17 pounds would put you in great shape today at the next to the last regular season stop on the MWC Circuit this year at Cass Lake.   It seemed like the beginning, the middle and the end was the place to be in the weigh in line today!

Near the beginning was the South Dakota team of Mike Dorris and Brian Tordsen who weighed in 5 walleye for 17 pounds and 1 ounce to set the bar for most of the day 1 weigh in.

About half way through in the middle of the weigh in was the Darrell Peters From Hinton IA and partner Christopher Lewis, Slayton, MN who brought their five walleyes in that also weighed in at 17-01 to tie for the lead.

Then the last team to weigh in today was Dan Fuller and Chad Benson from Bemidji, MN was locked in the lead with 17-09

Rounding out the top five is Jay Braaten and Dan Swenson from MInnesota with 15-09 and 3 time MWC Cass Lake winners who are in clearly within striking distance again, Travor Deigel and Paul Steffen with 14-15.

Day 2  will tell the story, weigh in begins at Stony Point Resort tomorrow Saturday at 3:30pm cst and is free to the public.

Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit Returns
Minnesota’s Cass Lake Chain Sept. 12-14

 Presented by Mercury

For Immediate Release –

Ponca City, Okla.—Sept. 4, 2014— With  80 teams registered for the event, hard-fishing teams from across the Midwest will clash for thousands of dollars in cash and prizes when the Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit returns to north-central Minnesota’s iconic Cass Lake Chain September 12-14 for a regular-season qualifying tournament.

The event is open to two-person teams regardless of club or sponsor affiliation, and entries are accepted through Monday, September 8. It is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, with Sunday reserved in case bad weather forces the cancellation of one of the first two days. Two-person teams will be allowed to weigh five fish per day, and the team with the heaviest two-day total weight will be crowned tournament champions.

Based on the Circuit’s recent visits to Cass Lake, the event should offer competitors fine early-fall walleye fishing on a variety of patterns. At the 2013 Cabela’s MWC qualifier on Cass, South Dakotans Travor Diegel and Paul Steffen topped a 76-team field to claim their third-straight Circuit victory on Cass and collect more than $15,000 in winnings. Their 32-pound, 2-ounce two-day catch—taken on spinner rigs sweetened with live bait and Berkley Gulp! Crawlers—showcased the system’s abundant walleye population, as did the catch-and-release event’s overall total of 498 walleyes weighing 966 pounds, 10 ounces.

Cabela’s MWC payouts are based on the number of teams entered in each event. Plus, the MWC Big Fish Pot, along with sponsor bonuses including Ranger Cup, Berkley Baits, Lowrance Electronics, Optima True Blue and the Zippo Hot Hands Big Fish Award add thousands more to the total.

The public is invited to the weigh-ins, which begin at 3:30 p.m. daily at Stony Point Resort just east of the town of Cass Lake. The Cabela’s MWC, National Professional Anglers Association, Pure Fishing and Zippo Outdoor Brands will present a Youth & Family Fishing Clinic immediately after the first day’s weigh-in. The first 50 youths will receive rods and reel combos courtesy of the NPAA.

Under the umbrella of The Walleye Federation (TWF), the Cabela’s MWC is open to avid walleye anglers from all walks of life. The 2014 trail included 10 stops spread across seven states in the Walleye Belt. Teams showcased their skills—and sponsor products—at world-class venues such as the Illinois, Detroit and Mississippi rivers, Green Bay, Big Stone Lake, Kinzua Reservoir, and wind down the regular season on the Cass Lake Chain and Lake Erie.

Along with great payouts at each event, teams fishing three or more tournaments battle for coveted berths in the 2015 Cabela’s MWC Championship, set for October 2015 on Lake Erie out of Huron, Ohio. Teams fishing at least three qualifiers also compete for Team of the Year awards, including a $25,000 “Living the Dream” sponsorship package, which includes fully paid entries to the Cabela’s National Walleye Trail as a pro and co-angler, use of a 600 series Ranger boat, travel stipends and more.

Cabela’s, the World’s Foremost Outfitter for hunting, fishing and outdoor gear, is in its 12th season as title sponsor of the MWC. Official sponsors include: Berkley Gulp!, Lowe Equipment Attachments, Lowrance Electronics, Mercury Marine, MotorGuide, Ranger Boats, The Walleye Federation and Zippo Outdoor Brands. Associate sponsors include: Berkley Trilene, Church Tackle, Lindy Legendary Fishing Tackle, Optima Batteries, Rockstar Hitch Mounted Mud Flaps, T-H Marine and Sea Grant.

Entry fees are $650 per tournament, of which more than 100 percent is returned to anglers at the qualifiers, World Championship and Team of the Year races. Registration closes at 10 a.m. on Monday prior to each tournament. For more information, visit masterswalleyecircuit.com, email info@masterswalleyecircuit.com, or call (580) 765-9031.

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Sabatose, Mausser Win Cabela’s Masters Walleye
Circuit’s Kinzua Reservoir Tournament 

Presented by Zippo Outdoors

 For Immediate Release –

Bradford, Penn.—July 12, 2014—Pennsylvania’s Chuck Sabatose and Frank Mausser racked up an impressive 20-pound total catch to claim top honors at the Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit’s qualifying tournament on Kinzua Reservoir out of Bradford, Pennsylvania, July 11-12.

After landing in third place on day one with 12 pounds, 10 ounces, Sabatose, of Brockport, and Mausser, of Sharon, weighed a 7-pound, 6-ounce basket the final day to charge past day one leaders, Ohio’s Jason Kopf and Rodger Riggs. Sabatose and Mausser collected $9,500 in cash for the win, plus the $500 Berkley Baits Award and $500 Lowrance HDS Gen2 Touch and Elite 7 contingency. They also claimed a $1,000 Cabela’s National Team Championship Prize Package including paid NTC entry, travel stipend, team jerseys and plaques.

“It’s an amazing feeling—a dream come true!” said Sabatose, who fished a Cabela’s MWC event at Henderson Harbor, New York, a number of seasons ago and has long hoped the trail would stop at his home waters of Kinzua. “Structure is key on this lake,” he noted. “We trolled Berkley Flicker Shads on leadcore line at speeds of 1.7 to 2.2 mph over rockpiles and stump patches, and caught fish from depths of 16 to 36 feet deep.”

In second place with 17 pounds, 3 ounces, Kopf, of Avon Lake, and Riggs, of Cleveland, pocketed $4,750 in cash, plus the $1,000 Ranger Cup contingency.

Rounding out the top 5 were:

3rd: Johnnie Candle and Dennis Skurulsky, 17-02, $3,300

4th: Scott Rhodes and Jeff Koester, 17-01, $2,500 plus the $250 Zippo Hot Hands Big Fish Award for catching big fish of the tournament, an 8-pound, 7-ounce walleye, and the $200 Optima True Blue contingency

5th: Nick Lary and Kurt McKenna, 16-15, $2,000

In all, the Cabela’s MWC awarded $39,360 in cash and prizes.

Weigh-ins were held at Giordano’s Corydon Hotel outside Bradford. Kinzua yielded 302 walleyes weighing a total of 497 pounds, 2 ounces in the catch-and-release event. The Cabela’s MWC, National Professional Anglers Association, Pure Fishing and Zippo Outdoor Brands presented a Youth & Family Fishing Clinic immediately after the first day’s weigh-in. Participating youths received rod-and-reel combos courtesy of the NPAA.

The event marked the Circuit’s first trip to the Keystone hotspot, which drew a groundswell of local participation and support. “A big thank-you is in order for everyone who helped make this event a success, including Zippo Outdoors, Giordano’s Corydon Hotel, the Seneca Nation, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, and the Bradford High School Criminal Justice Club,” said Tournament Director Dan Palmer. He also thanked local MWCer and Zippo pro-staffer Doug Yohe and teammate Charlie Brandt for welcoming new competitors into the MWC family.

Under the umbrella of The Walleye Federation (TWF), the Cabela’s MWC is open to avid walleye anglers from all walks of life. The 2014 trail includes 10 stops spread across seven states in the Walleye Belt. Teams showcase their skills—and sponsor products—at world-class venues such as the Illinois, Detroit and Mississippi rivers, Green Bay, Big Stone Lake, Kinzua Reservoir, Cass Lake and Lake Erie.

Along with great payouts at each event, teams fishing three or more tournaments battle for coveted berths in the 2015 Cabela’s MWC Championship, set for October 2015 on Lake Erie out of Huron, Ohio. Teams fishing at least three qualifiers also compete for Team of the Year awards, including a $25,000 “Living the Dream” sponsorship package, which includes fully paid entries to the Cabela’s National Walleye Trail as a pro and co-angler, use of a 600 series Ranger boat, travel stipends and more.

Cabela’s, the World’s Foremost Outfitter for hunting, fishing and outdoor gear, is in its 12th season as title sponsor of the MWC. Official sponsors include: Berkley Gulp!, Lowe Equipment Attachments, Lowrance Electronics, Mercury Marine, MotorGuide, Ranger Boats, The Walleye Federation and Zippo Outdoor Brands. Associate sponsors include: Berkley Trilene, Church Tackle, Lindy Legendary Fishing Tackle, Optima Batteries, Rockstar Hitch Mounted Mud Flaps, T-H Marine and Sea Grant.

Entry fees are $650 per tournament, of which more than 100 percent is returned to anglers at the qualifiers, World Championship and Team of the Year races. Registration closes at 10 a.m. on Monday prior to each tournament. For more information, visit masterswalleyecircuit.com, email info@masterswalleyecircuit.com, or call (580) 765-9031.

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North Dakota and PA anglers dominate most of the top 10 ….but Ohio Anglers Jason Kopf From Avon Lake and Rodger Riggs from Cleveland Lead Day 1 with 5 fish for 13-08 and are in the drivers sea At Kinzua.

Did we just say North Dakota? Yes we did good fishermen are good fishermen, no matter where they live or are fishing.  While PA anglers hold 6 of the top 10 spots, Second Place team of Chad Yohe, from New Salem North Dakota and partner Michael Yohe from Bradford, PA sits solidly in second and while Chad is fishing with family and grew up here as a young man, he has lived in the Dakotas for some time and does not fish here often anymore.  Sitting in third is PA anglers Chuck Sabatose and Frank Mausser. PA anglers aAlso hold 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th places. Then there is World Walleye Champion Johnnie Candle from Devils Lake, ND and his season partner from WI, Dennis Skurulsky sit in seventh place with only four fish weighing  7-14. New Jersey anglers hold down the 9th spot and MWC veteran big stick form MIand IN hold down the 10th spot.

Kinzua, is a beautiful place you need to visit, no internet, no cell service in the Allegheny Mountians lakeside and…. thats not all bad!

Day 2 final weigh in begins at Corydon Hotel  near the lake at 4:00pm EST come on out and join us!