Saturday, Day One, of the 23rd Annual Cedar Shore Resort Walleye Tournament has officially been canceled, which sets up for a one-day shootout on Sunday.
Learn More: Day One of Cedar Shore Resort Tournament Canceled, One-Day Shootout Sunday
“Everyone who signed up for the event, whether it was for just Saturday or both days, will now be fishing on Sunday,” said Curt Underhill, Tournament Director. “This both gives everyone the opportunity to participate in the event and sets up for an even bigger day on the water.”
This also brings a major change to the strategy in how anglers will be approaching this one day on the water.
“When we put our plan together we were prepared to handle big winds on Day One and focused on being able to bring a limit to the scales consistently for two days,” said Nick Harrington, Owner of Lip Ripper Fishing. “Now we know we’re going to need to focus less on consistency and more on getting that one big bite.”
This shifts expectations from being conservative in attempts to bring two limits to the scales, to being more aggressive and focusing on the homerun swing.
“We’re in this for Team of the Year and we were going to be very satisfied bringing a solid limit to the scales both Saturday and Sunday,” said Mason Propst, Owner of Mason Propst Fishing. “Now we’re looking more at really needing to be aggressive to get that big bag for one day.”
While the forecast for Sunday is still less than ideal, with winds 15-25 mph and colder temperatures, these conditions are much safer for anglers to fish in and will now play a greater role in the bite, rather than as a safety concern.
“Everyone had been talking about the weather,” continued Harrington. “Now we get to talk about the fishing itself.”
The weather was a common theme among anglers at the rules meeting Friday night and in the pre-tournament interviews hosted by The Fishing Crew.
“Weather is going to dictate a lot, what we can do (and) what we can’t do,” said angler Jerod Hathorn in his pre-tournament interview. “But we know a lot of other teams are going to be in the same boat.”
The forecast had been weighing heavily in anglers’ minds and impacted many of their approaches to pre-fish including just looking for areas that might be ideal on the map.
“I have both a Humminbird and Lowrance, the Humminbird is mainly for this body of water down here,” said angler Tanner Thompson-Moad in his pre-tournament interview. “The mapping is very good down here for Humminbird.”
Lake Francis Case features a wide variety of areas for anglers to target, but as often is in the spring, weather and water conditions can play a major role in what areas will be most productive. Water temperatures are predominantly hovering in the upper 30s, with 37-39 degrees most prominent along the reservoir.
‘We might be stuck to certain areas,” continued Thompson-Moad. “The warmest water we found was 44 (degrees), but if the wind blows like it’s going to that shallow water is probably going to be very muddy.”
While water turbidity following the winds, and incoming precipitation from the previous days will be a major factor, the better weather conditions on Sunday set up for additional areas for anglers to target as a whole.
“The biggest thing to me is the playing field really expands now,” said Propst. “Teams are going to be able to fish in areas they might not have been able to on Saturday.”
In addition to the areas anglers will be able to fish, the presentations may also slightly be changed as well.
“We were going to focus on what we felt would put the most fish in the boat,” said Harrington. “Now, we’re focusing more on what puts that one big fish in the boat.”
While the changing forecast and tournament format will play a factor, the anglers who are on the right bite and execute are ultimately going to find themselves on top the leaderboard Sunday afternoon.
“The fact of the matter is this is an early season Chamberlain tournament,” concluded Propst. “If you want to win you need good slots and at least one good over, the recipe to winning remains the same.”
While disappointed to be able to fish on Saturday, the boys remain confident in their chances for taking home a trophy.
“I believe we have set ourselves up to be successful,” concluded Harrington. “That’s the key to these and if we can get the right bites and get them in, there’s a good chance to be pretty high on that leaderboard when everything is done.”
Pre-tournament interviews can be found on The Fishing Crew’s Facebook page and are hosted by Chasen Walter of In Through the Outdoors. These are a great way to learn more about each individual team’s thought process before an event.
Anglers will launch out of Cedar Shore Resort Sunday, April 7, and weigh-ins can be followed via The Fishing Crew Facebook page and website.
