Carroll and Klein win Cabela's MWC Opener

Minnetonka, MN - Illinois anglers Ed Klein of Wayne and Randy Carroll of Oswego produced two impressive baskets of sauger to win the Cabela's Masters Walleye Circuit 2005 season opener, held March 19 & 20 at Spring Valley, IL.
Their ten fish MWC allowable limit, which totaled 34.74 pounds, was worth $28,512. It was their first circuit victory.

The winning team fished south of the tournament site of Barto Landing in the clam beds, using hot pink and blue minnow-tipped jigs. All but one of their fish came on stringer hooks. They used 6 lb. no-stretch line for
sensitivity, and said the key was a subtle jig stroke 6-8 inches off the bottom. Steve Pennaz, emcee for the Cabela's MWC Central and Executive Director of the North American Fishing Club proclaimed, "The winners' basket
today was the most impressive stringer of sauger I've ever seen in my lifetime." 2005 marked the 19th consecutive year the MWC held the season opener in this favored spot. Pennaz asked the duo why their fish were bigger, even though they used the same technique as many other anglers.
Klein responded "We had some help from the man upstairs, but we also worked hard for this win, and it was a sweet victory at this point in our fishing career." Carroll quickly added "everything just went right for us today -
everything! We sure smoked 'em!"

The Neshkoro, Wisconsin team of Chad Kropp and Larry Keller finished with 10 fish weighing 30.51 lbs. which was worth a hefty second place check totaling $13,200. They also fished in the same general area as the winners.
Taking home $10,032 were MWC veterans Neil Hammargren and Doug Newhoff of Waterloo, Iowa. They finished third with 10 fish weighing 29.68 lbs; after an impressive 17.94 lb. basket on day one to grab the lead. They struggled
a bit on Sunday, forcing them to bring in one smaller fish which they knew would cost them. They fished the Peru flats, along with the clam beds.

Most of their fish on Sunday came later in the afternoon.
The top 35 teams shared the $107,014 cash purse. An additional $9,200 was paid in big fish prize money. Fourth place team Mark Meravy (Morris, IL) and John Broncato (Coal City, IL) took day two honors and $1,795 for their 4.40 pounder, while Gary Jacobson (Iron Mountain, MI) and Jerry Merritt (Niagra, WI) earned the same amount the first day with the largest fish of
the tournament, a 4.55 pounder. Brothers Dan and Dean Krukow from Rochester, MN were the highest place finishing team in the Ranger Cup --netting an additional $1000 bonus. A $300 bonus of Salmo Performance Lures
was awarded to the top finishing team using Salmo's products in the tournament.