Walleye tournament cut to one-day event

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SPRING VALLEY — The water may be rising quickly, but the Spring Valley Masters Walleye Circuit tournament isn’t quite up the creek — yet. Due to this week’s heavy rains in the Illinois Valley and upstream in northern Illinois, tournament director Mike Hurless told the BCR mid-afternoon Friday that this year’s tournament has been cut back to a single-day event.

Hurless said the water level would have been dangerously high on Sunday, and as a result, it will be conducted only on Saturday.

“We decided to have a one-day fishing tournament Saturday only because of the high water,” Hurless said. “This year the water is rising very quickly and Sunday will be a lot worse than Saturday. It’s a safety issue. It will be a lot more dangerous on Sunday.”

Though other sites on the Masters Walleye Circuit have had to shorten their tournament, Spring Valley has never had to until this year.

“We’ve always managed to get two days in because of so much cooperation from our other areas like DePue. We were all set to go to DePue if we had to,” Hurless said of neighboring Lake DePue.

Hurless said the water level was at 20 feet Friday and was expected to rise to 23 to 23 1/2 feet by Saturday. By Sunday, the river is expected to rise to 25 feet, a level that will start to flood into the parking at Barto Landing.

“We’re fairly confident we’ll be all right at a level we can still handle (Saturday),” he said.

Instead of having the traditional split flights, all boats will go out at the same time at 7 a.m. and come in at 2 p.m. The weigh-ins will seek higher ground up on the landing instead of the shelter.

“We’ll let the guys compete for one day, and all the money will still be given way,” Hurless said. “We’ll come back and do it next year.”

The kids fishing clinic will still be held Saturday, Hurless said, though it may start a little earlier. Sign-ups for the clinic will be taken at the food tent.

There is no parking available at Barto Landing, but fans and those seeking to participate in the clinic may take a free shuttle from Hall High School.