The Tuesday Night Walleye Fishing League season is upon us! Tonight was the first night of league, and also the first night on Lake Sharpe in over a month for Nick Harrington and Mason Propst! Fortunately, the boys were able to put something together fast and score a Top 5 to start the season!
After focusing on the Cedar Shore Resort Walleye Tournament on Lake Francis Case in Chamberlain, the boys were going into the first night completely blind and not sure what to expect.
“We decided the goal was to focus on a high percentage area where there would likely be a lot of fish, and the chance at a better fish as well,” said Nick Harrington, Owner of Lip Ripper Fishing. “You weigh five, and can have eight in the boat, so if we filled five we could then run and look for big ones.”
This meant the boys would be taking about a 30-minute run down river and focusing on a large flat adjacent to deep water.
“Before we could even get all four rods out we had one on, we put eight in the boat the first pass and then another 11 in the boat the second pass,” continued Harrington. “So overall we had lines in the water for about an hour and had 17 fish caught with six in the box.”
The six included two 17s, a 16, and three about 15 1/2. This meant it was time for the boys to employ the second half of the plan and focus on two larger females.
“Once we had five we felt pretty good with, we knew we had to try to two better ones to improve our bag,” explained Harrington. “We then ran back up river to focus on suspended fish adjacent to a major spawning area. We only had three bites, but two were the ones we needed.”
While not two “over” walleyes, or fish larger than 20 inches, they were both 18-inch fish that greatly increased the boys’ bag.
“One was a really nice pre-spawn female, the other was a big male,” stated Harrington. “I’ll say, it got really dark so to have those two bites to fill out our eight fish limit was a big success in itself.”
This put the boys right at 8.00 pounds, good enough for a three-way tie for 5th place.
“It felt great to be back on Lake Sharpe and fishing League again,” said Mason Propst of Propst Professional Anglers. “Lake Sharpe is a walleye factory and that fishing was non-stop action and a ton of fun!”
The strong start has the boys confident for the rest of the season.
“Water temperatures were right about 44-45 from what we were seeing, so we’re just at the very start of spawn here on Lake Sharpe and hopefully we’ll be able to follow a pattern now for a couple weeks,” concluded Harrington. “The job’s a lot easier when you land on a good number of fish right away!”
Tuesday Night Walleye Fishing League is a roster of 19 teams that launch out of Downs Marina on Lake Sharpe and fish April-June for a total of 10 weeks. Teams weigh their best five walleyes/saugers, and can have a two-man limit of eight in the boat.
This week’s Top 5 was:
- 1st Place: Nicholas/Nicholas 10.40 pounds
- 2nd Place: Kueter/Miles 9.20 pounds (Tie)
- 2nd Place: Menning/Laube 9.20 pounds (Tie)
- 4th Place: Sporrer/Hostler 8.20 pounds
- 5th Place: Harrington/Propst 8.00 pounds (Tie)
- 5th Place: Keller/Becker 8.00 pounds (Tie)
- 5th Place: Englehart/Hinker 8.00 pounds (Tie)
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