ESCANABA---A Wisconsin man won the championship of the Cabella's National Walleye Tournament this weekend in the Bays deNoc.

Keith Kavajecz of Kaukauna had the most pounds of fish in both days of the tournament to take home the trophy...and the top prize money.

He and his partner ended up catching 53.5 pounds of fish over the two days...under cold, windy, rainy conditions for most of the event.

Gary Parsons of Glidden, Wisconsin, finished second with just over 48 pounds of fish.

The top Upper Peninsula finisher was Derek Parker of Skandia, who took third with 46 and a half pounds of fish. Iron Mountain's Don Loch took fifth (46.22 pounds) and Gladstone's Glenn Chenier ended up in seventh place with 45-point-78 pounds of fish.

There were 100 teams in the event. Kavajecz won $15,000, along with a new Ranger 1880 boat and motor, for a total prize of more than $78,000.

More details are posted below in the story provided by the Cabela's Media Office:
 
 

ESCANABA– When the bite is strong, anyone can catch walleyes on a system teeming with fish like Bays de Noc. But when the wind dies and the bite gets stingy, it becomes a true test of the world’s best.

Throughout the past two decades, Keith Kavajecz has proven time and again he belongs in that elite group of walleye fishermen. In claiming his latest major victory at the third Cabela’s National Walleye Tour qualifier, he demonstrated that innovation is alive and well in the walleye world as he introduced a brand new jigging technique.

Despite a 30-minute fog delay Saturday morning, Kavajecz arrived at his primary area, located just beyond the Cedar River, faster than he did yesterday. His first stop, approximately 35 miles south of Escanaba, was a hump where his co-angler partner whacked a 30-inch walleye on day one.

“There were no fish at first; we weren’t really marking anything and the ones we did see were so inactive, just hugging tight to the bottom,” recalled Kavajecz. “I moved further south and it was more of the same. After two hours of fishing, I had nothing in the livewell.”
 

Kavajecz decided to return to the first spot and the sonar on his Lowrance HDS-12 Gen2 Touch absolutely lit up.
 

“I made four casts and I had a 24, a 28, a 26, and a big sheepshead. Since it was so difficult to get my slots yesterday, I decided to leave and target those fish immediately. We hit probably 20 spots and we caught a lot of fish but they were all overs. My partner did catch a 28 1/2 that upgraded the 26.”

Tournament anglers were restricted to Michigan waters and per state regulations, only two walleyes over 23 inches in length could be kept per day as pros and co-anglers fished together in a boat as a team.

Kavajecz then ran up to the Ford River area, a place where he and teammates Gary and Chase Parsons had been catching numerous slots in practice.

“I caught a 22, so that was good. We went a half hour and then I caught another 22. With 10 minutes left I told my partner I need a miracle fish to clinch the win. Out in 30 feet of water I caught a 20-incher to fill limit. At that point I figured I had around 25 pounds and I knew it would be a lot of tougher on the trollers with the calm weather. That’s just standard Bays de Noc.”

Kavajecz was right as his 53.50 pounds was more than 5 pounds better than the other 99 competitors. Exactly 0 of his 10 walleyes came via trolling this week, the standard Bays de Noc presentation. Instead, they came from casting and ripping a No. 3 Moonshine Lures Shiver Minnow.

“We would cast out into the boat wake and then snap and drop the bait. It’s kind of like a jigging Rapala. But when you pull it, it shoots to the side and then drops straight down like it’s wounded. It attracted the fish, but then gave them an opportunity to eat it."

"Gary (Parsons) was the one who figured it out. They’ve been catching some jigging this year down in Green Bay, but we knew straight vertical wouldn’t work up here because it’s too clear. We put the pieces together and the rest is history.”

Kavajecz elaborated on his precise jigging motion.

“Part of the key to the cadence was not hitting the bottom. If you let the bait hit the bottom, there’s all kind of stuff down there. You want it close to the bottom, but not on the bottom. We replaced the stock treble hook with a bigger, No. 4 Mustad Triple Grip."

"That helped keep some moss off the hook. The weight of the bait was also important. The No. 3 is the biggest one they make and it allowed you to catch fish in anywhere from 14 to 30 feet of water.”

Kavajecz had his co-anglers use a green and white bait while he employed purple firetiger. He employed 8-pound Berkley Nanofil (bright chartreuse) as his main line and a 10-pound Trilene 100 percent fluorocarbon leader (clear).

“I saw 75 percent of the fish I caught with my electronics before I even casted. I would mark them, hit the anchor feature on my Xi5 trolling motor and know the fish were immediately behind me. I would actually fish from the back of the boat.”

For his latest triumph, Kavajecz earned a Ranger 1880 powered with a 175-horsepower Mercury engine and $15,000, a total prize package worth $78,815.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve won a big one. It’s great to be winning again.”

Meanwhile, Alger County's Derek Parker sat in relative obscurity after day one with 22.41 pounds. But he improved his catch on the final day – weighing a limit worth 24.10 pounds to finish the tournament with 46.51 pounds.

His kicker today was in the 10-pound range, one of the bigger walleyes of the event.
 

“Bays de Noc is such a wind-driven fishery,” said the angler from Skandia. “I started the tournament in an area I didn’t even practice in, just because of the conditions.”

Parker began each day trolling spinners, then would switch to crankbaits in the afternoon.
 

“Yesterday anybody could have caught fish with that wind. I had 22 1/2 pounds and I wasn’t real happy with it. I just couldn’t get big fish. Today I knew the bite was going to be tough. So I stuck to one spot, grinded it out and just made them bite.”

Parker opted for copper blades and red beads. Despite seeing fish on the bottom, he ran his baits approximately 3 feet under the surface today.
 

“They would come up over humps in 16 to 21 feet. And once they came up, they would commit. So I would fish really high in the water column even though they were positioned with their bellies on the bottom.”

With two hours left today, Parker was sitting on three fish. He switched to targeting weed walleyes up in 8 feet of water, which proved to be the ticket to filling his limit.

“I’m happy that among the trollers, I got first place. My hat is off to Keith and Gary; those guys are unbelievable. But what made the difference for me is that I just knew to stick it out. I only caught those five fish.”

Parker wanted to acknowledge Kim Papineau, known in the area as “Chief.”

“The Chief is my mentor. He’s been retired from walleye fishing because of some health problems. But his guidance and confidence in me really helped me achieve this.”
 

Veteran troller Don Loch of Iron Mountain rounded out the top five with a total weight of 46.22 pounds. On day one, Loch caught a 25.13-pound stringer and today he brought in 21.09 pounds. Each day Loch brought in four walleyes, one short of the five-fish limit. He too fished the Cedar River area and employed spinners and night crawlers.