BAY CITY, Minn. (April 26, 2006) - The Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League Minnesota Division will stage its first tournament of 2006 on the Mississippi River near Bay City, Minn. The tournament, hosted by the Red Wing Convention and Visitors Bureau, is expected to draw as many as 200 weekend walleye anglers to the area, with Boater Division competitors casting for a top award of as much as $4,000 and co-anglers in the hunt for a top award of as much as $2,000.
Anglers will take off from Bay City Park located in Bay City at 7 a.m., and the weigh-in will be held there beginning at 3 p.m. The community is invited to attend both the takeoff and weigh-in, which are free and open to the public.
Boaters and co-anglers are randomly paired for the event and fish for a combined boat weight. Cash payouts are based on a full field of 100 boaters and 100 co-anglers. Boaters compete against other boaters, and co-anglers compete against other co-anglers.
The winning boater will earn as much as $3,500 cash for the win, and if the winner is a registered owner of a Ranger, G3 or Polar Kraft boat used during the event, the winner receives a $500 boat bonus for a top award of $4,000 cash. The winning co-angler will earn as much as $1,750 and if the winner is a registered Ranger, G3 or Polar Kraft owner, the winner will receive a $250 bonus for a top award of $2,000.
Three FLW Walleye League divisions - Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin - each feature three one-day events and one two-day Super Tournament during the regular season. Every angler who receives weight credit earns points, with 200 points awarded to the winner, 199 for second, 198 for third, and so on, except for Super Tournaments, which award 300 points to the winner, 299 for second, 298 for third, and so on. These points determine angler standings.
The top 35 boaters and 35 co-anglers from each FLW Walleye League division advance to the $141,950 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League Finals, set for Sept. 7-9 on Lake Michigan in Escanaba, Mich. Anglers finishing in the top 10 in each division also receive priority entry into the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour for 2007.
The Minnesota Division's second stop, presented by Yamaha, will be held on Lake Mille Lacs May 20, followed by an event on Cass Lake June 24 and the Super Tournament presented by Evinrude July 22-23 on the Mississippi River.
If the April 29 tournament is not yet full, entries will be accepted at tournament registration, which will be held April 26 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Covill Pavillion located at 510 Nymphara Lane in Red Wing. Entry fees are $150 for boaters and $75 for co-anglers.
The Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League was created to provide the grassroots walleye angler a chance to compete in professionally administered, close-to-home tournaments with lucrative cash awards.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League and nine other national tournament circuits offering a combined $36.9 million in awards through 241 events in 2006. The 27-year-old organization is the purveyor of America's largest and most prestigious fishing tournaments, including 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.
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.
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