The first event of the National Walleye Tour season is in the books, and after two days of fishing on Lake Sharpe in Pierre it was Robert Crow who was able to take home the victory! Anchored by a monstrous 21-02 pound bag on Day One, Crow was able to bring just enough to the scales on Day Two to sneak out the victory with a total weight of 26-13 pounds.
While monster bags such as the one Crow brought are special on Lake Sharpe, they are tough to replicate, and Crow experienced just that.
“We showed up to the big fish spot, and they just did not act accordingly,” said Crow in a press release. “I had to scramble around, and it was much later in the day, but we were able to manage some keepers to give me just enough-but I will admit I was really scared I lost this thing when I got back to weigh-in.”
While many anglers turned their techniques to trolling for this event, Crow found success throwing swimbaits. Utilizing both Garmin LiveScope and straight casting, Crow was able to coax fish into biting in an overall tough bite.
“I’ve been on the water throughout the entire pre-fish and both tournament days, as well as visiting with many of the anglers, and the biggest trend is a constantly changing bite,” said Nick Harrington, Owner of Lip Ripper Fishing. “You’ll find a spot holding good fish, then the next day it’s empty or full of small ones. These fish are constantly on the move.”
The major reason for this is the timing of the spawn, which happened to follow directly on the event.
“We had spawning activity taking place right in the middle of this event,” continued Harrington. “It makes a bite even more challenging, add on some changing weather conditions and it’s tough to pattern.”
The pro-angler Top Ten included:
- 1st: Robert Crow, 26-13 pounds
- 2nd: Nate Leininger, 23-14 pounds
- 3rd: Randy Topper, 23-12 pounds
- 4th: Justin Cole, 21-10 pounds
- 5th: Joe Bricko, 20-06 pounds
- 6th: Mark Courts, 18-12 pounds
- 7th: Tom Huynh, 18-11 pounds
- 8th: Dylan Nussbaum, 18-11 pounds
- 9th: Styles Brown, 18-10 pounds
- 10th: Tyson Keller, 18-05 pounds
“It’s certainly no surprise to see the weights this close, it was expected about 12 pounds per day would win and that ended up being quite close,” explained Harrington. “There’s an abundance of 15-18 inch walleyes in Lake Sharpe right now, and ultimately it came down to a game of ounces as you’d expect.”
The National Walleye Tour was the first event of the weekend, with Sharpe Showdown the Saturday and Sunday following this tournament. We’ll have a complete breakdown of both events once everything has been concluded.
Full results are available on the National Walleye Tour website.
Day One Story: National Walleye Tour on Lake Sharpe in Pierre
A phrase in tournament fishing is “you can’t win it on Day One, but you certainly can lose it.” That was successfully disproven in this event! It was a winning Day One for Bobby Crow, and we detailed all of it in our Day One Results: National Walleye Tour on Lake Sharpe.
Images courtesy of the National Walleye Tour
