Jason Bauer and Rod Hewitt Win Walleye Classic!

2010 Rod Meseberg Spring Walleye Classic was held on Potholes Reservoir this last weekend, May 1 & 2. Seventy-nine teams fished this year’s classic. We experienced heavy winds with gusts up to 45 mph on Saturday. This was a day that marks a fisher as a competitor. The 79 teams brought in 355 walleye for 866.2 lbs of walleye. Sunday’s weather was a little kinder to us bringing us 5 to 10 mph winds, which we call the perfect walleye chop. All told our teams caught 238 more fish than last year’s event, with 5 less teams.

Jason and Rod -- victors!

This is a Catch/Release Tournament, all fish were released safe and sound with one exception. Overall $20,530 was paid out to winners along with Lamiglas Rods, Walleye One Spinner Bags, hats, coats and trophies.

Tourney Stats / Teams / Fish Caught / Ttl # / Avg Size
2010 / 79 / 653 / 1619.44 / 2.48
2009 / 84 / 415 / 950.35 / 2.29
2008 / 97 / 605 / 972.18 / 1.61

Now that the winds have finally quit it is time to plan a long weekend and be here while the walleye bite is ON….Best bet is the Lind Coulee Arm, Frenchmen’s or Winchester Wasteway or try Goose Island or the Crab Creek area for a chance at a trophy sized walleye over 10 lbs.

Contestants indicated the primary lures fish were caught with were spinners and crawlers behind a bottom bouncer. Use a floating rapala behind one and a half colors of lead core trolling line and the fundamental jig tipped with night crawler or a Gulp artificial leech.

Jason and Rod shown here with Dan Conrath (middle, Ranger Boat Sponsor).

Jason Bauer of Arlington, Wa and Rod Hewitt of Monroe, Wa shown here with Dan Conrath (middle, Ranger Boat Sponsor) won the 2010 Rod Meseberg Spring Walleye Classic. Jason and Rod netted 12 fish in the 2 days of competition for 39.44 lbs using custom made rods from Fetha Styx. Rod Hewitt won our tournament 2 years ago and knew what he needed to do well this year. He is a fireman and has used Fetha Styx rods from the True Hero Series in the past. His specially made rods for this tournament together with his and Jason’s walleye knowledge earned them the title this year. Day 1 they weighed in 19.08 lbs, Day 2 was 20.36 lbs. Most tournament fisherman will tell you the hardest job in a tourney is to stay consistent and they managed to do that in spite of the tough weather. Our hats are off to them. Good job and we’ll see you for next year’s competition!!

Jason and Rod with their winnings

Report submitted by Mike Meseberg,
MarDon Resort on Potholes Reservoir
509.346.2651 (mardonresort.com)