The first day of fishing for the National Walleye Tour on Lake Sharpe is in the books, and the day was highlighted by a monster 21 pound bag. Robert Crow of Paterson, Washington brought 21-02 pounds to take a commanding Day One lead!
“Today was just one of those magical days,” said Crow in a press release. “I was hoping for 8 pounds and praying for 12. I covered a lot of water but left myself enough time to really work in my best areas. Catching two overs with one weighing 9 and one weighing 7, I mean what more could you hope for.”
Crow’s five-fish weight was highlighted by two monster “overs”, or fish greater than 20 inches, and filled out with excellent quality slot fish.
“Lake Sharpe is historically known as a numbers fishery, but big fish always show up for big events here,” said Tom Sieburg, Owner of Tom Tom’s Guide Service. “Today showed exactly that, big fish showed up for a big tournament, and we saw a monster bag.”
While Crow’s mega-bag gave him a commanding lead, there were still excellent quality bags to round out the top ten. Nate Leininger sits in second with 13-08.
“We made a run down river this morning to a place where I thought I could catch some quality fish, low-and-behold my first cast was a 4-pounder”, reported Leininger in a press release. “We were able to boat another fish that was a quality bite, filled our limit, and then came back closer to launch early. We left around noon.”
Randy Topper, who also bagged a quality over, comes in third with 12-08.
“It was cold and wet today, but my Co-Angler (Shane Doughty) started catching fishing pretty much first thing this morning, which gave us the confidence to keep our head down and get to business,” said Topper in a press release. “I am catching them all looking at them on (Garmin) Livescope. Nothing special and hopefully tomorrow I can explain a little more in what I am doing.”
South Dakota anglers Justin Cole, Styles Brown, Tyson Keller, and Duane Hjelm hold the next four places, with 10-15, 10-09, 10-01, and 9-11 respectively.
Joe Bricko and Josh Freeseman sit tied for eighth with 9-04, and Dusty Minke rounds out the top 10 with 9-03.
“Weights are extremely tight, and that’s to be expected,” said Nick Harrington, Owner of Lip Ripper Fishing. “We knew that there would be a lot of weights between 7-9 pounds, and finding those slightly better fish is what floats you to the top of the field.”
The field is tight, with eight-pound weights heading back to 29th place. The seven-pound weights head back to 56th place.
“This is what makes Lake Sharpe events so fun, you can both jump or fall a lot of spots between Day One and Day Two,” continued Harrington. “There is an abundance of 16-18 inch walleyes in the system, plus plenty of 15 inchers too, and we saw exactly that today.”
Day Two take-off will begin at 7 a.m. out of Downs Marina in Pierre, and weigh-ins will begin at 3:15 p.m. at Steamboat Park. Following these weigh-ins, the first National Walleye Tour Champion of the 2025 season will be crowned!
“I’m excited to see the conclusion of this event, and it has me even more excited for Sharpe Showdown,” concluded Sieburg. “We’ve got one more day of pre-fish, and we’re hoping based on today’s weights we’re on the right program!”
Full results and information can be found on the National Walleye Tour website. Harrington and Sieburg will then take-off for Sharpe Showdown, which is hosted by the Pierre Area Chamber of Commerce, Saturday and Sunday.
