MWC-Saginaw Bay June 18th-20th
Day 1 PM
Story by Julia Davis

Shannon Robinson and Craig Gushow take the lead at Saginaw Bay!
 
Five fish limits were the norm this afternoon as the 70 MWC East teams weighed in at the Linwood Beach Marina in Linwood, MI. While finding 5 fish that would bite wasn't hard to do, finding 5 big fish was!
 
Shannon Robinson of Standish, MI and his partner, Craig Gushow of Midland, MI brought in a limit of fish that tipped the scales at 21.57 pounds, and were the only team to break the 20 pound mark today.
 
Juls: How does it feel to be sitting in the first place position on day one of this event?
 
Craig: "It's a good feeling. The best we've ever been sitting after day one is third place. We feel confident we can go back to the same spot and get some decent fish again. We got hurt...we weighed a 17 incher today that really hurt us. We just couldn't get rid of that fish all day. There's big fish where we're at, and it's just a matter of getting the big fish to bite, so we do feel confident for tomorrow."
 
Juls: Are you going through a lot of fish?
 
Craig: "We're NOT...not at all. We actually caught our 5th fish at 12:30 this afternoon so, it's a little stressful out there...every bite counts, so you've got to make sure you make every one count. You have to be very patient that's for sure."
 
In second position is the team of Justin Champagne of Au Gres, MI and his partner, Josh Gordon of Angrew, MI who brought in a limit weighing in at 19.89 pounds.
 
It was just enough to edge in front of the team of Rob Jones of Redford, MI and his partner, George Miller of Flint, MI who were only 3 one hundredths of a pound behind with a weight of 19.86 pounds, and slipped into third place.
 
Going out in the fourth position tomorrow morning will be the Michigan team of Todd  Conners and Mike Bringedahl, who brought in 5 fish today, but all were judged dead at the bump tank, so ounces were deducted and their weight slipped to 19.55 pounds.
 
"It was rough out there today", said Todd.  "The fish just weren't going like they had been all week. We were going through 20 fish a day, and today we had 9. So, we had...three were like we had been catching all week, and the other two were pretty small.
Hopefully, they'll be in there tomorrow. We feel pretty comfortable. There's not a lot of boats around us, and we're a pretty long ways away. Not too many people are running that far with the gas prices and the wind", he says with a chuckle.
"So, that's the key right there. You have to go for it if you want to win these things!"
 
Juls: How long did it take you to get back?
 
Todd: "Ah, about an hour and 40 minutes".
 
Juls: That's a pretty fast ride in those rough conditions. I see you're in one of the new Lund Glass boats.  How'd she handle for you guys?
 
Todd: "Oh, it's awesome! This is the first time I've rode in it. It's my partner's boat, and this is the first tournament we've run it in, and it really performed well today. Running that far, we really put it to the test today, and it came through with flying colors."
 
Juls: How big were the waves out there today?
 
Todd: "When we started out, and turned to come back in, it was 5's...4-5's... and, then as we got in a ways it dropped off closer to 3's where we could get on it (throttle down) and we made it with 4 minutes to spare".
 
Rounding out the top 5 with the last of the 19 pound bags is Bob DeVine of Windsor, ON and his partner Steve Velte of Belleville, MI with 19.32 for 5 fish.
 
Tomorrow's weather is expected to be much calmer for the competitors, with calm winds forecasted at only 5mph out of the Southwest later in the day. There is another chance for showers and thunderstorms to pop up throughout the day though. A high of 79 will be a nice change from the hot humid weather of late.
 
Please join us tomorrow afternoon for continued coverage of the MWC at Saginaw Bay. The weigh in will begin at 4PM Eastern Time.
 
See you there!