By Steve Weisman
Get the rods and reels dusted off, get your waders and fishing boats ready, the Great Walleye Weekend is just around the corner! Slated for May 4-6, the Great Walleye Weekend kicks off on Friday evening when Great Lakes Marine (www.greatlakesmarineco.com) hosts its annual Great Lakes Marine Kick-Off Seminar and Open House. Scheduled for Friday, May 4 from 4-9 p.m., the Kick-off
Dinner and Seminars will be held at the Great Lakes Marine Showroom.
Cost will be $5, which includes a meal and seminars by Scott Peterson, Humminbird pro staffer and expert; Jon Thelen, host of the popular Lindy’s Fish Ed TV program and Alumacraft Boat pro staffer; Kevin Kerkvliet, Evinrude Regional Representative; and Dan Vojtusik, musky expert.
According to owners Shane and Christa Kendall, the goal is to bring anglers together for a fun and educational evening. “Food, fun, fellowship and then you add in fishing…it makes for a great time spent with great people,” says Shane.
Peterson’s seminar will give those in attendance the opportunity to learn more about the advanced technology of Humminbird electronics. Anglers will have the chance to ask Peterson specific questions about electronics.
Thelen, who was the guest presenter at last summer’s Okoboji Blue Water Festival, not only hosts Lindy’s Fish Ed TV, but is also a highly acclaimed professional walleye angler. Thelen will be more than willing to take questions and answers from the audience about topics that directly affect anglers right here in the Iowa Great Lakes.
As Evinrude Regional Representative, Kerkvliet’s seminar will cover Evinrude’s E-Tech technology and share the exciting news about Evinrude’s advancements.
Finally, Vojtusik, who has won over 80 musky tournaments will share tips to help anglers catch these trophy fish. Kendall says, “I know it is the walleye opener, but I wanted to add variety to the seminars and there are a lot of musky enthusiasts in the Iowa Great Lakes.
People planning on attending should pre-register at being taken at Great Lakes Marine (located just east of Pizza Ranch on HWY 9). For more information, give Shane and Christa a call at (712) 336-3822.
Great Walleye Weekend
This year will be the 36th annual Great Walleye Weekend and is set for May 4-6 with the fishing weekend officially beginning on Saturday at 12:01 a. m. This two-day fishing tournament brings thousands of anglers to the Iowa Great Lakes to see if they can catch one of the specially tagged walleye. Last year’s tournament totaled 2,222 entries.
Of course, Mother Nature hasn’t been kind so far this spring, and the ice is only now grudgingly giving way. Still with a week and a half to go, let’s hope that spring finally does arrive. Latest iceout is April 28, so we are still on the right side of the record for latest iceout!
This year’s event includes the opportunity to catch one of the 10-tagged walleyes with a grand prize worth $36,000. Although it doesn’t happen very often, in 2017, Josh Brenner of Ames caught one of the specially tagged walleyes at 5:30 Saturday morning off of Templar Park on Big Spirit Lake. It was worth a cool $35,000.
In addition to the tagged walleyes, there are also prizes for the heaviest stringer of three walleye, heaviest northern pike, heaviest stringer of five panfish and heaviest stringer of 10 bullhead.
Registration forms are available online at www.okobojichamber.com, Fisherman’s Factory Outlet, Kabele’s Trading Post, Oh Shucks, Stan’s Bait & Tackle, and at the Iowa Great Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce office in Arnolds Park. For more information regarding the 36th Annual Walleye Weekend, please visit www.okobojichamber.com or call (712) 332-2107.
To enter the Walleye Weekend contest, the cost is $25 for individuals 16 years of age and older and $15 for anglers 15 and under.
Largest walleye category back
After several years of not having the Largest Walleye category during the Walleye Weekend tournament, the Largest Walleye category is back. The category was eliminated when boaters were required to drain their livewells, when they left the lake to help prevent the spread of zebra mussels and other potential exotics. The Largest Walleye category is back for 2018 through a new format: catch, photo/measure and release. However, it is an optional category, so anglers don’t have to enter if they don’t want to.
The process is actually pretty easy. Download the Tourney X App, and purchase a hog trough board in one of the area bait shops. There’s just a $10 registration fee in addition to the $5 fee to register on the app, and you’re eligible. The contest starts at 12:01, just like the Walleye Weekend Tournament does, and it ends at 10 a. m. on Sunday.
All contestants have to do is measure their big walleye on the hog trough board in the correct way, take a picture of it and submit it to this app. The good thing is this makes it all catch and release. Stan’s Bait Shop has over $2,000 worth of prizes that will be donated to the top three places.
The $10 registration for the Largest Walleye category will go to support the Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club (IGLFC). Travis Harman, owner of Stan’s Bait and Tackle is excited about this donation. “The IGLFC supports clean water and all of the waters in this area. They work closely with the Iowa DNR, giving back to our fisheries and also work with area youth.”
According to Terry Thomsen, President of the IGLFC, “We greatly appreciate this donation to help us continue projects that support our local waters and fisheries. Recently, we have donated money to the Lakeside Laboratory on West Okoboji, fishing seminars and DNR nights for club members, fishing clinics for youngsters, scholarships to area youth entering the environmental field, the Okoboji Blue Water Festival and the fishing seminar during the Festival.”
