Happy fishermen! John Dircks of Devils Lake, ND and Curtis Blake of Grand Marais (right) celebrate their win in the Cabela’s Master Walleye Circuit (MWC) tournament. The fishing friends won $11,000 for catching the five largest walleyes in the August 21 tournament.
The headline on www. WalleyeCentral.com on Monday, August 23 was Dircks
and Blake Take the Win!
A triumphant Curtis Blake of Grand Marais was pictured with his childhood friend and fishing partner, John Dircks, accepting the grand prize in the Cabela’s Master Walleye Circuit (MWC) Devils Lake, ND tournament on August 21 – 22. Theduo won $500 each in Cabela’s gift certificates and shared the $11,000 cash prize.
The friends have been fishing together with their fathers for years. Curtis Blake’s dad is Mike Berg of Seagull Creek Fishing Camp, where Curtis now also works as a guide. John Dircks and his family have made the trek to Seagull from North Dakota since he and Blake were young boys. John’s father operates Ed’s Bait & Tackle in Devils Lake, which sponsored their tournament entry.
The men have fished in other tournaments, but this is their first entry in a master circuit tournament. They earned the win by catching seven nice sized walleye. Theyhad to keep the fish alive in the boat’s live well until the weigh-in at the end of the day. At the weigh-in, the five largest fish are measured and matched up against the other fish caught. Blake and Dircks largest walleye was 19.70 pounds, beating out the second place entry, which was 19.21 pounds.
Interviewed by Julia Davis of walleyecentral.com after the win, Dircks said they used #5 Purpledescent Rapala crank bait. Blake added that they were using red steel hooks.
When did they realize they had won? Blake said as they waited in line and looked at other anglers’ baskets, they thought they might make it to the top 10. “We said if we made it in the top 5 we’d be ecstatic,” said Blake.
Blake said when the winners announced, there were high fives and a great deal of celebrating—at the tournament and among the family members watching. The tournament was broadcast on the Internet so family members watched the contest live on www.versus.com. The tournament will also be broadcast on an upcoming show on the Versus channel, # 603 on DirecTV.
A total of 209 walleye were caught in the tournament, which was shortened to one day because of high winds. The fish were cooked up for a community celebration in Devils Lake at the end of the weekend. No one had more reason to celebrate than Blake and Dircks!
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