Rost and Danforth Lead From Start to Finish on Missouri River
Presented by: Ranger Boats
Chamberlain/Oacoma, SD – April 28, 2024 – Lake Francis Case on the Missouri River is known as a very “fishy” place to hold a tournament and there was no disappointment during this event. On the first day of the 2nd stop on the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit (MWC) all 76 teams brought fish across the scales to set the stage for what would be an exciting finale on the second day of competition for this tournament, presented by Ranger Boats.
The purse that anglers were vying for totaled $67,753. The eventual first-place team of Corey Rost and Ryan Danforth, South Dakota natives, held a commanding lead of over 3 lbs. with a day-1 total of 15-12. The next three teams on the leader board were also from South Dakota that were looking to overtake the leaders on day-two.
The walleyes on Lake Francis Case were in post spawn patterns and that meant there were fish scattered throughout the entire system. Some teams made the trek over 30 miles south of the Chamberlain/Oacoma area while others chose to head up river in search of a few bigger fish holding closer to the dam after the spawn. South Dakota regulations allow only one fish over the 20-inch mark each day per angler and those big fish are what pushed the top teams into the lead. Finding numbers of walleyes was never an issue. Getting those “overs” into the boat was what proved challenging for some.
The day-one leaders came to the scales towards the end of the weigh-in on day two. Anticipation and nervousness showed on their faces as they listened and watched the final few teams weigh their fish, wondering if they had enough to hold their place at the top. When Rost and Danforth came to the stage as the last team, a little bit of doubt could be seen in their body language. The second-place team from day one of Shawn and Scott Kuhnert weighed another solid bag coming in at 10-02 lbs. earlier for a two-day total of 23-03 lbs. When Corey and Ryan came up to the scale, the team from Madison and Sioux Falls, SD only needed a little over 7 lbs. to win. When the scales locked, their emotions turned to happiness and disbelief as the scale read 7-10 lbs. The weight gave them a three-ounce lead over second place and solidified a 1st place win on Francis Case with a two-day total of 23-06 lbs. With their win, the team won a total of over $20,000 of cash and prizes that included $10,600 cash, a $8,000 Ranger Cup Bonus, $1,000 NTC prize package and two (2) Okuma reels worth $200.
Rost and Danforth had this to say right before and after they weighed their catch, “I don’t know. We weighed our fish in the boat before we came up to the scales and we didn’t think we had it. Sitting in the bump sink and waiting to weigh-in felt like an eternity. At first, we just wanted it to be over. We thought, there’s no way we were going to win with the weight we have today. This is just unreal and we’re happy it all turned out like this.”
Let’s take a look at how the rest of the top 5 finished:
2nd Shawn and Scott Kuhnert 23-03 lbs. $5,600 cash plus $3,850 option pot
3rd Matt Surrell and Ryan Long 22-04 lbs. $3,750 cash plus $2,800 option pot
4th Tony Herting and Mike Maurer 22-03 lbs. $2,600 cash
5th Brian Dahl and Brennan Lockwood 21-14 lbs. $2,150 cash plus $2,060 option pot
There was a total of 152 anglers from 10 states that competed in the Francis Case event. The largest bag weighed was from the first-place team of Rost and Danforth weighing in at 15-12 lbs. The largest fish also came from the winning team on day-one and weighed 7-02 lbs. There was a total of 663 fish caught with an overall total of 1237-09 lbs.
Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center and Cedar Shore hosted the rules meeting and weigh-in and was the perfect venue to hold this event. The next stop for the MWC brings anglers to the inland largest body of water in Wisconsin, that has been home to some of the largest fields of competitive anglers in tournament walleye fishing, Lake Winnebago in Oshkosh, WI. To find out more information or to register your team for the May 31st – June 1st event, go to www.masterswalleyecircuit.com.
Under the umbrella of The Walleye Federation (TWF), the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit is North America’s longest-running and undisputed leader in team walleye tournaments and as an inductee into the freshwater fishing hall of fame, has set the standard for competitive walleye fishing for the past 40 years. The MWC is open to walleye anglers from all walks of life. The 2024 schedule includes seven qualifiers in six states, plus berths into the 2025 Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s MWC World Walleye Championship. Registration is now open for all events. Visit masterswalleyecircuit.com for full details.
Bass Pro Shops & Cabela’s are in their 23rd season as title sponsor of the Masters Walleye Circuit. Official sponsors include: Lowrance Electronics, Mercury Marine, Ranger Boats, and Lews Fishing. Associate sponsors include: The Walleye Federation, Church Tackle, FishLab, Okuma, and T-H Marine. For more information, email support@masterswalleyecircuit.com, or call (580) 765-9031.
