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By Stan Fagerstrom
Part Two
Terry Wilson is a tournament winning Mack’s Lure Pro who knows little things can make a really big difference when it comes to putting walleye in the boat.
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| Wyoming walleye pro Terry Wilson now has pocketed more than $100,000 in tournament winnings this year alone. |
It was careful attention to some of those little things that helped him win the Professional Walleye Trail tournament staged on the St. Mary’s River in Michigan in August. In my last column I detailed how Terry switched to a goldfish scale Smile Blade to fill out his limit on the first day of the Michigan PWT event. This time around we’ll take a look at what happened on the final two days.
“It was calm when we started fishing on the second day,” Terry says. “We had a few short bites early on. About mid-morning the wind came up. I decided to increase our boat speed. We increased our speed from 1.1 to 1.4 miles per hour. That slight increase immediately started triggering strikes.”
Remember what I said about little things sometimes making a big difference? Wilson will tell you just that slight increase in boat speed turned out to be the answer. “We had a limit of fish,” Terry says, “and we were able to start upgrading by 10:30 a.m. It didn’t slow down the rest of the day and we wound up with 16.88-pounds of fish.”
Anglers taking part in the Michigan contest ran into dense fog the third and final day. “The fog turned the fish on,” Terry says. “We were able to start upgrading by 9:30 a.m. We checked in with 18.6-pounds and that turned out to be the heaviest weight of the day.”
As I mentioned in my last column, Terry Wilson won the PWT Michigan tournament with 48.61-pounds of walleye. He was about 4-pounds ahead of the second place contestant who weighed in a total of 44.41-pounds.
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| Terry Wilson says the goldfish scale pattern is one of his favorite finishes in Mack's Lure Smile Blades. He used that shade to take some of his fish in the Michigan Professional Walleye Trail tournament. These fish-attracting blades are pictured here. |
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As I’ve mentioned, Wilson and his amateur partner took their prize-winning poundage using a spinner blade ahead of a nightcrawler rig. Here again, some of those little things I’ve mentioned played a big role in his success.
“We used a double hook nightcrawler harness,” Terry says. “I used #4 and #6 hooks. I use a light hook to make sure my nightcrawler has plenty of action. I also make sure the second hook is back close to the tail of the worm. I put five beads ahead of my front hook and the spinner blade goes ahead of the beads.”
As I’ve indicated, Wilson used a Mack’s Lure Smile Blade to put some of his fish in the boat. You don’t have to talk to the talented Wyoming walleye specialist very long before you find out how he feels about these popular spinner blades.
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| Walleye pros all over the United States and Canada are finding Mack's Lure Smile Blades can be a key to fish catching success. Prize winning pros like Wyoming's Terry Wilson say Smile Blades are the most versatile spinner blades you can get your hands on. |
“I’ve been using Smile Blades for about 10 years,” he says. “I think they’re the most versatile spinner blades you can get your hands on. There are so many different things you can do with them. These blades can be fished fast or slow. You can also adjust the vibration the blade is producing. Just pinch the Smile Blade together if you want to reduce its vibration.”
Wilson says he flattens his Smile Blades out when he wants to fish really slow. “The plastic Smile Blade is so light it doesn’t sink right to the bottom,” he says. “When I flatten these spinner blades out for slow fishing it gives sort of a crankbait action to my ‘crawler rigs.”
You’ll recall I mentioned in my first column that Terry Wilson has won more than $70,000 (See Editor’s Note) in tournament competition this year alone. I’ve told you how he feels about Mack’s Lure Smile Blades. You’ve also learned how these increasingly popular fish catchers have helped Terry put walleye in his boat and bucks in his pocket.
Have you got your own assortment of Smile Blades in different sizes and shades? If you haven’t, better remedy that mistake ASAP. Who knows? Learn how to use these blades as effectively as Terry Wilson and you too might learn how to follow “The Ways of a Winner.”
(Editor’s Note: Terry Wilson’s winning ways didn’t end at the Michigan tournament. He grabbed third place at the Professional Walleye Trail 2005 championship staged in Kansas last month. Wilson won $34,000
in the PWT championship competition, giving him more than $100,000 in tournament winnings this year alone. He was also named winner of the Gerbing’s “Hot Pro” Award.)
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