MWC Notebook

Mark Carlyle of Ham Lake, Minn., gives a how-to-guide to young fishermen during Saturday's National Professional Anglers Association (NPAA) clinic following the MWC Tournament in Spring Valley. (BCR photo/Kevin Hieronymus)

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SPRING VALLEY — The National Professional Anglers Association (NPAA) and the Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit teamed up Saturday to host the Youth and Family Fishing Clinics as they will on all of the other eight stops on the circuit this year.

About 50 youngsters received a free rod and reel and tackle boxes, Saturday, and tips from the pros. Frank Pilney of St. Paul, Minn., with the help of several of fellow fisherman who came right out of their boats, conducted the clinic.

Fishermen John Mannerino of Chicago posted on the MWC website that “the kids clinic was a great success and a way to unwind after that day in the river.”

Cierra Espinoza, 7, Oglesby, was the lucky raffle winner of the $500 bike the fishermen rigged up for fishing. It came equipped with a basket to carry a tackle box and slots to carry poles

Espinoza screamed with joy when her number was called out

Michael Meyer of Chisago, Minn., who helped to rig the bike with the rod holders and custom gear, said it’s NPAA’s way of giving back.

“This is a special contribution to the community for me,” he said. “I didn’t have parents or grandparents that taught me to fish, but did have my two friends and my bike, and we taught ourselves by riding our bikes to the river. I want to share that chance with another lucky kid.”

• Fear factor: Sitting out in a boat in the middle of the water is not exactly the best place to be in a thunderstorm. But with money on the line, Jerry Plourde of Cornell, Mich., who, with Dan Stier of Pierre, S.D., took second Saturday said, “We fish.”

MWC winners Marty and Mickey Stuefen, however, didn’t want any part of fooling around with Mother Nature. They quickly headed for land prefishing earlier in the week when they heard some rumbling.

“We came back in twice, parked the boat and sat in the truck,” Marty said. “Now 90 percent of them (fishermen) didn’t. I think that’s crazy. I don’t mind it so bad when you hear the rumbles, but nothing is coming out of the sky. But when they started bolting down into the ground, it was time to get in. We didn’t have any decision to make. We got right out.”

Another thing that scares Stuefen is fishing on the lakes, which will be the case when the Cabela’s MWC resumes June 23-24 on the Bay of Green Bay in Green Bay, Wis.

Stuefen prefers river fishing than lake, because “When I start seeing six or seven foot waves I start getting a little worried. These lake guys, they don’t bother them.”

• By the tail: Marty Stuefen didn’t need his lucky pony tail after all. The MWC winner rolled into Spring Valley to prefish last week sans 17 inches of a pony tail.

“I was trying to better my 40 time,” he said.

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