Klemm Wins FLW Walleye Tour on Lake Sharpe
Category: Tournament
May 11th, 2008 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified May 11th, 2008 at 12:00 AM
PIERRE, S.D. (May 10, 2008) –Kelly Klemm of Wheaton, Minn., along with his partner, Darrell Rosemore of Jamestown, N.D., caught five walleyes weighing 6 pounds, 11 ounces to win the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour presented by Berkley event on Lake Sharpe in Pierre, S.D. Klemm had a four-day total of 20 walleyes weighing 35-7 to net him the win and $80,000.
“This win really hasn’t set in yet,” said Klemm, who now has one win and three top-10 finishes in seven seasons of FLW Walleye Tour competition. “It’s amazing. It’s everybody’s goal to come out and do it, and now I can say that I’ve won. It’s going to take a few days to sink in.”
The 23-year-old angler said he started the final day of competition by running 10 to 12 miles south and fishing live bait. Klemm made long runs south the first three days of competition, but forecasts of winds of more than 30 miles per hour convinced him to stay closer to the takeoff site.
“I knew it was going to be windy, so I decided to stick it out up here and try to catch five,” Klemm said.
“We caught a 16-incher right off the bat, so that took some of the pressure away,” Klemm added. “We fished that way for about another hour and that kind of dried up, so we put some lead core out and started trolling, but then the wind picked up and we decided to pick up. We ran back to Downs Marina and started fishing a patch of weeds.”
Klemm said the pair added a 17-inch fish to the box in the first five minutes of fishing the Downs Marina area. They fished the area for another hour and a half without a bite, and then moved further north.
“We vertically jigged a rock ledge in about 12 feet of water and found a deeper hole that had some fish in it,” Klemm said. “We picked up our third, fourth and fifth fish in about a period of a half an hour.”
Klemm said he and Rosemore caught nine fish during the course of the day, but weighed the first five fish they caught. Those five fish turned out to be all they needed.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do with the money yet,” Klemm said, referring to his new wife, Erin. The two were married on the fifth of April, and two days later Klemm left for the FLW Walleye Tour opener on Lake Erie.
Rounding out the top five pros are Ted Takasaki of East Gull Lake, Minn. (20 walleyes, 33 pounds, 5 ounces, $17,674); Scott Fairbairn of Hager City, Wis. (20 walleyes, 32 pounds, 13 ounces, $23,837); Troy Walwood of Grand Haven, Mich. (20 walleyes, 31 pounds, 9 ounces, $13,954); and Chris Gilman of Chisago City, Minn. (20 walleyes, 31 pounds, 5 ounces, $10,070).
Rosemore wins the co-angler division and $10,000 with a four-day total catch of 19 walleyes weighing 34-1 beating the closest competitor by less than a pound.
“It’s a new experience to be up here (on stage),” said Rosemore, who is fishing in his fourth season of FLW Walleye Tour competition. “I’ve never made the cut. I didn’t think I was going to win. I thought Kelly was going to make it, but I didn’t think I was going to make it.”
Pros and co-anglers fish for a combined boat weight. Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Terry Etzkorn of Pierre (20 walleyes, 33-3, $7,026), Edward Piekutowski of Moorhead, Minn. (20 walleyes, 32-10, $2,715), Jim Feller of Blunt, S.D. (20 walleyes, 31-8, $3,262) and Justin Crawford of Box Elder, S.D. (20 walleyes, 31-5, $2,036).
Overall there were 40 walleyes weighing 54 pounds, 1 ounce caught by 10 boats Saturday. The catch included six five-walleye limits.
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 winners determined by the heaviest four-day weight.
In addition to cash awards, anglers are competing for valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the $650,000 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship – the sport’s richest event – in Bismarck, N.D., Sept. 24-27. The top 50 pros and top 50 co-anglers in the Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year points standings will advance to the Championship, where they will compete for top awards of $150,000 and $20,000, respectively.
Tournament pros aren’t the only ones winning big this season. With the introduction of FLW Fantasy Fishing™, FLW Outdoors® offers anyone the opportunity to enter for their chance to land the catch of a lifetime with the opportunity to win $7.3 million in cash and prizes. Players can become a virtual pro angler by signing up for Player’s Advantage, providing them with exclusive insider information that could guide them to a $100,000 victory at every Wal-Mart FLW Tour® stop and the Forrest Wood Cup. Player’s Advantage will give them an edge over the competition and increase their shot for a $1 million cash grand prize that will be awarded to the FLW Fantasy Fishing cumulative points winner. Those who visit FantasyFishing.com today can sign up for Player’s Advantage and FLW Outdoors will include a $15 Wal-Mart gift card.
Coverage of the FLW Walleye Tour stop on Lake Sharpe will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on Aug. 24 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.
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 targeting bass, walleye, redfish, kingfish and striped bass. FLW Outdoors is also taking fishing mainstream with the largest cash awards in the history of fantasy sports, $7.3 million.
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.
Awards are based on a full field of 150 boats in every tournament.