MADISON, Wis. — Some walleye anglers are notorious for fibbing a bit when it comes to how the fishing conditions are prior to the start of a tournament. This week was no different at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games in Madison, Wis. Dock talk indicated that the walleye fishing was tough at best, but that may have had more to do with hype and lack of practice time dedicated to walleye fishing.

"I think most of the talk about the walleye fishing being bad this week was do to hype," said Professional Walleye Trail (PWT) Director Jim Kalkofen. "Some were doing good, some were doing real good, but nobody was doing bad."

Day one leaders, Denny Brauer and Mike Gofron, came in with an impressive limit of walleyes and bass weighing 21 pounds, 2 ounces. According to Gofron this dynamic duo hardly paid attention to walleye fishing during their two days of practice.

	BASS pro Rick Clunn follows walleye pro Ron Seelhoof's lead while trolling the Madison Chain of Lakes at the Great Outdoor Games.

"I think we fished about three hours in total for walleyes during the two days of practice," said Gofron. "The word was that the walleye fishing was not happening, but I just did not put in any time fishing for them during practice."

Gofron and Brauer figured that they needed to focus their efforts on big bass to win this event. Gofron was fishing memories when he presented the idea of fishing humps he had graphed a few years ago while fishing a PWT Championship on the Madison Chain.

"The amazing thing to me today was how many bass we threw back," said Gofron. "Denny did not want to keep anything smaller than four pounds. All of the decisions, as far as keeping bass, were up to Denny. I was throwing back all sorts of 2-pound plus bass."

Gofron and Brauer ate up the clock until 2 p.m. before they targeted walleye.

"We only had a couple of hours to fish for walleyes," said Gofron. "I had to tune crankbaits, figure out our gameplan and catch three keepers. We did it in pretty quick fashion. One 18-incher, then a 4-pounder and then our final fish. We had a good day."

According to Gofron, fishing with Brauer for bass was like watching a Hoover vacuum at work.

"Denny is amazing," said Gofron. "Watching him work is like watching a vacuum cleaner in the front of the boat."

Another walleye pro impressed with his BASS partner is Dan Plautz, the reigning PWT Champion and currently holding on to second place with 19 pounds and 3 ounces.

"There were a couple of things that really impressed me about Gerald Swindle," said Plautz. "His pinpoint accuracy when it comes to casting was unreal, you really can't imagine how good these guys are until you are in the boat with them.

"The other thing that was impressive had to be the never-say-die attitude Gerald had. The positive, gotta win feeling he projected all day was incredible."

Plautz, a veteran of many years on the pro walleye scene has fished with scores of amateur partners. In fact, some of the amateurs Plautz has spent time with are pros now. However, Plautz ranks Swindle, the 2004 Citgo Bassmaster Angler of the Year, as one of the best, if not the best, partner he has had in a tournament.

"Gerald is probably as good or better than any of the amateurs I have fished with over the years," said Plautz. "There are a lot of good anglers I have fished with, but Gerald picked up how to use the trolling gear, how to set the line counters and how to use planer boards, or as he calls them 'mailboxes' due to the little tattle-tale flags that pop up when a fish strikes."

The bass angler admiration society will begin again tomorrow morning for the final round of the Freshwater Doubles competition.