A breezy weekend made for a bumpy ride at times. There was a strong north current, swells and chop Saturday and a switch to the same from the south Sunday. That made finding the right speed challenging, but those who figured it out scored some nice catches. Some stuck in the 90- to 120-foot depths, deep in the water column, while others worked suspended kings in 130 to 230 feet of water or more.
A pair of 20-pounders moved into the top 15, and plenty of 17- to 19-pounders were hooked. The committee will look at ticket sales at the wrap up meeting Monday and figure out how far down to pay. Sixty-five percent of ticket sales are paid out to anglers who catch the heaviest fish. The remaining 35 percent is used for tournament advertising, printing, postage, committee meetings, port prize winner caps and other K/D tournament expenses, as well as for a startup fund for the following year.
The final payout will be released sometime Tuesday. If everything checks out, John Peters’ 26.20-pound chinook caught opening Sunday is in line to win the top prize of $10,000 cash, a free mount of the fish by Scott Mansur’s Northland Taxidermy of Algoma and a silver salmon ring with a diamond eye by Paul Spanbauer of wisconsincharm.com.
Saturday’s Port Prize Winners
A: Jason Christiansen, 16.99; BH: James Whiteford, 19.88; K: Mark Alan Huey, 17.97; SB: Nathan Gilliam, 20.00; WI: William M Binkholz, 18.72.
Sunday’s Port Prize Winners
A: Jason Juhl, 18.72; BH: Zachary Bustas, 18.44; K: Tony Castle, 18.20 @ K; SB: Darren Phillipson, 17.85; WI: Phil Pahnke, 20.22.
Heading into the weekend the top three fish were as follows:
1. John Peters, 26.20 @ Kewaunee
2. Brian Maloney, 23.25 @ Sturgeon Bay
3. Luke Ebel, 22.38 @ SB
