NEU WINS WAL-MART FLW WALLEYE TOUR EVENT ON GREEN BAY
GREEN BAY, Wis. (May 21, 2005) - Eleven-year walleye Pro Patrick
Neu of Forestville won his first event at the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye
Tour stop on Green Bay Saturday and took home $87,000 cash.
Neu and anglers from 21 states fished in conditions from one
extreme to the other. The tournament week started with strong
winds and heavy rains and ended with calm waters and blue bird
skies. Neu, however, was able to catch consistent limits everyday
to post his four-day total of 20 walleyes weighing 111 pounds,
8 ounces. "It's been a long week, but I feel great," Neu said.
Neu fished an area up the Ocono River about 26 miles from the
launch site. "I was fishing a breakline at the mouth of the
river. The water is full of tannic acid and has a real dark
color, which is just great walleye water when it's windy and
overcast." On Saturday, however, the water was calm and the
skies were bright, and after only boating one fish in the morning,
Neu made the decision to leave the fish that got him into the
finals to try his backup area. Neu ran 27 miles back down to
the lower end of Green Bay and caught a good walleye and a few
more small fish to scratch out a limit weighing 15 pounds, 7
ounces to hold off his hard-charging competitors. "The keys
to my win this week were my outboard-mounted Minn Kota trolling
motor that helped me maintain precise speed control and my decision
to throw back some early fish on day three," Neu said. Because
this was a no-cull tournament, anglers had to decide as soon
as a walleye was caught whether or not it was worthy of being
kept. "I knew it was going to take big fish to win this tournament,
so I threw back some 5-pound walleyes early on Friday. Later
in the day, I caught a 7 pounder and a 9 pounder and that gave
me a 6-pound swing. I only won by 4 pounds, so those early decisions
made the difference." Rounding out the top five pros are Pat
Schuette of Manitowoc (20 walleyes, 107 pounds, 12 ounces, $18,500);
Dan Stier of Pierre, S.D. (20 walleyes, 106 pounds, 14 ounces,
$22,250); Dan Plautz of Muskego (19 walleyes, 98 pounds, 13
ounces $8,550); and Troy Morris of Bismarck, N.D. (18 walleyes,
98 pounds, 8 ounces, $12,700). Mark Cottingham of Green Bay
held on to win the Co-angler Division and $8,700 in his first
tournament of any kind with 20 walleyes weighing 107 pounds,
1 ounce. Cottingham fished with Neu on the opening day and the
final day of the tournament and fished with Paul Wright of West
Point, Ind., on day two and Greg Darsow of Billings, Mont.,
on day three. "This has been one of the greatest experiences
of my life," Cottingham said. Having only been fishing for the
last seven years, Cottingham may be the most spoiled competitive
walleye angler alive right now after winning the first tournament
he ever entered. "He was a very quick study and really understood
what I was doing out there this week," Neu said. Rounding out
the top five co-anglers are Mike Lewis of Seymour (19 walleyes,
101 pounds, 8 ounces, $4,800); Richard Konrad of Brillion (20
walleyes, 100 pounds, 14 ounces, $6,700); Randy Peterson of
Omro (20 walleyes, 100 pounds, 3 ounces, $4,850); and Scott
Tipton of Box Elder, S.D. (19 walleyes, 97 pounds, 14 ounces,
$2,500). Pros and co-anglers fish for a combined boat weight
and are randomly paired each day. The FLW Walleye Tour is the
world's most lucrative professional walleye-fishing series.
At the $650,000 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship on the
Mississippi River in Moline, Ill., Sept. 28 - Oct. 1, pros will
fish for as much as $125,000 cash and co-anglers will chase
as much as $22,000. The full field fished the opening round
on Green Bay for one of 10 final-round slots awarded based on
the heaviest accumulated weights. Weights carried over to day
four, with the winner determined by the heaviest cumulative
weight for the tournament. The next FLW Walleye Tour stop will
be the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Open on Devils Lake in Spirit
Lake, N.D., June 15-18. 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 FLW
Kingfish Tour and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. 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. FINAL
RESULTS - MAY 21, 2005 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour: Green Bay,
Wis
|