MWC-Lake Winnebago-Oshkosh, WI
June 21st-22nd
Day 2PM
Story and Photos by Julia Davis
 

Randy Seidl and Joe Knowles Win the 2008 Cabela's Masters Walleye Circuit on Lake Winnebago-Sponsored by Mercury Motors
 
The final day of the MWC event on Lake Winnebago, in Oshkosh, WI was won by a two men who proved that consistency and a little luck go a long way in winning it all.
 
The team of Randy Seidl of Appleton, WI and his partner, Joe Knowles of Sherwood, WI brought in a 5 fish limit weighing 18.97 pounds and took over the lead early on in the day with a huge total weight of 38.20 pounds.
They took home a prize check in the amount of $28,600.00!  On top of that, they also won the "Oxygenator Bonus" worth $200.00.
 
"Pulling cranks...Clown Shad Raps was working good", said Joe.   "There was more of a pattern of what the fish wanted yesterday, but today there was no real rhyme or reason of what they wanted. It was just a, "mix it up and throw whatever you have in the box at them", kind of day. All of the sudden we would get some bites, and we would catch some nice fish!"
 
"At 2 O'clock we pulled a 25 inch fish", said Joe, (repeating and emphasizing the time again), "At 2 O'clock! That was a high five celebration in the boat!" (Both men chuckled at the thought of the memory).
 
Joe continues...
"Everything was up high...8-10 foot down in the water column.
 
We figured these fish were just dumping out of the river...just continually dumping out into the lake, and we were just catching them as they were coming out. They just come out and spread, and we just pulled some fish.
 
We got lucky. We got on a good bite two days in a row, and that's hard to do on this lake sometimes."
 
Randy talks about lure selections:
"Some of the lures that we put out there, we did not think that they were going to work. We were just trying everything. We wet every lure in our box .  A Pink Lemonade Reef Runner pulled like 9 fish yesterday, and we were just shocked! It was just a "killer" yesterday, and today it didn't work at all".
 
"Some of the lures we were throwing out there you wouldn't think would even take a ride out here on Winnebago", added Joe.
 
"Yep", Randy nods in agreement. "Normally the fish don't take the size lures we were throwing out there...the big Husky Jerks...number 12's, and they were taking them. (shakes his head)
 
We would have a 17 inch fish take a number 12 Husky Jerk, and we were just kind of shocked by that.  I tried the smaller lures that we normally use here, like the Deep Little Rippers, but I only caught one fish on it. For some reason they wanted the bigger lures this week. They must have been really hungry".
 
Giving Props to his Bro:
"We were pre-fishing with my brother, Terry Seidl, and we worked together on this", said Randy. "We did a lot of pre-fishing all week. He came up to us the other day, and we sat down and worked things out...talked about the spots we tried and everything, and they weren’t far away from us the entire time."
 
Taking home the second place prize of $12,694.00 was the team of Rick Kielmann of Waupun, WI and Kyle Harmsen of Oakfield, WI. who brought 15.60 pounds to the scales this afternoon, bringing their total weight up to 34.11 pounds.
 
"We mostly ran spinners through weeds and stuff, and today we switched to crank baits and caught a couple that way...otherwise our bread and butter was spinners through weeds no deeper than 7'."
 
Juls: Did you have any color combo working best for you?
 
"Gold was good. It seemed like when the clouds came out we did better with the chartreuse, but when the sun came out again, it seemed like they wouldn't hit the chartreuse."
 
Juls: What kind of line are you using to pull your spinners?
 
"17 pound test. We basically just long line spinners over the weeds...that's what we do. We aren't using boards or anything like that. When we switched to crank baits we used Perch colored Shad Raps."
 
In third place is the team of Mark Schleis of Denmark, WI and his partner Rob Nickels of Norway, MI who brought in a nice limit of fish today weighing in at 14.77 pounds,  bringing their total weight to 31.32 pounds.
For their 3rd place finish the team will take home a check for $6,700.00 plus the "Team FCIS Bonus" ($250.00) and the "Ranger Cup Bonus" ($1,000.00) for a grand total of $7950.00!
 
Fourth place was claimed by Kevin Carstensen of Merrill, WI and partner, Rich Olds of Stevens Point, WI with a 14.77 pound basket, that brought their total weight up to 31 pounds 10 ounces. This team takes home $4950.00 for their hard work.
When asked what their secret to their success was, Kevin replied, "We fished a couple different things. On Saturday, we handlined and pulled three ways in the river for the morning. The bite then obviously let up, and then we moved out to the mud (big mud flats on Lake Winnebago)...and we pulled spinners out in the mud. We used a custom made Perch pattern 1 ounce inline weight with a "blue flurry" #5 hammered blade to catch most of our fish."
 
"We pulled crawler harnesses all day today, but the bite was a little slower today with smaller fish. We stayed out on the lake today and didn't go to the river at all", said Kevin.
 
The rest of the best:
5th place: Dale Kuklinski and Tony Barber with 30.97 pounds, winning $4500.00
6th place: Matt Jacobson and Jim Hughes with 30.55 pounds, winning $4,000.00
7th place: John Balla and Kevin Byrne with 29.99 pounds, winning $3,600.00
8th place: Gordon Rabetski and Paul Barrette with 29.67 pounds, winning $3,200.00
9th place: Joe Boehnlein and Mike Meetz with 29.37 pounds, winning $3,000.00
10th place: Randy Mulder and Paul Ferch with 102 pounds, winning $2,700.00
 
Winning the $1,000.00  "Toyota Bonus" award was the team of Steve Meyer and Brian Deffner,
 
The $500.00 "Mercury Bonus" award went to the team of Scott Allen and Dennis Butz.
 
Awarded the $100.00 (each) from the NPAA was the team of Vince Raimondi and Doug Larsen.
 
The 2008 Husband and Wife Team Of The Year title was captured by Gary and Marge Pelkey, and the Team Of The Year title was awarded to John Balla and his partner Kevin Byrne.
 
The Day 2 Big Fish Award went to:
1st place: Louis New and Mark Dodge for a 8.31 pound Walleye
2nd place: Dave Ehlke and Stuart Wells with a 6.63 pound Walleye
3rd place: Scott Allen and Dennis Butz with a  6.55 pound Walleye
4th place: Daniel Romenesko and Bill Gerrits with a 6.39 pound Walleye
 
Congratulations to all the winners in the last of the Central Division's regular season event!
 
For more information about who finished where,  please visit the Live Leader Board for full results.
 
Thanks for joining us here on Walleye Central. Your support is greatly appreciated!
 
The next MWC event is scheduled for Saginaw Bay July 18th-20th.
 
Watch for the upcoming PWT tournament coverage by Jake, as he visits with the Pros and Co Anglers on Bull Shoals Lake in Bull Shoals, Arkansas June 25th -27th!