Rod Meseberg tournament sees success

About 139 teams showed up to participate in the second annual Rod Meseberg Spring Walleye Classic

By Brad Redford

Herald sports writer

In the midst of adversity, fishermen and women showed up to fish the Rod Meseberg Spring Walleye Classic.

The two day event held May 1 and 2 at Mar Don Resort, saw a record number of 139 two-person teams show up ready to dip into a total pot worth $36,420 to be split amongst 15 winners.

"We had devastating storm on Tuesday and the emotion of that was devastating and this tournament kept us on an up tone because we didn't have an opportunity to do down," said Mike Meseberg, owner of Mar Don Resort.

With winds reaching upwards of 70 mph, the Mar Don resort lost its entire rental fleet and the majority of its dock system. Meseberg said his brother Dave Meseberg and the crew worked "breakneck speeds and unbelievable hours" to get a dock system in place just two days before the event was supposed to happen.

While some called for Mar Don to cancel the tournament, the Meseberg's pushed to keep it going. Meseberg said it was a new high in the amount of money given out, as well as the amount of fishermen and women who showed up.

"People are ready to go and ready to fish," Meseberg added. "Also, this lake is a Walleye fishery, a world class Walleye fishery."

The other surprise was the amount of husband/wife, father/son and father/daughter groups that showed up and took home money from the tournament.

Family fishing groups took four of the top five placing and one group took home the biggest fish in the tournament.

Meseberg said the tournament is turning into a type of family affair.

"A minority of them were, but that is something new," Meseberg said. "It is kind of special."

Second Annual Rod Meseberg Spring Walleye Classic

Results:

Group # of fish Weight Big Fish Points

1. R. Sutherland/T. Morrow 12/12 40.80 5.90 240.80

2. S. Romig/J. Romig 12/12 35.82 4.40 230.82

3. S. Romig/L. Romig 11/11 34.40 8.60 224.40

4. J. Laposi/N. Laposi 10/10 31.44 8.40 216.44

5. B.Smigaj/T. Smigaj 10/10 31.34 9.96 211.34

6. J. Bauer/W. Plucker 10/10 31.22 4.00 206.22

7. R. Jimenez/L. LaCounte 12/12 30.78 4.40 200.78

8. J. Carruth/K. Loper 12/12 30.70 3.90 195.70

9. D. Bewick/J. Bewick 11/11 30.54 3.88 190.54

10. L. Ellestad/T. Griffith 12/12 29.86 3.20 184.86

11. E. McKenzie/J. Kays 10/10 29.52 6.00 179.52

12. M. Pettit/J. Reeder 9/9 29.40 5.00 174.40

13. S. Hockaday/C. Schmidt 11/11 28.54 3.10 168.54

14. P. Rossignol/C. Johnson 10/10 27.08 - 162.08

15. R. Rambe/D. Wilkens 8/8 26.50 4.56 156.50