim Joseph of Utica, OH & Walter Price of Lowell, MI with 11.51 pounds netting $650. Second place was 10.44 pounds for brothers Bill & Bob Murray of Howell & Fenton, MI, respectfully, for $350 and third place was Nate Capton of Niagara Falls, NY & Dave Waldeck of Sanborn, NY at 10.18 pounds for $250.

Results can be found on our bulletin board under Sandusky, OH or by clicking HERE.

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