Przekurat wins FLW Walleye Angler of the Year
Category: Tournament
Jul 24th, 2007 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Jul 24th, 2007 at 12:00 AM
MINNEAPOLIS – Completing an incredible 2007 season, Stevens Point, Wis., native Jason Przekurat won the Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year award on the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour with 577 points over four qualifying events.Those points also qualified Przekurat for the no-entry-fee Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship on Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio. He was followed by pro Chris Gilman of Chisago City, Minn., with 572 points, pro Todd Riley of Amery, Wis., with 485 points, pro Jeff Ryan of Lakeview, Iowa, with 483 points and 22-year-old pro Kelly Klemm of Beardsley, Minn., with 473 points.Przekurat is now the only professional walleye angler in the history of the sport to have twice won For his victory on the Mississippi River, Jason Przekurat earned a check for $100,000.AOY on the Walleye Tour. His first AOY title came in 2003. In addition, he is the only pro to have finished in the top 10 in three consecutive tournaments. In those last three tournaments alone, the BP pro has won $127,500. He will have a chance for an even bigger payday in Cleveland as the No. 1-seeded angler at the $675,850 Walleye Tour Championship.In a typical year, the AOY race would have been decided much earlier, but it came down to the final day of the final qualifier. Gilman entered the Bays de Noc event with a 4-point lead and he finished the tournament in 13th place. That left little room for error for Przekurat, but he continued to do what he did all season – put walleyes in the boat.”I wasn’t worried about winning that tournament at all. I just wanted to win Angler of the Year,” he said. “The first one was awesome, but the second one was better. It’s surreal. It’s almost like you’re looking at it from the outside. It’s ultimately every angler’s goal at the beginning of the season to win the Angler of the Year, but it takes a lot of luck and skill. I give all my success as a pro angler to the support that my family gives me. Without them I wouldn’t be where I am today.”Pro winner Jason Przekurat shows off his two biggest fish from the final day of competition.Przekurat started the Walleye Tour season off with a 12th-place effort on the Detroit River in Trenton, Mich. After the Detroit River event, he then claimed his first tour-level victory and $100,000 on the Mississippi River in Red Wing, Minn. Not only did he win, he set an unofficial four-day weight record on that stretch of the Mississippi. He also set a Walleye Tour record for margin of victory – 20 pounds, 13 ounces to be exact. His success continued at Devils Lake in Devils Lake, N.D., where Przekurat earned his second top-10 finish, completing the tournament in ninth place. He wrapped up the qualifying season with a fourth-place finish on Bays de Noc in Escanaba, Mich.”This has been an unbelievable season. I got a win at Red Wing, I was crowned Angler of the Year, and now all that’s left is a championship win. My confidence is sky-high right now – I think I could do it.”The Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year title is determined by the total accumulated points from four regular-season events. One hundred fifty points are awarded for a win, 149 for second, 148 for third, and so on.Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Walmart.com.For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.