Walleye Fishing TV | The Fishing Crew Pro Challenge

The South Dakota Governor’s Cup is fast approaching with the Tournament Dates of July 18th and 19th. The deadline for entries is July 14th so it would be wise to get them in now. This is the first and longest running Walleye Tournament in the country. The South Dakota Governor’s Cup is richly steeped in tradition and history with some of the most well known and respected anglers in the nation cutting their collective teeth in this event. To get full details and your entry forms please go to www.sdgovenorscup.com or click here to download the form.

For any of you even vaguely familiar with Lake Oahe’s reputation, this may very well be the hottest walleye fishery on the continent. Lake Oahe is once again completely full of water…and healthy aggressive walleyes. The bite on the lower end of the reservoir is just beginning to take off and the timing for this Tournament couldn’t be better. You can expect to see a very well run and organized event with a reasonable $400 entry fee and quite respectable payouts. Whether you are a seasoned veteran, new to Tournament Fishing, or just haven’t entered an event in awhile, this one is a Classic that you will not want to miss.

The last event of the Below Division of TFCTTT Challenge was held Sunday June, 6th at beautiful West Bend State Park on Lake Sharpe. Preceding the Tournament on Saturday The Fishing Crew Pro Challenge was held. Pro Staff Brad Berens and Dave Anderas went head to head with two local anglers who could be both be described as legends in their own rights. Deputy Dan of Carl’s Bait in Ft. Pierre has earned his status with a well deserved reputation as a character, and we are all well aware of pioneer and legendary walleye angler Bob Probst, Sr. accomplishments. The combination of these two unique and contrasting personalities proved to make for an interesting day and the TV coverage of them should reflect this. The Pro’s did manage to nudge past the salty Challengers with a weight of 6.04 lbs. versus 6.02 lbs.

The Team Tournament Trail event on Sunday proved be interesting with teams literally covering the entire Reservoir. A central location for takeoff made this possible with competitors using the entire boundaries of Dam to Dam, with some remaining in sight of the launch. Decent weights were pulled from all locations and is very representative of what a truly interesting and diverse fishery Lake Sharpe is. Although over 20 inch fish were hard to come by, several teams can attest to having honest 100 fish days. Made for some gut wrenching calls in deciding what to tag and what to toss back.

In the end the hottest team on the Circuit of S. Handel and L. Pulse bested the field with a weight of 9.44 lbs. for 5 fish with a big fish of 2.79lbs. Netting them $6900 for the days efforts. They also won the previous event in Pierre and pulled a 2nd place finish in Chamberlain. Not far behind were B. Berens and D. Anderas with a 5 fish bag of 9.35 lbs and a big fish of 3.64 lbs. Rounding out the top 3 was D. Foster and S. Frericks with a 5 fish tally for 9.04 lbs.

Remaining top ten places all weighed in a basket of five fish and automatically qualify for the Championship in October. Giving them a shot at $10,000 and a Lodge Ice Shack valued at $24,000.

4th D. Olson-T. Hallock 9.01
5th T. Fahey-K. Fahey 8.91
6th D. Miller-C. Rees 8.86
7th G. Pettis-J. Barnes 8.22
8th T Houska-S. Holland 8.21
9th R. Zeman-J. Klages 8.05
10th T. Etzkorn-R. Ness 8.05

This proved to be another great event for TFCTTT and we believe we are continuing to improve things as we host more events. This is evidenced by the overwhelmingly positive comments we are receiving from the Competitors, Public, and Sponsors alike. Reminder, we are still having teams that are not getting signed up in time and unfortunately have to turn them away as the deadlines are always one week prior to the events. Please go to www.thefishingcrew.com to get your entry forms and learn more about everything The Fishing Crew is doing and has to offer. Next events will the SD State Championship on July 11th and the Team Tournament Trail on July 12th. Both will launch from Cow Creek on Lake Oahe with weigh in ceremonies being hosted by Mavericks in Ft. Pierre. Should be a great weekend with two back to back events and the tremendous fishing Lake Oahe has to offer. You won’t want to miss this one, and if you have any questions, please feel free to call Director Dave Underhill at 605-690-4649.