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| NPAA Members Dominate Inaugural AIM Event |
NPAA Members Dominate Inaugural AIM Event
Skarlis Wins Battle of the Legends
Tommy Skarlis, Gary Parsons and more than 40 other legends of walleye fishing battled for top honors in the first-ever Anglers Insight Marketing (AIM) Pro Walleye Series tournament May 22-24 at Bay City, Michigan.
The new Catch-Record-Release format allowed anglers to compete without ever weighing a fish. Their catches were measured, photographed and released; the length of each angler's seven largest fish for each day was converted into pounds and ounces using a standardized formula. In the end, Skarlis tallied 479.25 inches during the three-day event, good for 100.93 pounds and a $27,000 payday, just 1.21 pounds ahead of Parsons, who collected $5,940 for second place. Both Skarlis and Parsons won an additional $5,000 each for entering AIM's Super Cash Pool prior to the event.
Skarlis and Parsons are longtime NPAA members, and in fact association members dominated the tournament claiming the top 24 places in the field. Tom Kemos placed third with 91.11 pounds worth $4,320, followed by John Kolinski with 89.12 pounds for $3,780 and Mike Gofron with 80.24 for $3,510.
I'm very proud of our members showing, said NPAA Executive Director Cody Roswick. It's a testament to their abilities that so many anglers did so well with such a variety of different techniques. Indeed, the walleye-rich fishery of Saginaw Bay offered competitors a number of fishing options, from big-water trolling on the bay to picking apart small slices of structure with jigs in the river and around the river mouth.
After exploring several patterns prefishing, Skarlis fished Lindy X-Change jigs tipped with Berkley Gulp! Alive! Minnows on 8- to 12-foot shelves along the main channel. He also trolled Lindy Old Guides Secret spinners with 3-hook nightcrawler harnesses along 6-foot contours just outside the river mouth. There, emerging weed growth and light-biting walleyes made Tattle Flags on his OR12 Off-Shore Planer Boards a big factor, he noted. Skarlis also noted that his engine-mount Minn Kota electric trolling motor played a key role but also allowed hims to run relatively short lines without spooking the fish.
After discovering walleye "Shangri-La" in the river during prefishing, Parsons remained faithful to it throughout the event. "The fishing was phenomenal," he said. "I handled an average of 30 walleyes a day (up to 28 inches in length) plus 60 to 70 other fish including catfish, smallmouth bass and freshwater drum. And I had it all to myself a long cast from the launch. I didn't burn five gallons of gas the whole tournament."
Parsons' go-to pattern was targeting current breaks above bridge pilings with ΒΌ- to 3/8-ounce Fin-tech Nuckle Ball and Bass Pro Shops XPS jigheads tipped with 3-inch Berkley Gulp! Alive! Minnows. The jig designs produced different actions,he said, noting that Nuckle Balls cause the Gulp tail to flip violently on contact with bottom, while XPS heads swim on the drop, giving the Minnow an erratic action. It was exciting,Parsons said after the dust settled. The C-R-R format was far superior to that of any tournament he'd ever fished. It allowed us to focus on fishing not on keeping fish alive in the livewell and the weigh-in was extremely fair.
Next stop on the AIM trail is the Bay of Green Bay July 2-4. For more information, visit www.aimfishing.com The NPAA is dedicated to improving and bringing professionalism to the sport of walleye fishing. Membership is open to all anglers wishing to become affiliated and learn more about tactics, sponsorships, the industry, youth events, and to help grow fishing participation. NPAA supporting partners who share the same goals include Northland Fishing Tackle, Navionics, Mercury Marine, Evinrude Outboards, Lund Boats, Ranger Boats, Off-Shore Tackle, Fin-tech Tackle, Berkley, Walleye's Inc., Greater Insurance Services, Masters Walleye Circuit, FLW Outdoors, and Anglers Insight Marketing. To learn more about the NPAA and its members go to www.npaa.net.
Top 24 AIM finishers with their NPAA number:
1. Tommy Skarlis #11
2. Gary Parsons #24
3. Tom Kemos #913
4. John Kolinski #14
5. Mike Gofron #93
6. Dennis Gulau #504 (New)
7. Jason Przekurat #169
8. Chase Parsons #806
9. Chad Schilling #283
10. Keith Kavajecz #81
11. Todd Riley #19
12. Gil Mollett #309
13. Mark Brumbaugh #70
14. Pat Neu #77
15. Rich Mealey #55
16. Brandon Carpenter #393
17. Dave Vanoss #45
18. Rick Olson #4
19. Jim Carroll #13
20. Tom Backer #33
21. Scott Glorvigen #34
22. Rich Boggs #495
23. Marty Glorvigen #21
24. Bruce Mirabella #135 |
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| Anglers Insight Marketing Announced Tournament Boundaries. |
Plymouth, WI April 30, 2009- AIM announced today the boundaries for the Bay City, Michigan Pro Walleye Series tournament.
AIM Pro Walleye Series tournaments are scheduled to take advantage of great fisheries at the peak of the bite. AIM Pro Walleye Series tournaments are also scheduled for bodies of water that maximize the options for fishing success for the angler contestants. This is especially true of the first 2009 event to be held on Saginaw Bay, out of Bay City, Michigan.
Saginaw Bay is a great spring fishery for hungry, post-spawn walleyes. Walleyes will be everywhere from the Saginaw River, to the Inner Bay, to the expansive Outer Bay, a total of literally hundreds of square miles. As is the case with all AIM Pro Walleye Series tournaments, there are no boundaries imposed on the anglers under normal weather conditions. Bay City contestants may fish any legal Michigan waters, wherever they find feeding walleyes.
Given that the Bay City tournament is held on a Great Lakes body of water, AIM may have the need to impose its in-climate weather boundaries, which will restrict the fishing to the Saginaw River (out to the first buoy at the river mouth) in marginal weather conditions. This should allow for three full days of fishing in all but the worst of conditions. For the safety of the participants, AIM does however reserve the right to cancel fishing when faced with severe storms. In this case, the day is cancelled and no weights will be registered.
Further information about AIM as well as up-to-the-minute updates about tournaments can be found at the AIM web site: www.aimfishing.com.
Anglers Insight Marketing, LLC (AIM) is a unique tournament organization which is owned by stockholders, the majority of which are Professional walleye anglers. AIM Professionals are among the All Stars of professional fishing, with cumulative HUNDREDS of years of tournament experience, including countless tournament victories, series championships, and Angler of the Year titles. This insight and knowledge is now being employed to provide the finest tournament experience for the participants, and the maximum exposure for the host tournament sites and corporate partners.
# # # For more information, contact: Anglers Insight Marketing LLC PO Box 110 Plymouth, WI 53073 Office: 920-526-3399 [email protected] |
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