Day 2 on beautiful Chautauqua Lake featured our second group of 8 anglers battling to get past their first day of fishing and compete into Friday.

Today started very similar to yesterday weather-wise. However, as the day progressed, we saw some wind pickup. On Day 1, it seemed, the main fishing pattern was to find deep transition lines on the Northside of the lake and target groups of walleye with reaction baits. Today, however, we saw several anglers targeting shallow weeds further South.

Okada vs. King

Joe Okada (2) vs. Brett King (15) was a matchup with two very talented and accomplished anglers. We had the pleasure of watching both of these anglers all year, and going into today, we even heard whispers of a friendly side bet involving a permanent marker and a forehead, but we won’t know if that’s true until the AFTERSHOW with Andy Cleveland. Unfortunately for Brett King, he did not find a walleye and ended his day with a zero on the card. Joe Okada made a very early morning change from a casting presentation to a trolling tactic. For Joe, that was the right call, and he ended up trolling up six walleyes for 16 pounds and 4 ounces.

Huskey vs. Fluekiger

Marianne Huskey (7) vs. Jarrad Fluekiger (10) started by showing Marianne try a new technique we never saw her attempt this year. Marianne had bass baits on and was flipping shallow weed pockets hoping for a quick reaction bite. Despite the creativity, Marianne was unable to find any hungry walleyes in those pockets. Jarrad had the same luck as Marianne and ended the day without a walleye as well. Both Marianne and Jarrad entered DINKFEST without any luck. Since Marianne was the higher seed going into the match, Marianne will fish 10/13 in her GREAT8 Matchup.

Zimmerman vs. Schertz

The Jeremy Zimmerman (6) vs. Nick Schertz (11) matchup is between two anglers that had exciting seasons with the PWS. After watching Jeremy’s early morning interview, we found out that he was attacking Chautauqua Lake very similar to Marianne by flipping baits into shallow weed pockets. Another new technique for Jeremy, we watched him with a baitcaster rod and reel go to work. Unfortunately for Jeremy, the weed bite was slow, and he did not record a fish caught today. Nick Schertz was an early-season favorite with his win on the Detroit River, but he remained quiet after that. Heading into the Championship Event, you could tell Schertz was focused. Nick quickly found some comfort with a paddle tail and while he started working jigs. Nick ended the day catching three fish, and he put 9 pounds and 13 ounces of weight on the board!

Gofron vs. Schneider

The Mike Gofron (3) vs. Justin Schneider(14) matchup had all the makings to be a great battle as both of these anglers were able to put together some fish-catching programs in practice. As the day started, Gofron settled in on some shallow weeds that were holding fish. Unfortunately, none of those fish were walleyes. Gofron was unable to catch a target species all day. Justin Schneider, on the other hand, had better luck. Justin ended up on his first day of fishing with a solid scorecard showing 7 pounds and 8 ounces. Justin stayed out of the shallow weeds and fished with rod in hand in deeper water.

Day 2 had more walleye action, and we hope to carry that momentum into Day 3, which is the first day of our GREAT8 Bracket for the championship! Be sure to catch all the action by heading over to our Watch Page or Youtube!