Riley leads Wal-Mart FLW Tour on Devils Lake
Category: Tournament
Jun 15th, 2005 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Jun 15th, 2005 at 12:00 AM
SPIRIT LAKE, N.D. (June 15, 2005) – Pro Todd Riley of Amery, Wis., and co-angler Ken Kovack of Omaha, Neb., caught five walleyes weighing 29 pounds, 15 ounces to lead day one of the inaugural FLW Walleye Tour Open on Devils Lake. Pros are competing for a potential top award of $100,000, while co-anglers are competing for a potential top award of $20,000. The event is also the fourth and final tournament of the regular season, and the top 50 pros and top 50 co-anglers advance to the no-entry-fee FLW Walleye Tour Championship on the Mississippi River in Moline, Ill., Sept. 28 – Oct. 1, where the winning pro could earn up to $125,000 and the winning co-angler could earn $22,000. Anglers caught an impressive total of walleyes Wednesday. One hundred teams caught a limit, and every boat weighed fish. Nearly one ton of walleyes were weighed, and anglers are predicting the fishing will improve each day. “I basically have one key spot,” Riley said. “If that spot fails, I may go down hill. That spot has held for several days, so it may have enough fish to last the rest of the week. I caught a limit by noon and was able to go look for new areas and found a few spots that could help. I’m doing what most guys are doing – using a slip bobber, casting a crank and throwing jigs with Power Baits.” Rounding out the top five teams are pro Pete Harsh of Sauk Centre, Minn., and co-angler Brian Drake of Merrimac, Wis. (five walleyes, 29 pounds, 13 ounces); pro Mark Meravy of Shorewood, Ill., and co-angler Jason Treptau of Becker, Minn. (five walleyes, 27 pounds, 7 ounces); pro Scott Larson of West Fargo and co-angler Gary Chase of Fort Pierce, S.D. (five walleyes, 27 pounds, 3 ounces); and pro Mark Courts of Harris, Minn., and co-angler Steven Maksymyc of Komarno, Manitoba (five walleyes, 27 pounds, 2 ounce). Pros and co-anglers fish for a combined boat weight and are randomly paired each day. 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. 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 Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour. 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.