Tuesday Nite Walleye Tourneys

The Southern Minnesota Walleye Association is gearing up for its annual walleye tournaments, which kick off Tuesday at Lake Elysian. There are eight tournaments, with a season-ending tournament Sept. 2. The tournaments are open to everyone, but there is a $10 entry fee per person, and tournaments are usually fished in teams, although if you're alone, you fish alone.

The neat thing about these Tuesday night walleye tourneys are the fact that the association keeps track of the points anglers earn, and one person will be left as angler of the year at year's end. The points each night break down as follows: 10 points for first, nine for second, eight for third, seven for weighing a fish and five points for showing up.

To qualify for the season-ending tournament, anglers must place in the top 10 for points or fish all eight tournaments throughout the season.


Tim Hobbs, president of the association, says the tournaments have always been a good draw, but new DNR tournament regulations in the last year have the association limiting entry.

"We usually shoot for around 30," Hobbs says.

Thirty is the magical number where the association would have to pay a permit fee, which would be roughly the amount collected each night of the tournaments. So show up early if you want to fish.

A complete list of rules can be found at the Bobber Shop. I'll post the entire schedule to the left under my profile. Starting times each night are at 6 p.m. and all entrants must be registered by 5:50 p.m. Weigh-ins are 9 p.m. sharp. If you're team is late, you're disqualified.

For more info, contact Tim at 507-380-2131.

Water temps
Went out fishing to Lake Washington yesterday. Nothing to report from our boat other than scattered water temps. We saw a range of 52 degrees up to 60.9 degrees, depending on our depth. In around 5 feet of water, we were seeing 57-59 degrees.

I talked to a few guys on the shore and they came up empty on the walleye end of things. One guy said he saw another fellow pull in a small one, maybe a 12 incher, back in the deep water of Baker's Bay around the first point out from Westwood. We fished this area for a while, and I didn't see anyone pull anything out of there. In the shallower water, fishing panfish, my buddy pulled in two nice bass on crappie minnows. We were fishing between 4 feet and 7 feet during the catches.