In a few short days the Illinois circuit of the Gander Mountain Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC) will kick off the 2004 season at Spring Valley. In talking about the March 20th opener, Gander Mountain GNWC Executive Director Bernie Barringer notes, "We are really excited about opening the Illinois Region at Spring Valley because it is a traditional early walleye and sauger hotspot."
Barringer looks for the likelihood of a repeat of last year's Spring Valley opener when 2/3 of the teams caught six-fish limits. "Spring Valley is a terrific fishery. It has some of the most incredible sauger fishing I have ever seen. Spring Valley is a great place to kick off the Illinois Region of the Gander Mountain GNWC."
Openings still exist for the Spring Valley qualifier and Barringer encourages interested anglers to contact him at 1-800-890-FISH (3474), or email the GNWC at [email protected]. Teams are to meet at the Spring Valley Boat Club the morning of the tournament for registration and mandatory boat check. Host bait shop is the Riverview Marina. For additional information about the area, anglers can contact the Illinois Valley Chamber of Commerce at (815)2230-0227.
Take-off is at 7 a.m. with the weigh-in commencing at 3 p.m. sharp. "We hope that a lot of people will turn out for the weigh-in. The weigh-ins are exciting and most importantly for the crowd, it's almost like a mini-walleye seminar as the teams describe the presentations that worked best during the tournament."
Barringer also shared his excitement about the 2004 season for the eight-region partner circuit. "This is the second year for the GNWC, and we are looking forward to more and more teams joining what we think is the most exciting partner walleye circuit in the country. We are also very excited about the enthusiasm of the sponsors. It's been great to see the way top national fishing companies have cast their support behind Gander Mountain GNWC walleye tournament anglers."
Another important part of the circuit is the GNWC website (www.walleyecup.com), which offers detailed information for both Gander Mountain GNWC members and Internet browsers. The site includes detailed scheduling information on locations and host communities, tournament results and highlights, how-to articles, along with a message board and free classifieds for members. "We've worked very hard to make the GNWC website an important site to visit on the Internet. With a click of the mouse you can see how the action is going in eight different regions across the Midwest," added Barringer.
Title Sponsor for the GNWC is Gander Mountain with other major national sponsors including Skeeter Boats, Yamaha Outboards, the Sportsman Channel, Berkley, Aqua Innovations, YoNet Folding Nets, VIB"E" Lure Company, TowTector Shield and UpNorth Outdoors.com |