News & Events

Au Gres teens make their mark on Saginaw Bay

AU GRES - Justin Champagne and Josh Gordon graduated from Au Gres-Sims High School last month.

Over the weekend, the Au Gres 18-year-olds earned their degrees in the professional walleye world.

Champagne and Gordon, a couple of construction workers and avid fishermen, pounded enough fish Saturday to lead Day 1 of the Lund/Mercury Michigan Walleye Tour stop on Saginaw Bay. The second day didn't get a chance to launch out of Northport Marina, giving the Au Gres teens the $3,500 top prize on Sunday.

''It's all good,'' said Gordon, after beating out 52 other teams.

''This is something I knew was going to happen one day,'' Champagne said. ''It feels great.

''It's pretty good when two young kids, who have been fishing together for a while, can do this. It was all about prefishing and finding fish ... and not giving up.''

Champagne and Gordon turned in a five-fish limit Saturday of 20.27 pounds. It was a pound better than Ray's Gordie Fiddler and Atlanta's Joel Otto.

The tournament win was the first by two teens in the 13-year history of the MWT.

''It's surprising,'' said Pinconning's Ernie Plant, MWT tournament director. ''But this also proves that anybody can win.

''It's wide open.''

Harrison Township's Brian Ringstad and Dennis Cardinal were third (19 pounds), followed by New Lothrop father/son Rick and Kal Ustishen (18.94) and Auburn's Chad Estep and Midland's Martin LaBean (18.61). Estep and LaBean also had big fish (7.5 pounds).

Rounding out the top 10 were: Caro father/son Bill and Bill Puttman III (16.77); St. Helen husband/wife Bill and Bernadine Ayres (16.19); Pinconning's Mike Manyen and Mark Yurgaites (16.04); Linwood's Kyle Harpham and Kyle Shann (14.87) and Sterling's Tony Steele and Kawkawlin's Kenny Lanczak (14.64).

Champagne and Gordon, who finished third in the MWT Saginaw Bay event out of Linwood in May, trolled near Alabaster in Gordon's Lund. They caught 10 fish, most of them suspended, with No. 5 blades and inline weights. Their big fish was just over six pounds.

''Right spot at the right time is a lot of it,'' Plant said. ''It also helps being young.

''They've got their health and age on their side and they can take more pounding on the water.''

''We found some nice fish up north in the prefish, but the storm blew through and turned the fish over a little bit,'' Gordon said.

''It was rough when they sent us out, but we're used to it,'' Champagne said.

With a first and a third on Saginaw Bay, Gordon and Champagne would have been in the running for Rookie Team of the Year and the MWT Championship. However, they missed the Detroit River opener because Champagne's new Ranger boat was not rigged in time and the Lake Erie qualifier at Port Clinton because of high school graduation.

''We wanted to do all four, but we didn't make it to Lake Erie and then there was graduation,'' Gordon said.

Champagne and Gordon slept good Saturday night and would like to have fished again Sunday, but they'll take the one-day win.

''I slept awesome the night before and I was hoping we'd get back out there,'' Gordon said.

''I really wanted to prove what two young kids can do and have not just one good day, but two,'' Champagne said. ''I was pretty confident that the fish would still be on our spot.''

Father/son team stays the course, wins Team of Year race

AU GRES - Kal and Rick Ustishen will have to wait a few days for the check and plaque that go along with being Team of the Year on the statewide walleye fishing circuit.

But the celebration began early Sunday for the New Lothrop father/son fishing team, who didn't even have to go fish on Saginaw Bay to reel in the top team honor on the Lund/Mercury Michigan Walleye Tour.

The Ustishens, and the other 52 teams fishing the final qualifier at Au Gres, didn't get a chance to launch at Northport Marina on Day 2 because of high winds and 4-6 foot waves.

The cancellation gave the Ustishens, who were fourth after the first day of fishing, Team of the Year honors.

The Team of the Year title was vindication for the Ustishens, who were in the same boat last year when inclement weather canceled a day of the Saginaw Bay finale. Last year, the father/son team made a mistake and went to deeper water on Day 2 and finished 62nd out 68 teams and out of the Team of the Year race.

The Ustishens made no mistakes this time, catching a limit early Saturday on Day 1 and upgrading to 18.94 pounds on a fishing day shortened to just six hours because of the threat of inclement weather.

''A lot of the pressure is off,'' said Rick Ustishen, a 53-year-old Swartz Creek General Motors employee and head boys basketball coach at Montrose. ''It's a big relief.

''You'd have to be in our shoes. It's like coaching a big game, you have to go out and play the game.''

''This is a pretty good feeling,'' said Kal, a 22-year-old Saginaw Valley State University grad who will be student teaching at Swan Valley this fall. ''But Day 1 was real interesting.

''There was a rise and a fall of emotions just trying to decide where to go - north or south.''

The Ustishens ran 70 miles, south and then north, to insure a five-fish limit. They got five small fish in the first 15 minutes near buoys No. 1 and No. 2 (The Sparkplug) and then ran north to the Charities and were able to upgrade four of their fish in two long passes.

''It was rough, 3-4 foot waves. We wasted two hours running and when you are reduced to fishing just six, I was a little bit worried,'' Kal said. ''But it all came together.

''In hindsight, we would have gotten more weight if we had gone north to begin with, but we didn't want what happened last year to happen again.''

The Ustishens, who finished with 552 points in a system that awards 140 for first place and 139 for second and one less for each place descending in qualifiers, had a very good year. The fourth followed a second on Lake Erie in Port Clinton, Ohio, a first on Saginaw Bay out of Linwood and a fifth in the opener on the Detroit River.

''That's pretty tough to do,'' said Pinconning's Ernie Plant, MWT tournament director. ''They had the same thing going for them last year.

''Kal says they just look at the map, circle a few areas and concentrate on them and get what they can out of them.''

''We weren't aiming for another top 10 finish, but we'll take it,'' Kal said.

''Team of the Year is quite an honor,'' Rick said. ''There's a lot of good fishermen out there.

''To have four top five finishes is even more amazing. We were consistent and lucky.''

Ray's Joel Fiddler and Atlanta's Joel Otto finished second in the Team of the Year race with 529 points. Breckenridge's Rod Marr and Wheeler's Jim Cooper were a distant third at 507.

The Ustishens, who will have to wait until the banquet at the MWT Championship (Aug. 14-16) at Sault Ste. Marie to see how much cash they will get for being Team of the Year, will get to launch No. 1 on Day 1 of the championship.

''Getting the money next month is a little anti-climactic,'' Rick said. ''It's like you won and then have to wait a month to receive the honor.

''But that's OK. We'll just have more time to let the feeling sink in.''

Team of the Year normally pays $5,000, however, the prize is based on full fields in each qualifier. This year, the average field was just over 50 boats - about half full.

7/15/2008