MWC-Saginaw Bay July 18th-20th
Day 1AM
Story by: Julia Davis
 
70 teams headed out this morning under warm hazy/cloudy conditions for the second MWC Eastern Division event of the season. A quick look at today's forecast shows that the teams will have a muggy day on the water, but with the cloud cover they shouldn't get too uncomfortable out on the water today.
Weather forecast for today and tomorrow:
Today: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 87. West southwest wind between 11 and 13 mph.

Tonight: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 65. West southwest wind between 10 and 13 mph becoming calm. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.

Saturday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 81. Calm wind becoming southeast around 6 mph.
 
It's been a pretty good bite during prefishing, so expect to see lots of limits brought to the scales this afternoon.
 
"We've been fishing here all week, and I already told myself we didn't want to make the long run", said the 07 TOY partner Tim Waltz. 

"They're catching some big fish out there, but I've been here 15 times over the years and I've always known there were big fish in the (inner) bay here to be had.  We went through a lot of numbers of fish....50-60 fish a day...and, out of those, you can find pods that have 19-21 inch fish in them.  Two  days ago we actually stumbled on a pod...one pass through we picked  up an 8 (pounder)...seconds later a 7...seconds later a 6. So, you know, there as good a fish as anyone's going to catch in this bay.
We went back the  next day and hit a couple 22 1/2's and they're still in that same quality category. We took the day off yesterday and now we're going back there today, and just hoping for the best...we're hoping they're still there.  Everything under the sun is working right now...we've caught them on spoons, three way'n Reef Runners and spoons, Hot-n-Tot's and spoons, spinners...you name it, it's workin!"
 
I caught up with Ohio angler Gary Zart (known on Walleye Central as "Blue Dolphin") and he had this to say about fishing the bay this weekend:
 
Gary: "Prefishing went very well. We caught some really nice 'bags', that might get us a top 5. So, hopefully it will all work out."
 
Juls: So what do you think it will take to make a top ten here?
 
Gary: "Well, I mean if you look at the history of this place, no matter what time of year, I always think that you need 25 to cash a check and 30 to win, on a two or three day tournament. So, I think somewhere in that range should be the correct weight, so that's what I'm shooting for."
 
There is only one flight today and tomorrow, so all the teams must be back by 4pm. The weigh in will start approximately by 4:15 Eastern Time this afternoon.
 
Rules of this tournament are as follows:
 
Fish size: 15 and over.
Teams are allowed to weigh a limit of 5 fish per team per day.

Culling is allowed with a limit of 5 fish/person in your livewell.

Following Michigan state rulings: 2 lures/line, 2 lines/person

Stay tuned to www.liveleaderboard.com for live weights and daily photos.