It Was A Tough Wyoming Walleye Stampede At Pathfinder

Another great weekend of the Wyoming Walleye Stampede is in the books, and another first-time winning team is cashing a check.

The Stampede is in its 17th year, and there are teams, or at least individuals, who have fished in all of them. The time and dedication the teams have put into preparing to compete in the event are impressive. When the Stampede teams meet up every year, even though many of them aren't related, it's more like an annual family reunion.

Through three weeks, there have been three different winning teams, and all three are first-time winners. It doesn't stop there; all three teams have a special family connection.

The winners for weeks 1 & 2:

Week 1 in May at Glendo: Father & Son Lee and Anthony Apodaca

Week 2 in June at Glendo: Father-in-law & Son-in-law Bryan Muncy and Marcus Griffith

This past weekend at Pathfinder:

Week 3 in June at Pathfinder: Couple and parents to 9-year-old Sawyer, Brian Locke, and Lori Snodgrass.

The Pathfinder tournament was a hard-fought battle for pretty much every team at one point through the weekend. The stories being shared about the pre-fishing during the week ahead of the tournament weren't the same as the stories being told during the weekend.

The fishing had changed for just about every team, leaving them scrambling to figure out their plan of attack. The sudden change was difficult for many of the teams, with 18 of the top 30 teams totaling just over 10 pounds apiece after one day of fishing.

At the end of day one, the team of Jerimiah Lovelace and Chuck Mcauley caught a 28.75" fish late in the day to give them the day one lead with a total of 17.36 pounds, which was a little more than three pounds ahead of second place.

The eventual winning team of Locke and Snodgrass was in 29th place with a total of 10.06 pounds, and they knew it was going to be a tough Sunday and that they'd have their work cut out for them.

Locke and Snodgrass' Sunday started just as Saturday did, but they knew that just one fish could change the entire weekend. That's exactly what happened when they snagged  32.25", and just like that, the tide started to change. Throughout the next couple of hours, they added a few solid kicker fish and secured their first Wyoming Walleye Stampede win.

They finished the day with 21.09 pounds and a two-day combined total of 31.15 pounds.

The second-place team, KC and Curtis McCuiston also bagged a 30+ inch walleye, but fell just short with a final weight of 28.67 pounds.

Third-place was day one leaders, Jerimiah Lovelace and Chuck Mcauley, who finished with 24.98 pounds.

You can see the full results at the Wyoming Walleye Stampede's Facebook Page.