$2.6 MILLION WAL-MART FLW WALLEYE TOUR TO VISIT DEVILS LAKE
Category: Tournament
May 31st, 2005 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified May 31st, 2005 at 12:00 AM
SPIRIT LAKE, N.D. (May 25, 2005) – The Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour returns to Devils Lake for the fourth and final regular-season stop of the 2005 season with the inaugural FLW Walleye Tour Open June 15-18. The event is the last tournament to attain points to qualify for the no-entry-fee $650,000 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship on the Mississippi River near Moline, Ill., Sept. 28-Oct. 1. As many as 150 pros and 150 co-anglers will take on Devils Lake for their share of a $542,000 purse, including as much as $100,000 for the winning pro and $20,000 for the winning co-angler. “Any technique will probably work during the tournament,” said walleye pro Dustin Kjelden of Brookings, S.D., who currently sits in the ninth place in the tour points standings. “Open-water trolling, using slip-bobbers in trees or casting cranks to weed lines could all be productive. The fish will be in a transition period, moving out to deeper water to their summer haunts. “There will be a lot of big weights. It will probably take catches in the upper 20s each day to make the cut. I think if you get 30 pounds per day, you will win.” Spirit Lake Casino and Resort in St. Michael will host daily takeoffs each morning at 7 a.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will also be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 210 Highway 2 West in Devils Lake beginning at 4 p.m. The community is invited to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins, which are free and open to the public. Pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day and fish for a combined boat weight. Pros compete against other pros, and co-anglers compete against other co-anglers. The full field competes during the three-day opening round for one of 10 final-round slots based on their three-day accumulated weight. Weights carry over to day four, with the winner determined by the heaviest four-day weight. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points, with 200 points awarded to the winner, 199 to second, 198 for third, and so on. These points determine angler standings. The top 50 pros and 50 co-anglers based on year-end points standings will advance to the 2005 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship, where a pro can earn as much as $125,000 cash for a win. The FLW Walleye Tour Championship is the most lucrative event in professional walleye angling, with guaranteed cash awards for the entire field. A guaranteed cash award of $75,000 plus potential sponsor bonuses totaling $50,000 will go to the FLW Walleye Tour Championship winner for a total pro award of $125,000. The champion co-angler will win a guaranteed cash award of $11,000 plus potential sponsor bonuses totaling $11,000 for a total co-angler award of $22,000. Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour and seven other national tournament circuits offering a combined $30 million in awards through 214 events in 2005. The 27-year-old organization is the purveyor of America’s largest and most prestigious fishing tournaments, including the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, EverStart Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. For more information on FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as title sponsor of the FLW Tour in 1997 and today is the title sponsor of all FLW Outdoors events. For more information on Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.