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Hughes Wins at Winona

Category: Tournament

 Sep 13th, 2008 by OutdoorsFIRST 

Modified Sep 13th, 2008 at 12:00 AM

	Hughes bags the big fish that put him over the top (WalleyeFIRST Photo)

WINONA, Minn.  (Sept. 13, 2008) –  Boater Jimmy Hughes of Oshkosh, Wis., caught 14 walleyes weighing 47 pounds, 6 ounces during three days of competition in the Walmart FLW Walleye League Finals on the Mississippi River in Winona, Minn., to secure a $53,000 victory Saturday by 7 pounds, 1 ounces over his closest competitor. Hughes earned a Ranger 621 powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard.

“This was an awesome day,” Hughes said. “My first two today were in the 15 – 16 inch range, and I finally boated one I thought was six pounds and that was a huge relief. I was jumping around the boat like a little kid.”

On Thursday, Hughes caught five walleyes weighing 21 pounds, 4 ounces. He added another five walleyes weighing 15 pounds, 3 ounces to his total Friday, then he capped off his win Saturday with another four walleyes weighing 10 pounds, 5 ounces.

Hughes continued his same pattern using willow cats rigged on a rig that resembled a short Carolina rig using a bright orange bead before the hook. Hughes stayed in a favorite spot the entire tournament except for about three hours on the final day.

Rounding out the top five boaters were Galen Bremmer of Avoca, Wis. (12 walleyes, 40 pounds, 5 ounces, $3,500); Daniel Christensen of Cochrane, Wis. (15 walleyes, 39 pounds, 8 ounces, $3,100); Matthew Ernst of North Oaks, Minn. (11 walleyes, 33 pounds, 6 ounces, $1,750); and Brad Dirkman of Fergus Falls, Minn. (15 walleyes, 31 pounds, 14 ounces, $1,000).

Tom Laveque of Saginaw, Mich., won the Co-angler Division with a three-day total of 11 walleyes weighing 40 pounds, 4 ounces. His effort earned him a $38,000 G3 V185F powered by Yamaha.

On Thursday, Laveque caught one walleye weighing 1 pound, 2 ounces while fishing with Tom Millenkamp. He added another five walleyes weighing 18 pounds, 13 ounces to his total Friday while fishing with Daniel Christensen, then he capped off his win Saturday with another five walleyes weighing 20 pounds, 5 ounces while fishing with Galen Bremmer.

“Today we started of with a couple little fish,” said Laveque. “We moved to another spot and caught 10 keepers so we kept moving around and eventually headed back to our second spot from the morning. We were able to catch most of our fish in about one hour.”

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Dan Miller of Poynette, Wis. (15 walleyes, 37 pounds, 6 ounces, $2,500); Jerry Manning of Maquoketa, Ia. (14 walleyes, 34 pounds, 9 ounces, $1,200); Forrest Melton of Albany, Minn. (13 walleyes, 32 pounds, 7 ounces, $700); and Thomas Kaus of Lake Zurich, Ill. (13 walleyes, 31 pounds, 11 ounces, $500).

A total of 49 walleyes weighing 113 pounds, 11 ounces were caught Saturday by the 10 teams who made the final-round cut. Nine of the 10 teams caught the limit. The lone team that did not was winner Jimmy Hughes and his partner Jerry Manning.

Boaters and co-anglers who finished in the top 3o in final points standings after three qualifying events in each FLW Walleye League division advanced to this no-entry-fee tournament.

Boaters and co-anglers are randomly paired each day of the event and fish for a combined boat weight that carries over from day to day. Boaters compete against other boaters, and co-anglers compete against other co-anglers. The winners are determined by the heaviest three-day accumulated weight, with only the top 10 boaters and top 10 co-anglers fishing on day three.

Coverage of the FLW Walleye League Finals on the Mississippi River will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast in Canada on WFN (World Fishing Network) and to more than 429 million households in the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East through a distribution agreement with Matchroom Sport, making it the most widely distributed fishing program in the world. The program airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time in most markets. Check local listings for times in your area.

The Winona Convention and Visitors Bureau is hosting the FLW Walleye League Finals. For more information, call (507) 452-0735 or go to visitwinona.com.

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2008 alone the organization is offering more than 90,000 anglers the chance to win over $40 million through 230 tournaments in 10 circuits. FLW Outdoors also took fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $7.3 million in cash and prizes.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.