A solid 8th place finish on day one, and a HUGE basket of walleye on day two propelled Darren and Jeremy Kennedy to the top of the 28th annual tbaytel Walleye Masters tournament. Their winning weight of 36.99lbs set a new tournament record, previously set at 34.04lbs by Jason Rostek and Mike Sheppard in 2011. Team Kennedy is no stranger to the hot seat, with several tournament wins in the area, including a past national championship in the Angler-Young Angler Tournament, but this is their first Walleye Masters title. Here are the official top 10:
Position | Team #: | Captain | Partner | Day 1 | Day 2 | Total | Off Lead |
1 | 23 | Darren Kennedy | Jeremy Kennedy | 15.42 | 21.57 | 36.99 | 0.00 |
2 | 101 | Brian Vansteenkiste | Marcel Gaudry | 15.44 | 19.64 | 35.08 | -1.91 |
3 | 37 | Greg Desautels | Ryley Desautels | 14.28 | 17.93 | 32.21 | -4.78 |
4 | 75 | Lonnie Lundmark | Carissa Lundmark | 17.18 | 14.83 | 32.01 | -4.98 |
5 | 73 | Donald Yurkiw | Heather Yurkiw | 19.07 | 10.57 | 29.64 | -7.35 |
6 | 71 | Fred Mota | Carl Grondin | 12.96 | 15.11 | 28.07 | -8.92 |
7 | 62 | Gerald Arch | Jeremy Arch | 13.43 | 13.88 | 27.31 | -9.68 |
8 | 104 | Shawn Koski | Corey Bergen | 7.03 | 20.21 | 27.24 | -9.75 |
9 | 130 | Greg Davies | Cal Ritchie | 16.95 | 10.07 | 27.02 | -9.97 |
10 | 74 | Justin Ternowski | Sean Van Haesendonck | 10.81 | 15.34 | 26.15 | -10.84 |
The other big story of the weekend came Sunday morning, with several walleye over 10 pounds being weighed in – but the largest set a tournament record! Shawn Koski and Corey Bergen bought a monster 11.33lb walleye to the scales. It was the largest fish weighed in for over a decade.
Here are the top 10 big fish of the weekend:
Place | Team | Captain | Partner | Caught | Weight | Off Lead |
1 | 104 | Shawn Koski | Corey Bergen | Day 2 | 11.33 | 0.00 |
2 | 101 | Brian Vansteenkiste | Marcel Gaudry | Day 2 | 10.65 | -0.68 |
3 | 52 | Kevin Glennister | Jared Olsen | Day 2 | 10.46 | -0.87 |
4 | 23 | Darren Kennedy | Jeremy Kennedy | Day 2 | 10.22 | -1.11 |
5 | 76 | Larry Tudorachi | Rob Tudorachi | Day 2 | 9.24 | -2.09 |
6 | 116 | Scott Lee | David Compardo | Day 1 | 8.38 | -2.95 |
7 | 120 | Scott Carruthers | Ray Herr | Day 2 | 8.18 | -3.15 |
8 | 122 | Jamie Robichaud | Shawn Lappage | Day 2 | 8.13 | -3.20 |
9 | 82 | Jeff Ledoux | Jolene Ledoux | Day 2 | 8.08 | -3.25 |
10 | 131 | Jamie Gould | Chris Wrolstad | Day 2 | 8.07 | -3.26 |
Congratulations again to Darren and Jeremy Kennedy – your 2017 tbaytel Walleye Masters Champions!
Complete tournament results are available online at www.drydenwalleyemasters.com.