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Updated: 08/10/04
Next Stop on Professional Walleye Tour: Bay de Noc's Giant Walleyes
Brainerd, Minnesota....Touring pro walleye anglers
from as far away
as Washington and New York will be heading to Escanaba, Michigan later
this
month. The In-Fisherman Professional Walleye Trail (PWT) anglers
will be
gunning for the $64,000 top prize.
They will be fishing Little Bay de Noc and Big Bay
de Noc, immense
bays on the north end of Lake Michigan's Green Bay. Fishing the
Outdoor
Channel Pro-Am will be 120 pros - the best of the best - who applied
to the
PWT credentials committee and were selected to fish.
This Pro-Am, Aug. 26 - 28, will set the field for
the Mercury
Championship, also in Michigan's Upper Peninsula this September.
The PWT
slate of six qualifying tournaments (leading up to the Championship)
runs
April through August, with $2,000,000 in purses paid out this season.
The
pros win big, as do their amateur partners. The top amateur in
every
tournament tows home a Lund/Mercury walleye boat on an E-Z Loader trailer,
valued at $17,000.
The Mercury Top Amateur at the end of the season
also competes with
the pro anglers at the Championship. There, the winner takes
home more than
$100,000. Last year Dan Plautz, Muskego, Wis. claimed first place.
The year-end prestigious Angler of the Year title
will honor the
most consistent pro over the past five months. Going into Bay
de Noc as the
Number One angler is Mike Gofron, Antioch, Ill. His five money
finishes
this year include first, fifth and seventh place trophies and more
than
$86,000 in winnings.
Giant walleyes roam Green Bay, prowling from the
shallow weeds to
the vast expanses of open water. Anglers are faced with many
choices,
especially where to go and which tactics to use. Andy Kuffer,
Fair Haven,
Mich., won at Escanaba last year, and favored spinners with night crawlers
in Big Bay de Noc. His best advice, "Don't rely on memories when
fishing
nomadic Great Lakes walleyes; be ready to travel and adapt."
The daily weigh-in festivities occur at Escanaba
Marina, starting at
3 p.m. Aug 26 - 28, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Walleye fans
are invited
to the free stage shows to learn more about where the pros find fish
and how
they catch them. As a special treat, the PWT, in cooperation
with the NPAA,
will conduct a Meet the Pros event designed especially for youngsters
on
Monday, Aug. 23 in the Menard's parking lot in downtown Escanaba, 6
p.m. to
8 p.m.
The PWT is an integral element of the In-Fisherman
Communications
Network headquartered in Brainerd, Minnesota, and PRIMEDIA, America's
leading producer of targeted media. PWT sponsors include: Mercury Marine,
Lund, Berkley Gulp!, The Outdoor Channel, Trilene, Optima Batteries,
Realtree, MotorGuide, Mr. Clean, PowerBait, Lowrance, MinnKota, Frenzy,
Gander Mountain, Blue Fox, Northland Fishing Tackle, Lindy Legendary
Fishing
Tackle, Coleman, Storm, Boat Buckle, Smooth Moves Seat Mounts, Kwik
Pfyt,
Beckman, Rejuvenade, E-Z Loader, Raymarine, Rapala, Matzuo, Pflueger,
Ram
rod holders, Drift Control, Aqua-Vu, Plano, Stowmaster.net, Bay de
Noc
Convention & Visitors Bureau (800-533-4FUN) and Delta Chamber
(888-335-8264).
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