Mike Yohe from Bradford and Chad Yohe from New Salem, ND (former Bradford resident) learned just how important it is to keep fish alive in the Master Walleye Circuit Tournament being held on the Allegheny Reservoir.

Friday, Team Yohe took second place in day one of the tournament with 12.11 pounds. Unfortuntely, two dead fish cost them a 1-pound deduction. The MWC takes off a half-pound for every dead fish a team weighs in.

That weight loss kept them behind the first place team of Jason Kopf (Avon Lake, Oh.) and Rodger Riggs (Cleveland, Oh.) who weighed in five live fish for a total of 13.08 pounds.

With five live fish, Team Yohe would have been in the lead with 13.11 pounds.

“We are definitely going to take bags of ice tomorrow and start icing the livewells early in the day to keep the water cooler for the fish,” stated Mike Yohe.

Despite the two dead fish brought in, the Yohes are still in great position since it’s a two-day combined weight total.

“We are right where we want to be,” said Mike Yohe. “Our game plan for tomorrow is to get five fish in the box early and hopefully we can upgrade through out the day and bring in at least eight or nine pounds. I think 21 pounds will win the tournament,” he  added.

Team Yohe was also fortunate to bring in the big fish of the day weighing over six pounds.

“The bite has been tough but we have been able to trigger some big fish consistently,” noted Chad Yohe. “We have caught three fish over 25 inches this week and several over 20 inches.”

Not only do the Yohes have bigger fish located, they also feel they might have an edge on catching them.

“We are catching our big fish on crankbaits,” said Chad Yohe. “The key is speed. Sometimes they want it fast but mainly slower speeds are triggering more bites.”

Out of 64 total teams entering the event, only 12 five-fish limits were brought to the scales on Friday.

“The bite is real tough right now,” Mike Yohe noted. “I think all of this rain we have had has washed more food supply into the water and most of the fish aren’t hungry. The 28-incher we caught today already had a nine inch perch in its mouth. These fish are full,” he added

Right on the tail of Team Yohe was the team of Chuck Sabatose of Brockport and Frank Mausser of Sharon tipping the scales with a third place basket weighing 12.10 pounds.

“The main key for us was to move around and find active fish,” Sabatose noted. “Knowing the key spots for this time of year also helped.”

Pulling crankbaits and knowing the right trolling speed also triggered the bigger fish for Sabatose and Mausser.

“We trolled crankbaits mainly,” Sabatose added. “Some spots the fish hit more as we trolled fast but other areas moving slower would trigger more bites. You had to pay attention and try various speeds.”

The team of Tom Means (Bradford) and Jerry Kelly (Eldred) who took 12th place on Friday (6.12 pounds) have a unique strategy.

“We just used live bait presentations on day one just so we could come up with a pattern to make sure we can catch numbers of fish,” Means said. “We came up a little short today. We were hoping for eight or nine pounds. We lost some good fish. But our strategy was to bring in a decent basket the first day and go for a home run on day two,” he added

Means and Kelly will change their tactics today.

“Now that we have a pattern together, we are hoping to catch a decent limit early and pull cranks in the afternoon hoping to trigger big fish,” Means explained.

Rounding out the rest of the top 10 teams were fourth place – Gary Wert (Warren) and William Acklin (Warren) 10.12 pounds, fifth place – Nick Lary (Hermitage) and Kurt McKenna (Ravenna, Oh.) 10.10 pounds, sixth place – Rob Kemick (Bradford) and Mike Kemick (Bradford) 9.02 pounds, seventh place – Johnnie Candle (Devils Lake, ND) and Dennis Skurulsky (Wakesha, Wisc.) 7.14 pounds, eighth place – Jesse Nussbaum (St. Marys) and Dylan Nussbaum (St. Marys) 7.08 pounds, ninth place – Witold Niemiec (West Milford, NJ) and Wojciech Czykier (West Milford, NJ) 7.01 pounds and tenth place – Scott Rhodes (Interlochen, Mi.) and Jeff Koestar (Brookville, In.) 6.15 pounds.