Illinois River Update

Just returned from the Illinois River FLW Tournament and the official launch of the www.onthewaterlive.com website.  The fishing on the Illinois river was good if you were looking for unbelievable numbers of small fish.  If you were looking for quality fish, well, the bite was anything but great.  I can honestly say I have never caught more fish in a tournament or prefishing then I did over the last week.

For those that are not familiar with the Illinois River, it is primarily a sauger fishery with good numbers of nice sauger.  However, due to the timing and high water conditions earlier this year the small male sauger were the only thing that would bite and they were hungry.  For those that tuned in to watch the live footage of the tournament or prefishing you saw a ton of small fish caught.

So how did the tournament unfold?  I ended up in a 3 way tie for 17th but after the tie breaker I was 19th.  That was good enough to get me to collect a little Evinrude Contingency money but overall it was a disappointing finish again.  Jason Prezurkat, my teammate ended up making the top ten and finished in 6th place.

The real exciting part of the tournament for me was the launch of www.onthewaterlive.com which I have been working tirelessly on over the last few weeks.  After Detroit I knew the concept could work and with some equipment changes we went live for the first time from the boat in a walleye tournament and the overall reaction was amazing.

I encourage everyone to check out www.onthewaterlive.com and become a fan on Facebook.  I recently updated the live schedules.  The same footage you see of me on OTWL is also available right here by clicking on the Camera link on the home page.  Thats all for now.  Almost time to get ready for Red Wing but hopefully I can get in a little Bluegill Fishing before I have to leave...maybe even LIVE.