Deal or No Deal? Rookie Takes The Lead

PWT – Mobridge, SD May 28-30th
Day 1PM:

Aaron Deal, of Herman, MN, along with his Co Angler, Artie Arndt, of Ortonville, MN, brought the biggest basket of fish to the stage this afternoon, where it tipped the scales at a whopping 19.22 pounds!

Sitting in the “number two” spot is the “Hall of Fame” Pro Mike McClelland, who after a three year hiatus from Walleye tournaments, brought in a nice 5 fish limit weighing in at 17.76 pounds. Mike hails from Pierre, SD, and his Co Angler, Ben Garver, traveled in from Hickman, Nebraska.

JK asked Mike about his time off during the last couple of years…Mike’s reply was this:

“I’m a tournament fisherman, and I stopped fishing tournaments for a while…I got on the water a couple times in the last two years, because I didn’t HAVE to go fishing (like you do when you’re a tournament fisherman). So, I had to start fishing tournaments again, because I love to fish. That was the only way I could find the time to go fishing”.

The third position belongs to the Kimball, SD “Rookie Pro”, Lee Pulse, and his Co Angler, Jerald Shoemaker, of Stanley, ND with a weight of 16.47, and rounding out the top 5 is:

4th place is Mark Martin, of Twin Lake, MI and Alex Finalyson, of Dryden, ON

5th place is Jess Schilling, of Akaska, SD and Cory Loos, of Grand Forks, ND

Check the Live Leaderboard for more results:

http://www.liveleaderboard.com

Fish are plentiful on Lake Oahe!

All, but three Pros, managed to get their 5 fish limit today.

It was heard more than once this afternoon, that many fish that would have helped teams at the scales today, were thrown back early on.

As the clocked ticked forward to the afternoon hours, several Pros said they got nervous and started keeping more fish. Sometimes that meant keeping a smaller fish, than one that was released earlier in the day. Because of a  slot limit, and the No Cull rule, it makes it really tough to make a decision on a fish early in the day…especially if they are all nice fish.

The “Oopsy-Honor” goes to Robert Severtson, of Lake Lillian, MN and his Co Angler, Bill Simmons of Griffith, IN, who got DQ’d this afternoon, when they failed to check in, on time, with the check in boat upon their return from the day of fishing.

The winds that were worrisome to some this morning, never transpired. Instead it was a beautiful partly cloudy day with temperatures in the mid 60’s, and winds from the SSE at 11-16mph.

With weights so tight, it is still anyone’s tournament to win. We see a lot of flip flopping on the “Live Leader Board” tomorrow, simply because those who got lucky and found a big “kicker” fish today might not find any tomorrow. And, those who didn’t find one today might find one tomorrow.

Can Aaron hold on to his lead? Can he repeat his weight from today, tomorrow? How is he feeling…being a Rookie Pro leading a PWT event on day 1 of the first tournament of the season?

I’ll find out all the answers in the morning, so stay tuned for more continued coverage of the Lake Oahe PWT event in Mobridge, SD.

Juls