Seven anglers brought in fish big enough to crack the top 10 Tuesday, Day 5 of the 38th annual Kewaunee/Door County Salmon Tournament.

 

Kewaunee’s Angelo Bortolini and Harold Shaw (shown) teamed up to tackle a 41-1/2-inch, 32.78-pound chinook around sunrise off their home port, a new leader and a salmon big enough to win in all but a dozen of the previous 37 events. The beast of a fish hit a spoon set about 25 feet down in about 150 feet of water.

 

Last year’s third place finisher (with a 33.59 opening morning in 2019), Keith “Buck” Felhofer, had a 31.23-pounder smack a spoon set about 60 feet down in 140 feet of water early Tuesday evening while fishing on friend Dick Franke’s boat, “Amy Bee,” out of Baileys Harbor.

 

Moving into third was Shawn Krause of Hortonville with a 39-inch, 30.99-pounder that hit a spoon off leadcore around 7:30 a.m. in 100 feet of water near Rock Island.

 

Devin Buhr’s opening day 30.49 slid to the fourth spot, followed by three 29-plus-pounders weighed Tuesday, two at Algoma and one at the island. The top 80 salmon are all larger than 23 pounds, including 38 that are heavier than 25 pounds.

 

Strong currents continued to make trolling a challenge, but should settle overnight with a light southwest wind expected. Northwest winds early Wednesday are forecast to move north at 10-15 knots by midday, or early afternoon.

 

With four days of tournament fishing remaining, there's bound to be plenty of changes in the leaderboard. More than $50,000 in cash and prizes are on the line, including the top prize of $10,000 cash, a free mount of the fish and a custom-made salmon ring for the winner; $6,000 cash and a Howie’s Tackle bonus prize for second; and $4,000 cash for third. The payout always goes more than 100 places deep.

 

Tickets — $25 for the rest of the tournament, or $13 for a daily chance — are available at B&K Bait and Tackle at Kap’s Marina on Washington Island, Jungwirth Ace Hardware in Sister Bay, Baileys 57 in Baileys Harbor, JP Express north of Carlsville, Howie’s Tackle & Archery and Greystone Castle in Sturgeon Bay, Accurate Marine & Tackle and Center Court Convenience in Kewaunee, and Algoma BP and JP Express in Algoma. Tickets are available 24/7 at both JP Express locations.

 

For daily updates and pictures of many of the heavyweights, visit https://www.facebook.com/kdsalmon2020.

 

Angelo Bortolini, 32.78, K, 7/21

Keith “Buck” Felhofer, 31.23, BH, 7/21

Shawn Krause, 30.99, WI, 7/21

Devin Buhr, 30.49, A, 7/17

Craig Allen Dailey, 29.44, WI, 7/21

Cory Schneider, 29.44, A, 7/21

David Blaskowski, 29.32, A, 7/21

Jacob Junion, 28.35, BH, 7/20

Leonard Arsenault, 28.24, WI, 7/21

Gary Welch, 28.12, WI, 7/18

 

Lynn Bergan, 27.96, SB, 7/20

Carson Delaruelle, 27.95, K, 7/17

Gary Alberts, 27.94, SB, 7/17

Tom Ruechel, 27.75, A, 7/21

Brian Highlen, 27.12, WI, 7/18

Tom Winters, 27.05, WI, 7/17

Logan Wiesman, 26.83, SB, 7/20

Kelly Dequaine, 26.32, BH, 7/19

Kristopher Smith, 26.30, A, 7/19

Kirk Kontny, 26.16, BH, 7/20

 

Mike Lipsey, 26.08, SB, 7/21

Jim Jorgenson, 26.06, WI, 7/17

Caleb Cornell, 26.03, WI, 7/21

Daniel Duffenbach, 25.94, A, 7/17

Russell Sheets, 25.86, SB, 7/21

Kim McArdle, 25.78, K, 7/20

Jeff Schroeder, 25.77, SB, 7/17

Mark Hendricks, 25.73, SB, 7/17

Garrett Waloway, 25.72, BH, 7/17

Tyler Adams, 25.71, WI, 7/20

 

David Anderson, 25.62 A, 7/17

Zachary Biehl, 25.47, BH, 7/20

Steven Schulfer, 25.46, BH, 7/19

Phillip Hardy, 25.32, BH, 7/21

Tom Gorg, 25.16, K, 7/19

Nick Waranski, 25.05, K, 7/17

Andrew Roth, 24.97, K, 7/20

Josh Schmidt, 24.90, A, 7/20

Jacob Stoling, 24.85, SB, 7/17

Jim Guckenberg, 24.75, WI, 7/20

 

Chad Walker, 24.69, SB, 7/20

Andrea Evans, 24.68, A, 7/18

Melanie Hagerty, 24.59, SB, 7/17

Carson Delaruelle, 24.45, K, 7/21

Les Hillbery, 24.44, K, 7/20

Kevin Paplham, 24.42, K, 7/17

Andrew Jurczykowski, 24.42, WI, 7/19

Scout Gerndt, 24.38, BH, 7/21

Shannon Kapla, 24.32, A, 7/20

Austin Novak, 24.21, WI, 7/21