| 

Women’s Walleye Weekend

Category: npaa

 Apr 4th, 2013 by OutdoorsFIRST 

Modified Apr 4th, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Mothers Day weekend is not just for brunch anymore. Mom wants to go fishing. So does, daughter, sister, girlfriend and wife. This year there will be a Women’s Walleye Weekend, which will include clinics and a tournament. The event will be held on May 10th, 11th and 12th weekend in Winneconne WI.

WI Women Fish and the World Walleye Association have joined forces to produce this event. The WWA knows how to run tournaments and WWF knows how to run women’s events so it was a win win situation. There have been attempts in the past to have an all women  walleye tournaments but there have never been much interest. Joining the concepts of offering valuable clinic topics followed by a tournament has created a lot of interest in the women’s angling community. To even make it more appealing to women, the top female walleye pro’s in the country, Marianne Huskey and Theresa Mead, will be on site to teach the clinics and to mentor all those interested in fishing other tournaments. 

Marianne Huskey has been a professional angler since 2009 at which time she was the only women on tour. She has fished FLW and AIM tournaments and in 2012 was AIM Angler of the Year! She took second place in the Bay Mills AIM Can-Am Pro Tournament and made history as the highest placing female competing against all males in a Pro-AM format. In 2010 she was awarded the “Dave Anderson Sportsman of the Year” award. The award was voted on by all of her professional angling peers. She is also a licensed U.S.C.G Captain on the Great Lakes and guide on Green Bay in Wisconsin. For more information on scheduled appearances, seminars and guide trips please visit her at www.mariannehuskey.com

Theresa  Meade has been a professional angler since 2001. She has fished the Chain

Walleye Series (CWS), the World Walleye Association (WWA), Cabela’s National Team Championship (NTC), the Professional Walleye Trail (PWT) and, most recently, the Anglers Insight Marketing (AIM). In that time, she has won Team of the Year, qualified for seven championships, 4 first places and twelve top ten finishes and 4 Cabela’s National Team Championships. She is a licensed guide and is the co owner of the World Walleye Association. For more information go to http://www.theresameade.com.

Barb Carey  is the founder and President of  WI Women Fish and has been putting on  fishing clinic’s and classes for women for 12 years.  The Women’s Fishing Club was formed 8 years ago and currently has close to 150 members from 5 states.  The web site is www.wiwomenfish.com and there is also a large facebook presence Barb is a DNR certified Angling Instructor and will be fishing the MWS tournament series this year.  All three women are NPAA members and are on the Lund Pro Staff.

Clinic topics will include rigging and jigging techniques, making your own jigs, electronics, reading maps and there will even be optional sessions on launching and loading boats. Time is scheduled for pre-fishing and the tournament will be held on Sunday.  Cash  and prizes will be offered and a tickets will be sold to benefit Fishing has no Boundaries. The winner of that raffle will get to fish with Marianne Huskey in a Midwest Walleye Series Tournament later in the summer.

Activities for family members have also been scheduled and will include a Mothers Day Brunch cruise where a riverboat will be out on the water among the anglers. A great way for the kids to have a look at Mom fishing. Other family members will find lots of great shore fishing opportunities while the ladies are using the boats for the tournament. Interest for this event is growing very fast and hopes are to make this an annual event. For those women interested in fishing in the tournament but do not have a partner, we are able to help pair up boaters and non boaters using a grading system keeping your level experience and expectations in mind. Regardless of what skill level women are at, we want to make all feel welcome and create a positive experience for everyone who attends.

A new study by the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) and The Outdoor Foundation reveals fishing and boating are growing mainly because of the involvement of women and youth becoming involved in the sport. The skill level of the anglers who participate in WI Women Fish Events are really improving and in addition to being a resource for beginning anglers, the club can now be a resource for those women would like to fish in competitive events. Another big advantage of a club sponsored event is the affordability of the event. The cost for the whole weekend of events is only $110 per person which includes a dinner, the seminars, and the cash paying tournament with awards and prizes. For more information go to www.wiwomenfish.com