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MN Tournament Trail (MTT) Anglers Find Success on Lake of the Woods

Category: Tournament

 Sep 17th, 2013 by OutdoorsFIRST 

Modified Sep 17th, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Baudette, MN  (September 17, 2013)  This past Friday and Saturday, 84 two person teams who qualified throughout the year seized the opportunity to fish The Walleye Capital of the World with their eye on the grand prize,  a $40,000 Skeeter WX 1850 boat teamed up with a Yamaha 150 HP outboard.    Teams qualified for the championship throughout the year by either fishing four 1 day tournaments and one 2 day tournament or finishing in the top 75 in points for the year.

	MTT anglers stage at the mouth of the Rainy River on the morning of day 2 during the National Anthem.

On day one, anglers woke up to a north breeze and a good old fashioned walleye chop.  Anglers were allowed to bring 6 fish to the scales per day per team, with a maximum of two fish over 28″ for the tournament.  Most anglers were dialed in, with more than 15 trophies over 28 inches brought to the scales on day one alone.  A number of teams had two big fish on day one setting themselves up well for day two.

Day two brought southerly breezes and more success.  It was a shoot out as teams who had their two big fish had to focus on those fish under 19.5″.  Lake of the Woods has a slot limit in which any walleyes 19.5″ – 28″ must be returned back to the water immediately.  That also opened the door for teams who needed big fish.  More big fish were caught, as well as nice 19 inchers exceeding 3 lbs.

	Nels Holte, MTT, Walleyes…Local Nels Holte with two big walleyes on day one.  Holte and his partner, Jason Sovia finished 5th.

In a final weigh in full of suspense, the emcee, Jon Thelen of Lindy Tackle, announced in front of a large crowd gathered at Border View Lodge the winners, Ben Ullman and Derek Janousek who edged out the second place finishers, Allen Kichler and Beau Anderson by a mere .81 lbs.  Interesting, the winners only weighed one big fish, but had very quality slots that made up the difference.

Ullman and Janousek take home the boat package, second place finishers take home $9,000, and third place finishers, Mike Klein and Eric Schoenfeld take home a payday of $6,000.  Money and prizes were paid to 20 places.

The Lindy Team of the Year honors, based on a total of points throughout the year and championship, went to Blake Berg and Richie Kroger.  The husband – wife team of the year went to Carmen and Jack Bradach.  The father – Son team of the year went to Corey Jahn and Dayton Jahn.

The MTT festivities finished up at Wigwam Resort with a dinner, awards ceremony and party.  Anglers celebrated a great tournament, a successful year and camaraderie amongst some of the best anglers in the Midwest.

For more information on the MTT, go to www.mntournamenttrail.com.  For more info on Lake of the Woods, contact Lake of the Woods Tourism at www.LakeoftheWoodsMN.com, at www.facebook.com/lakeofthewoodsmn  or by calling 1-800-382-FISH (3474).

MTT 2013 Championship Winners…The winners of the 2013 MTT Championship on Lake of the Woods, 1st place (front row) Ben Ullman and Derek Janousek.  (Back row, starting at left) 2nd place, Allen Kichler and Beau Anderson.  3rd place, Mike Klein and Eric Schoenfeld.  4th place, Gary Dickmeyer and Larry Kortuem.