Bigger isn’t always better in derbies

In a sport where size and quantity play such a significant role, it is sometimes nice to find the race goes not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong.
The winners of the 2003 Emo Walleye Classic are a perfect example of how—if you have a good plan and stick to it—you sometimes can beat the pros at their own game even with more modest tools.
Todd Baker of Emo and Devlin’s Greg Stahn are not your typical pro anglers. Both are small business owners who do not compete in tournaments for a living.
Neither do they have tens of thousands of dollars invested in fancy boats and monster motors.
Instead, they bested the big boys in an old 17-foot Misty River boat that has seen better days equipped with a modest 40 h.p. Yamaha motor.
Apart from a sonar unit, which is practically mandatory equipment these days, Baker and Stahn are proof that sometimes less is indeed more.
“In some ways it’s actually easier,” said Baker. “With our boat, we can turn tighter than the big boats and we draw less water. That way, we can get to places the deeper boats can’t reach.”
There are other advantages to smaller, lighter equipment, too. The lower profile and tighter turning radius of their boat allowed the pair to keep their lures down in the strike zone when other teams had to raise theirs to avoid hanging up.
“We can leave our lines in the water while turning to make another pass instead of pulling them out,” he noted. “Greg [Stahn] got a fish [Friday] that way.”
Stahn shared his partner’s perspective.
“It’s much easier to control the speed of the boat with a mid-sized motor,” he remarked. “Since we were trolling the whole time, speed control is important.
“It’s also a lot easier on the pocketbook,” he added.
Stahn said he and Baker burned about 10 gallons of gas in two-and-a-half days on the river while the big 200-250 h.p. units will use that much in less than a day.
So don’t be too quick to envy those big, flashy bass and walleye boats. They may get you to and from your fishing spot faster, but they won’t necessarily put more fish in your boat.
Just ask the new champs.