Day two of the championship is also known as "cut" day.  Basically you are fishing the first two days in order to be able to fish two more days against the top 10 anglers.  I was sitting tied for 4th after day one and knew a weight similar to my day 1 weight would be good enough to keep me in the top ten.  My goal was to go out and do exactly what I did on day one, catch 5 20 inch walleye and hopefully get a kicker to upgrade my weight.

My Co-angler for day two was Justin Steinke from Wisconsin.  Justin was the Co-Angler of the year, meaning he fished all 4 events as a co-angler and had the highest placing average finish of any of the co-anglers.  I knew having Justin in the boat meant that eventually we would have a good weight as I had a lot of confidence that Justin would get his share of fish if I put us on them.

We started day 2 in the exact spot I started day one.  After our first troll through the deep trough I noticed there were very few fish laying on the bottom and that most seemed to be much shallower in that 21-23 feet of water.  The shallower I trolled the more fish we marked on the Humminbird.  Once again, my Humminbird did not lie.  Just before we finished our troll Justin connected with a nice fat 21 inch walleye.  It was a good start to the day but the numbers of fish were not there, at least on the line I was trolling.

I decided to run up and give spot two a try North of the Hazelton launch.  I saw several fish caught at this spot but all we could manage was one short walleye so I opted to make a run down to the Cannon Ball River area to see if I could get a couple smaller fish.  We were using a lot of time up and weren't putting any fish in the box so I needed to find us a limit of 5.

The run to the Cannon Ball proved to be a good call as after trolling about 100 yards Justin hooked into a very nice walleye.  After netting the fish, I could see clearly it was the kicker we were looking for.  This fish would measure 24 inches and weighed roughly 5.5 pounds.  It was a great second fish but we needed to get a limit.  Unfortunately that big fish is the only one this area would give up so I headed back to where we started the day with a plan to troll much shallower.

With time going by fast we set up to make a pull where we started the day and within the first pass trolling shallower we pulled 3 walleye that we were able to keep.  In fact, not only were they keepers, they were nice fat 18-20 inch fish. Those three fish rounded out our limit by 1 PM and I knew I had plenty of weight to get to fish two more days as all our fish were around 19 inches with a 21 and 24 incher also.  I opted to not beat up on the fish to bad and we called it a day early knowing we had plenty of weight to make the top ten.  As I said earlier, getting into the top ten is all you need to do after day two you don't need to be in first.

After weighing over 15.5 pounds on the day I was now sitting in second place going into day 3.  However, on day three they zero our weights and we start over.  Tony also weighed a nice limit of fish and we both easily made the top 10.  We knew we were catching the right size fish to make a run at this . We knew we had a program that worked and spots that should hold up for 2 more days.  Now it was just a matter of going out and executing our plan and hoping for the right bites.

Most readers now know that I just won the 2009 FLW Tour Championship.  It is a very exciting time in my life, busy, but exciting.  What shouldn't be forgotten when you look at the final results of this tournament is the fact that my good friend, teammate and travel partner Tony Renner took second and lead the tournament going into day 4.

Tony Renner is from Hutchinson MN and we have been fishing together for the last 3 years.  Tony is an excellent walleye angler and continuously finds those tough bites in tough conditions.  Besides being an excellent angler he is a great person and I am so glad to call him a friend and teammate.

Most people don't understand what teammates are in the sport of competitive fishing.  This can be a tough concept to understand as essentially come game time you have teammates that are competing against each other.  To some, that sounds odd, but if you take a step back to what goes into preparing for the tour and these events it may help you understand.

Often times we are traveling long distances across the country towing our boats and things can and will go wrong.  Your teammate is the guy in the rig behind you that helps you change your flat tire, gives you directions when you are lost or that wake-up call when you are falling asleep at the wheel.  Your teammate on Tour is that person that shares a beer with you after a hard day on the water or pats you on the back after the fish showed you that you are not as good as you thought.  Your teammate on Tour is that guy that has two crankbaits that are working and gives you one of his two so you can be competitive.  Your teammate on Tour is the guy you sit with at supper each night and come up with a game plan for the next day to make you both better at what you do.

I am very fortunate to have a teammate like Tony Renner.  Tony does all of the above and more.  I could not have won this Championship without him and what shouldn't get overlooked is that Tony fished second.  Yes, Tony and I entered the championship competing against 54 other professional anglers and ended up one-two.  To me that is very special and I hope all the readers can appreciate just how tough that is to do.  The guys we fish against on Tour are the best or the best and it was nice to come away with one-two for Tony and I.  While I will always be known as the 2009 FLW Tour Champion, in my mind their were two champions at this event and I can't thank Tony enough for his hard work and efforts this year.  It was truly a great way to end a great year!

I am still writing a recap of the fishing during the championship and should have that up this week yet, so check back often.

It is good to finish on top, even if only for a day.  When I look back in life's highs and lows the past week will rank up there with the highest of highs for me.  For a professional fisherman winning the FLW Tour Championship sits right up there with the the birth of my children.  OK, maybe it is not that great but hey, it sure is exciting.

The Blog has been deafly silent over the last week as I prepared and practiced for the championship.  I fished this championship with one goal, and that was to win.  For me, that meant putting aside all distractions and to keep my focus on the goal of winning.  As it turned out, my focus and preparation gave me a new found calm during the actual 4 day event that would end of bringing home the title.

I have lots of people to thank and there will be a lot more on that as well as on how I caught my fish each day.  There is a lot more to come but I did want to get a blog entry up to let everyone know I am back home and dealing with the media storm that comes with winning the championship.  Check back for all the details.

A few hunting enthusiasts have asked about that big buck that I have been talking about this summer.  Well so far that big buck is sticking around the area.  I continue to get lots of pictures of the buck, as well as many other nice "shooter" size bucks.  I am not sure what it is about this buck but it sure is a nice looking deer.  Despite having a very nice set of antlers the deer body looks small compared to his "rack".  Maybe it is the large rack compared to the small body that makes it attractive, some would say this is true in other species also.

Typically deer in our area have much larger bodies and smaller racks but this one appears to be a different story.  I believe that is why this buck has such nice looking features.  The MN archery season is now under way and hopefully this guy sticks around.  It would be really nice to see what he will look like next year should he survive the season.  Although, that would require me passing on him if I see him, which would be very hard to do at this point.

My tournaments are done until the end of September and I have spent the last 3 weeks since returning from Lake Winnebago getting caught up with things around the house.  What most people don't realize is that besides fishing, I really like to Golf, Garden and Bow Hunt Deer.  My Golf game is kind of handicapped by my fishing as I only have so much time and both take a lot of practice to excel at.  So, for now I will stick to competitive fishing and leisure golfing as living in Minnesota our golf season is very short when compared to our year around fishing opportunities.

Gardening and Bow Hunting are my two real passions, so much so that I combine the two and try to raise food plots that not only grow big bucks year around but also attract them.  Since I have been a young kid I have enjoyed the process of sowing seeds and watching them grow.  Over my 30 years of gardening I have learned a few tricks but still enjoy the trial and error lessons I get taught from good old mother nature.  This year I have over over 12 acres planted of things that include, corn, beans, pumpkins, rape, rye and clover.  In addition, I have a one acre vegitable garden at home.  Keeping busy is never a problem!

One of my favorite plantings for deer are Giant Pumpkins.  Deer from Northern MN love giant pumpkins, and they are a great food source for them also.  For the last 8 years I have been growing giant pumpkins for deer.  I would estimate I grow over 10,000 pounds of pumpkins each year and other than a few jack-o-lanterns the deer eat them all up.  Next year I am going to attempt to grow a pumpkin that will cross the 1000 pound mark.  So, if you visit the site next year, I will be tracking my progress toward growing a 1000 pounder.  This year I will be happy if I can get one over the 500 pound mark, which would be my biggest ever.  Things are looking good though as long as the weather continues to cooperate.  If you think competive fishing is a lot of work you should try growing a pumpkin over 1000 pounds!

That is a little bit about me and things I do when I am not fishing competitively.  The picture in this photo is the a 14 point buck that has been visiting my food plots regularly this season.  I am hoping it decides to stick around for a while as it appears to have a lot of potential.  Now back to the gardening!

My next and final FLW Tour Qualifier will be on Lake Winnebago out of Oshkosh Wisconsin.  I have never fished this lake before which means my prefishing starts very early behind the computer.  Ok, it is not actually prefishing but my research starts very early.

Most people do no understand just how much preparation goes into getting ready for a tournament.  I start out by getting familiar with the town I will be staying and look for a "boat friendly" place to stay.  These tournaments require us to have electricity to plug in our boats each night and of course we need to have a place to get things to eat, bait, etc.  That is all taken into account when we book a place to stay and it is not the easiest thing to find.  With a large truck and a 20ft boat you need a lot of room. 

From there we need to be close to where we will be prefishing on the lake as well as relatively close to the lauch point for the tournament.  You want to avoid as much driving as possible so a good central location is always preferred.  Thankfully with the internet a lot of this planning can be done on computer.  My truck gets better gas mileage than my boat does so I try to find a good location where we are close to several boat launches and the take-off point.  That way we have options for prefishing should we get a lot of wind.

Now that we have a place to stay we need to get to the business side of things.  I start out by reviewing old fishing reports online from years past looking for a "pattern" from previous years.  I look specifically at water temps, time of year and type of structure fished.  In addition, I look at the depth of water being fished and what people are using.  I then compare that data to current fishing reports, as not all years are the same and with a cool spring or changes in bait fish many things change from year to year.  But, nonetheless doing your research is important as fish are fairly predictable when certain variables are held constant.

After doing the research, I like to look at my LakeMaster map on my computer.  Using my LakeMaster Computer Software I locate many of the popular fishing spots referenced in the old fishing reports.  From there I locate fishing spots that are currently holding fish.  Usually by this time I can figure out a pattern and locate other spots that will likely be holding fish.  For example, if rock reefs that top out at 16ft are holding fish, I look for other rock reefs on my LakeMaster Software that have 16 foot tops.   From here I will print some maps with GPS coordinates and am ready to hit the lake.

This is all work that I will be doing before I ever see Lake Winnebago.  However, the preparation will help bring me up to speed very quick on a lake I have never fished.  You will be hearing a lot about Lake Winnebago right after I get done celebrating the 4th of July with a nice fish fry with friends a family. Now, back to the computer work!

Memorial weekend is here and I have been predicting a good walleye bite on memorial weekend since the cold fishing opener we had here in Minnesota.  I am anxious to spend 4 days at the cabin in Northern Minnesota fishing many of our great lakes as I think the bite is going to be excellent now that the wind has quit blowing and the temperature has stabilized.

In my plans for the weekend is to spend some time fishing Leech Lake.  Leech Lake is the site of my next FLW tournament and is conveniently close to my cabin.  Although patterns will change between now and tournament time, it is nice to get to spend some time on a lake that I have not fished for years.  I will use this weekend to get familiar with the lake again and not only fish walleye but since the family will be with we will chase some Bluegill and Crappies also.  Leech Lake is a fabulous multi-species fishery and with water temps on the rise the fish should be cooperating.

Other plans for the weekend include fishing some smaller lakes for panfish with the kids and relaxing.  Ok, I have a little work to do also.  I have one more small field of beans to put in that will finish up our food plots for the year.  We plant roughly 11 acres of food plots for the wildlife and that is a major project in the spring.  It is just about time to sit back and watch it all grow and watch the wildlife enjoy our hard work.

I plan on experimenting with the new "mini" Off Shore Tackle Planer Boards this weekend and will report from the cabin.  They are a real specialty item but I have big plans on putting them to use this weekend to put a nice limit of walleye in the boat.

That is it for today.  Hopefully everyone has a safe Memorial Day. Please keep in mind those that have served our country and allow us the freedoms we enjoy.  While you are out enjoying your freedoms this weekend keep in mind those that served our country to allow you to do so.  Be safe and have a great Memorial Weekend.

The new Ranger has arrived!  Last week I got the call saying my boat had arrived at Rapid Marine in Ham Lake fresh from the Ranger Factory.  To say I was relieved is an understatement, as I leave this Thursday for Port Clinton Ohio for my first FLW Tour event of the year.  I knew I would be cutting it close this year with getting my boat in time, so thank you to everyone that hurried the boat along and got it all built and rigged.  Now if the weather would just cooperate I could put the finishing touches on the rigging.  But, it has to actually stop snowing to get that done.

The nice thing about getting a Ranger Boat is they pretty much come water ready from the factory.  Before my boat left the Ranger plant in Flippen Arkansas my electronics were installed and the motors were mounted.  Basically all I have left to do now is put the Cannon rod holders on and it is ready to haul in some of those giant Lake Erie Walleye.

This 2009 Ranger is very similar to my 2008 Ranger, in fact, the color combination is exactly the same.  I really liked my 2008 colors so I decided to go with the exact same combination.  There are a few differences I noticed in this boat from last years with the biggest being the new hitch on the trailer.  The new hitch system on the trailer makes hooking and unhooking much easier as it seems to release from the ball much better.  Also, Evinrude changed the design on the exterior of the 2009 E-TEC  H.O. motors and I think they look really sharp.  You can see the new graphics in the picture on the right.

This season I will be running the Humminbird 1197c SI Sonar/GPS combo.  The 1197c SI has a huge 10.4 inch screen and processes data very fast.  There is a very noticeable increase in the speed of this new unit which makes me really happy.  I have to give Humminbird credit they continue to make a great product better, which is the sign of a great company.  Last year was my first year running a side imaging unit and I got it figured after a couple weeks of use.  I am looking forward to using the side imaging again this year as I feel my comfort level with the technology has increased tremendously.

Well, the sun is shining and it is not snowing today so I am going to get the rest of that rigging done.  I have the trolling rods all ready to go and they are packed neatly in the boat.  I have been through each one of my crankbait boxes and have lots of spinner rigs already tied so a little more rigging and a whole lot of packing and I should be ready to hit the road.  Thursday will come fast enough so I think I better get off the computer and back in the boat.   Hopefully you like the new Ranger!

We just arrived back at Crawford's Camp and and are sitting in the cabin reflecting back on another unbelievable day of ice fishing.  The day started early as we were greeted with a morning temperature of -3 degrees Fahrenheit with very little wind and a great "picture" sun.  What that means is today would be a great day to get some photos if the fish decided to cooperate.  The good news is they did!

Spot one saw Matt Carlander and I set up on a Rocky point that produced three nice lake trout yesterday.  I must say, I had renewed focus today knowing that I had a lot of catching up today if I wanted to compete for the "most" part of our bet.  After getting set up we both agreed for being zero degrees out the sun sure made things feel warm and we both thought the trout were really going to be aggressive with the clear skies.  As it turns out they were, and it didn't take but 5 minutes and I tied into the first trout of the day, a nice 10 pound fish.  Once again we started the day off with a real quality fish and it was a good indication of the bite that would follow.

We continued to see trout after trout on the Humminbird's but struggled to get them to bite.  After trying numerous baits we both ended up going back to the Berkley Power Tubes and the fish agreed that that was a good call.  After 15 minutes more of intense jigging action I tied into another trout. This fish put up a battle that still leaves my right shoulder aching.   After a short 30 minute fight we iced a dandy 18.7 pound fish.  This giant trout has now set the bar pretty high for the "biggest" of the trip and I have a really good feeling I will be taking home the money with only 1 day left to fish.

After many trout, a few misses and several hook-ups we decided we should make the run to a crappie spot to see if we could tie into some slab crappies.  I have to admit, it is hard to leave active lake trout to go chase crappies, but we are here to see several different bites so we decided to pack up and make a run to the crappie hole.  After a short 15 minute run by snow machine we set up for a trophy crappie bite and the crappies decided they would cooperate and show us some great action.

Immediately after drilling holes Matt and I were both on nice crappies.  As countless monster slabs found their way to the ice, we both couldn't help but think of the next bite.  Once again the small demon jigging spoons tipped with a couple Berkley Gulp was the ticket.  I have to admit, despite the trout not liking Matt's offering today, he did have his way with the giant slabs.  Today Matt was King Crappie and I am ok admitting that because after today he is now behind in the "most" trout category of our bet.

After a great crappie bite we decided we would end the day on a secluded walleye spot.  Just like last evening we tore through 30-40 nice walleye to end the day and it was fun.  Most of the walleye we caught were in the 14-20 inch size range but still a lot of fun.  Well, chef Matt is telling me our "shore lunch" is done so I am going to go eat ANOTHER meal of fresh fish. We will be back tomorrow with some more great Lake Trout action from Canada!

I just finished getting everything packed and loaded up for a return trip to www.crawfordscamp.com in Sioux Narrows, Ontario.  Once again the anticipation is high as I think about tearing into another 20+ pound lake trout and countless walleye to cap off a long day of fishing.  With the forecast looking good for some great photo work, I just need the fish to cooperate.

We will be fishing a full 3 days, mainly on Lake of the Woods, but we may do a little portaging to some smaller lakes to see if we can find some of those hidden gems deep in the woods that hold trophy lake trout.   The snow machine rides alone are worth it on these trips, whether the fish decide to cooperate or not.

Joining me on the trip is Matt Carlander.  Matt is a good friend from Southern Minnesota.  For some reason I have a lot of friends named Matt.  Matt Grow joined me on my last adventure to Crawford's Camp but can't make this trip.  In addition, the manager and guide at the camp is Matt Rydberg.  So, Matt, Matt and I will hit the ice tomorrow AM for what I expect to be a lot of fun, joking and of course fishing.  There is just something about not seeing another fisherman in 3 days that makes these trips so enjoyable and we plan to make the most of it.  I am pretty sure I will be bringing home the money for first, biggest and most on this trip!!

Despite the long days fishing and photo work I will be doing I plan to do some live blogging from Canada.  I have all the equipment packed to do so, as long and the high speed Internet doesn't fail we should be good to go.  So, check back this weekend for some photos live from this Canadian fishing trip.  Time to hit the road for the short 6.5 hour drive!