The Eskimo Ice Fishing Gear Q2 at Warner Road took place on February 4 at Lake Winnipeg. The full 29 team field was in attendance for the second stop on the road to the La Salle Insurance Series Championship. A stark contrast from the first tournament at Balsam Bay, the temperature on this day was a balmy 2 degrees Celcius at take-off. With minimal snow cover on the lake, the majority of the field chose to use 4×4 trucks as their vehicle of choice including the Q2 Champions Trevor Hiebert and Chad Unrau.
Their day started well enough submitting their first catch, a 20 incher, at 8:18AM to be one of the first teams to score. It took them another hour and half however to follow that up but it was a good one at 26 inches (7.14lbs). After another hour of no submissions, Hiebert and Unrau scored a small 18.25″ shortly before 11AM. “At 1PM we looked at each other and said let’s just get five fish and then worry about the big ones,” Unrau shared.
Staying positive and continuing to fish hard deep into the afternoon portion of the tournament started to pay off. At 1:35PM, they submitted another big fish at 26.5″ to get to four fish and jump a few spots on the leaderboard. Not long after, they hit their five fish limit in style with a beauty 28.5″ Master Angler walleye shooting them into the Top 10.
With three solid greenbacks and two smaller ones, they had a decent bag but were still slightly behind the pace at the top of the leaderboard. With just under two hours left in the competition, they felt confident that they would be able to cull the 18.25″ and 20″ as they were now on top of an active pod of fish.
At 2:45PM, they began their run of upgrades catching a fat 24.25″, 22.5″, and 23.75″ in quick succession. Their 35.40lbs total put them in first place going into the 3PM Last Hour Blackout. With five other teams around two pounds behind, Unrau knew that they would need at least one more upgrade to have a chance at the win. “We were on big fish all day but the bite was tough. We weren’t overly confident that we could keep upgrading but we didn’t give up on the spot and just hoped that they would eventually bite.”
Shortly into the blackout, Hiebert hooked into a giant. The walleye measured in at a whopping 30″ on the dot (11.22lbs) upgrading their total to 41.23lbs. The biggest fish of the tournament gave them a commanding lead with 45 minutes left. It would take at least two upgrades from any of the teams below them to catch up.
The suspense heightened at 3:35PM when Laurin and Mamula submitted an incredible fish that tied for Big Fish of the Day at 30 inches. The Master Angler walleye brought them back to within two pounds and 25 minutes left to try and upgrade a 24″.
Meanwhile, the team of Eich and Hesby were methodically upgrading their total with incremental upgrades through the early part of the blackout. With time running out, and over seven pounds behind at 34.05lbs, it was looking like the South Dakotans would have to settle for yet another solid money finish. At 3:46PM however, they gave word that they had one incoming. It turned out to be a huge upgrade as they scored a 30.25″ to take over Big Fish of the Day. They now sat at 39.73lbs and with 10 minutes left were only one big bite away from winning the tournament.
There were several fish that scored in the final minutes, including two right at the 4:00PM buzzer, but no upgrades to take over the lead. Hiebert and Unrau now have their second Tournament title and an impressive five Top 10 finishes in total over three seasons on tour. An 8th place finish at Q1 has them in a really good spot to qualify for the Series Championship in March.
