June 29, 2007
Husband and wife team win $27,000 MWC at Green Bay
Total purse exceeds $113,000
Green Bay, WI – Tom and Heidi Kemos of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin bested a field of 184 teams for the Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit tournament out of Green Bay, June 23rd and 24th. While Tom cut his teeth on the Masters Walleye Circuit back in the mid-90’s, this was his first circuit victory, and particularly sweet with the one he loves. Heidi, a self-proclaimed novice when it comes to tournament fishing said, “I just do what he tells me to do, and luckily I did it pretty well this time.”
Indeed. The duo brought in the maximum ten fish over two days totaling 56.57 pounds. Tom strategized staying in the lower bay at this time in the season, and targeted a little stained water in the Two-Mile Reef area, the North and East side of the reef. They trolled spinners with crawler harnesses with blue and white beads and pink and blue #6 blades.
His Mercury Pro-kicker helped him keep the troll dialed in slowly, 0.9 to 1.2 mph, targeting a 23’-25’ break line four feet off the bottom. When asked the key to his success he said, “My particular boards have a great tattle-tale indicating light bites – and that allowed me to detect what I might have otherwise missed. When I got a light bite I fed out 30’-35’ of line. That seemed to really make a difference.” Kemos targeted the bigger fish that were staying closer to the bottom. “If you got any higher than that you’d catch a lot of fish, but they were smaller ones. The bigger fish were further down.”
Tom Kemos is the reigning PWT Champion, winning his first-ever walleye tournament for $100,000 last fall. This was his second walleye victory; he had previously fished more bass tournaments. In the last two years he has won several honors in the PWT, but also enjoys team fishing when the schedule works. “I do this because I love the competition – and the MWC is the premier team circuit. The competition is just as fierce on the MWC as on any other I fish.”
The weekend bite was very good on the Bay of Green Bay, with the 184 teams weighing an average of 8.4 fish per team, totaling 1,555 fish at 5,830.2 pounds, a respectable 3.75 pound average. “This fishery is spectacular,” shared emcee Steve Pennaz from the stage. Pennaz is the Executive Director of the North American Fishing Club and Vice President of Outdoor Television at North American Media Group. “There were over 100 teams that caught ten-fish baskets. That’s truly amazing!”
Kevin & Karen McQuoid of Isle, Minnesota weighed the largest fish of the tournament on day one at 11.04 pounds. A total of $7,300 was paid out for big fish money with $1,850 for first place.
Second place honors for 54.24 pounds went to John May of Forestville, WI & Chad Wertepivy of Green Bay, WI. They cashed a check for $12,100 plus a $2,000 bonus from Toyota to total $14,100. May bought his Toyota Tundra a month ago and just loves it. The Tundra is quickly becoming the new tow vehicle in the circuit.
Jerry Plourde of Cornell, MI & Dan Stier of Pierre, SD took fifth place honors with 52.2 pounds and cashed a check for $4,200 plus the $1,000 bonus from Ranger Cup totaling $5,200. In all, $113,400 was paid out to the top 32 teams.
For more information contact circuit headquarters by email at: events@masterswalleyecircuit.com or toll-free by phone at 877-893-7947.
© 2007 Outdoors Weekly Corporation