While many teams struggled to catch even one fish, Chad Schilling of Akaska, SD seems to have an endless supply at his disposal. The humble South Dakota native said that without the help of his good friend, Tom Gatzke, he wouldn't have even known where to start fishing a big body of water like Big and Little Bays de Noc.
 
There were 52 zeros, or teams who did not weigh fish this afternoon, and only 6 limits brought to the scales. The rest were mostly in the one and two fish category with some 3 and 4 fish baskets thrown in there too.
 
I spoke with the young G3/Yamaha Pro after the weigh in to get his thoughts about his day today and what his expectations are for tomorrow.
 
Juls: So how does it feel to be leading an FLW Walleye Tour event on the first day?
 
Chad: It feels good. It's a good place to be! Realistically, I know that means nothing. I've still got a lot of work to do...it feels GOOD though! (he laughs).
People say, "ah, I don't want to be leading on day one", but I'm cool with it. I'm going to sleep good tonight, and now I don't have anyone to chase. I'll just try to stay out there, so that's fine.
 
Juls: On a really tough bite, like what seems to be here, it's a really good place to be. Are you feeling pretty confident?
 
Chad: I am. I've got a couple little things that I stumbled into this week, and you know... you'd always rather be a little lucky than good, right?

I'm reading when I'm running 40mph and I seen things that look cool, so I turned around and checked a couple of them yesterday.

Both had good fish on them, but I didn't get there today. There's no one on them. I mean they're not on a map...they're not anywhere. I drove by them both by about a 1/4 mile and no one's even close, so...Who knows?

It's the Great Lakes, so I know what I have to go do tomorrow. I'm going to go put in five fish, and hopefully they're the right ones, and it'll be fun. I can't wait. It's a great place to be.

I haven't been leading one of these before....he stumbles to correct himself... I haven't been leading an FLW event before, so this is fun. It'll be good.

I'm usually chasing someone with a 10 pound lead. I've never been in one where I wasn't behind by like 10 pounds. At Erie I felt like I had a chance until Swanstrom had to go and put a 20-25 pound lead on me. (He laughs again).
 
Juls: We've had stable, but chilly weather, the past few days. With winds predicted to switch tomorrow, will it hurt you or help you?
 
Chad: None of the winds have been right. Everyone knows you want a South or an East wind here. That's common knowledge...everyone knows that.
 
Well, the fish have been biting with a West wind, so I'll just turn my pass a little, is all. I mean it's not going to...I don't know. I don't see it making a big change, and it should work. Anything South is going to actually make it a little better, I think.

I'm out in the middle of nowhere and I'm not fishing around a lot of boats. If I get a couple boats with me, I'll leave.
 
I don't know...it just seems like it went pretty easy today. I left my fish...and kind of left them alone, so they're not getting beat up...they're not hurt at all. There's a million of them there. Whether or not they're going to bite tomorrow is the trick.

Like my Dad always says, "they have a tail", and if they use it I'll try to locate them again. I'll  adjust. It's a Great Lake...they change FAST!

I learned that at Erie. Unfortunately, it cost me a big bag on day 2, so I know to keep my head in the game a little bit.
 
Juls: You're fishing all alone, so speaking of "tails", let's hope you don't have any following you tomorrow.
 
Chad: Well, that can happen. If it does, I'll just keep leaving them. I mean, they're going to have to make a point of following, because I'm going to keep moving. It's part of the game. I just don't let myself get frustrated. I've guided too long, and I know the days where your not happy, when I'm not being "smiley" (a name I've called him since day one of his FLW career), I don't do well, so I'll just adjust.

I do it at home, and at home you get people that come, because you're the "guide on the water", and so they come and fish by you...and I do it for a little bit...have fun and say, "Hi", and then I leave and move on to the next one.
 
If I was here by myself, I mean, Tom has helped me so much. I mean, he's just showed me areas. This place is HUGE! I can't imagine being here blind. Coming in by myself...a South Dakota Boy....I'd be in last place!
 
He showed me enough places and it's amazing...all the waypoints are right. I've just come in here trying to expand these areas, and it didn't work. If I hit the waypoints I get bites. If I'm off of them, I don't. So, now, in the tournament, I'm just going to keep hitting the weigh points!
 
If it's meant to be, it's going to happen. I'm going to put my baits there, and pray a lot, and go from there. That's all I can do. I'm not going to sweat the details. I'm going to let the Walleye Gods decide.
 
Juls: Do you have a "milk run"?
 
Chad: Yeah, I do...a really good milk run. So, I have like 4-5 places that need to die on me.
 
Only ounces separate the next three spots...

In Second Place:
Going out in the second place position tomorrow on the Pro side is Nick Heelein of Genoa City, WI, and on the Co Angler side is Jerry Miller of Lowell, IN. The pair brought a 4 fish limit weighing in at 20 pounds 11 ounces.
 
In Third Place:
Third place belongs to Tom Keenan of Hatley, WI and his co angler today, John Hammond of Ixonia, WI, for bringing in a 5 fish limit weighing 20 pounds 8 ounces.
 
In Fourth Place:
Pro Pat Byle of Colgate, WI and his co angler, Kenneth Bundy of Pulaski, NY kept up with a basket of 5 fish weighing in at 20 pounds 1 ounce.
 
Rounding out the top 5:
Mark Courts of Harris, MN and his co angler David Kerzee of Westerville, OH brought in 4 fish to the scales today that weighed 17.15 pounds.
 
Juls: Mark, you're no stranger to the top ten...how does it feel to be in the top 5 during an event that's proving to be a pretty tough bite?
 
Mark Courts: We're excited...it's one of those deals where we're excited to have gotten the fish we got today. We got a couple fish early and then just kind of ground it out the rest of the day. Hopefully the conditions will hold the next couple of days and we'll see what happens.
 
Juls: They are expecting a wind direction change for tomorrow. It's not much, but it is the opposite direction than what we've had here the past 3-4 days. The wind is expected to blow out of the South at 5-10mph. Do you think it will effect the your bite at all?
 
Mark: Yeah, I do. We've had the same weather conditions here for three straight days, so it's one of those deals that, with a change and everything, I'm a little worried about it. But, we're just going to go fishing. We've got a couple spots with different wind directions where we've caught a couple fish, so that's what we're going to do.
 
Please join us again tomorrow afternoon,  here on Walleye Central, for continued coverage from the shores of Little Bay de Noc in beautiful Escanaba, MI!

The weigh in will start at 3PM Eastern Time.  If you want to come and watch it live, the FLW weigh in site is located at the Escanaba Municipal Marina in Ludington Park.  If you can't make it down, but would like to watch it live, then tune in to our live webcast.

Details and link can be found at the top of this page