TRENTON, Mich. (April 6, 2006) - Johnson and Johnson pro Dean Arnoldussen of Appleton, Wis., caught a two-day catch of 10 walleyes weighing 40 pounds, 5 ounces to lead day two of the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour event on the Detroit River near Trenton, Mich., the first event of the 2006 FLW Walleye Tour season. With a $2.69 million total purse, including the no-entry-fee $675,000 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship on Lake Oahe near Pierre, S.D., Oct. 4-7, and television coverage on FSN (Fox Sports Net), the FLW Walleye Tour is bigger and better than ever.
With a full field of 150 pros and 150 co-anglers, anglers are competing for their share of a $503,300 purse, including as much as $100,000 for the winning pro and $18,000 for the winning co-angler.
While the fishing was a little slow on day one, it picked up dramatically on day two, with 8-pounder after 8-pounder brought to the scale. The day's largest walleye was a 12-pound, 13-ounce giant caught by Jeff Seyka of Milford, Mich., and his co-angler, Don Monda of Brainerd, Minn.
Arnoldussen and his co-angler, Jason Shull of Wonder Lake, Ill., had several big fish as well, including a 10-pound, 6-ounce walleye that Shull hooked on a jig and minnow early in the morning.
"We pulled into our spot and had our three biggest fish in about 15 minutes," Arnoldussen said. "It was amazing. I lost one other one early, and we caught one a little later. We only had four for the longest time, and then we popped a 25-incher with about a half-hour left to go in the Trenton channel."
The day's catch bumped Shull into second place in the Co-angler Division, with a two-day catch of six walleyes weighing 34 pounds, 13 ounces.
BFGoodrich Tires pro Dustin Kjelden of Brookings, S.D., sits in second place in the Pro Division after hauling four walleyes to the scale that registered 25 pounds, 12 ounces for a two-day catch of nine walleyes weighing 39 pounds, 2 ounces. Kjelden caught his fish while polelining and jigging.
"We didn't have a fish in the boat until 12:30 or 1:00," Kjelden said. "But I figured stuff out this afternoon, and I have high hopes for tomorrow."
Rounding out the top five pros are Troy Morris of Bismarck, N.D. (seven walleyes, 37 pounds, 10 ounces); Tommy Skarlis of Dorchester, Iowa (10 walleyes, 37 pounds, 4 ounces); and Scott Steil of Richmond, Minn. (nine walleyes, 32 pounds, 10 ounces).
Julie Towle of Glencoe, Minn., leads day two in the Co-angler Division. Towle said she's been fishing Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League events for a few years, but this is her first year to step up to the FLW Walleye Tour. Towle fished with pro Nate Provost of Gulliver, Mich., on day two. They caught five walleyes weighing 31 pounds, giving Towle a two-day total of six walleyes weighing 38 pounds, 2 ounces.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Tim Cigany of Cleveland, Ohio (six walleyes, 34 pounds, 1 ounce); Dean Kaminski of Columbia Heights, Minn., (eight walleyes, 33 pounds, 6 ounces); and Jack Adams of Bucyrus, Ohio (nine walleyes, 32 pounds, 6 ounces).
Elizabeth Park Marina in Trenton hosts daily takeoffs each morning at 7. Friday's weigh-in will also be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday's weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 23800 Allen Road in Woodhaven, Mich., 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, with the co-angler winner being determined at the end of day three. Pros compete for one of 10 final-round slots based on their three-day accumulated weight. Weights carry over to day four, with the winning pro 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 angler standings. The top 50 pros and 50 co-anglers based on year-end points standings will advance to the 2006 FLW Walleye Tour Championship.
The FLW Walleye Tour Championship is the most lucrative event in professional walleye angling, with guaranteed cash awards for the entire field. A guaranteed cash award of $100,000 plus potential sponsor bonuses totaling $50,000 will go to the FLW Walleye Tour Championship winner for a total pro award of $150,000. The champion co-angler will win a guaranteed cash award of $11,000 plus potential sponsor bonuses totaling $11,000 for a total co-angler award of $22,000.
Coverage of the FLW Walleye Tour opener on the Detroit River will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on May 21 as part of the "FLW Outdoors" television program. "FLW Outdoors" airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. "FLW Outdoors" is also broadcast internationally to more than 350 million households in such countries as 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. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
Following the Detroit River tournament, the FLW Walleye Tour will visit the Mississippi River in Red Wing, Minn., May 3-6 for an event presented by Yamaha. Devils Lake in Devils Lake, N.D., will host the third regular-season event June 7-10, and the regular season will come to a close with an event presented by Evinrude July 12-15 on Green Bay in Green Bay, Wis.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Stratos Owners' Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006. FLW Outdoors also recently announced the addition of a striped bass circuit, which will debut in May.
For more information about 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 an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world's leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.