Walmart FLW Walleye Tour to Visit Mississippi River
Category: press release
Apr 22nd, 2009 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Apr 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 AM
RED WING, Minn. (April 22, 2009) – The 2009 Walmart FLW Walleye Tour will hold its second qualifying tournament of the season on the Mississippi River in Red Wing, Minn., May 6-9. The tournament is hosted by the Red Wing Business Community will feature 300 anglers from 20 states and national television coverage on VERSUS.
Pros will compete for a top award of $100,000 and co-anglers will compete for as much as $20,000.
“I look for a solid bite this year, said Land O’ Lakes pro Eric Olson of Red Wing, Minn., who placed sixth in the 2006 Walmart FLW Walleye Tour Mississippi River event. “I have seen the river produce some big fish this spring so I am eager to see what will happen come tournament time.”
Olson said to look for anglers using three different techniques: trolling leadcore line, handlining, and three-way rigging live bait. He also said that anglers might switch to jigging to upgrade. “If the conditions are right the jigging bite could turn on,” he added. “There are a couple of key spots anglers know about where jigging could come into play.”
He predicts anglers will need 45 pounds to make the top-10 cut and a four-day total of 90 pounds to win the $100,000 first place prize.
“This is my home water but I really don’t have a lot of time to fish the river,” Olson said. “A lot of times anglers that fish there home water seem to get caught up in knowing too many spots. They run around from spot to spot looking for the fish they think are there. My main goal is to go find spots that are loaded with fish given the conditions and not just spots where I caught fish in the past.”
Baypoint Marina, located at 1429 Levee Rd. in Red Wing, will host daily takeoffs each morning at 7 a.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will also be held at Baypoint Marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart store located at 295 Tyler Rd. South beginning at 4 p.m. The community is invited to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins, which are free and open to the public.
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 the winners determined by the heaviest four-day weight.
Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points, with 150 points awarded to the winner, 149 to second, 148 for third, and so on. These points determine Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year standings. The top 50 pros and 50 co-anglers in the standings will advance to the FLW Walleye Tour Championship in Bismarck, N.D., Sept. 30-Oct. 3 for a shot at top awards of $150,000 and $20,000, respectively. The prestigious championship, hosted by the Bismarck-Mandan Convention and Visitors Bureau, will also feature boater and co-angler points champions from each of four Walmart FLW Walleye League divisions. The no-entry-fee FLW Walleye Tour Championship is the most lucrative event in professional walleye angling, with cash awards for the entire field.
Coverage of the FLW Walleye Tour, hosted by the Red Wing Business Community, will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS, the network which brings anglers the best fishing programming on television featuring the most-trusted authorities on the water. The Emmy-nominated “FLW Outdoors,” will air Aug. 9 from 12:30 to 1:30 ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide, including internationally through agreements with WFN (World Fishing Network) and Matchroom Sport to such countries as Canada, Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.
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.