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| Steil Wins FLW Walleye Tour on Cass |
CASS LAKE, Minn. (June 14, 2008) �Ranger pro Scott Steil of Richmond, Minn., along with his partner, Nate Brunz of Madison Lake, Minn., caught five walleyes weighing 18 pounds, 1 ounce to win the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour presented by Yamaha on Cass Lake in Cass Lake, Minn. Steil had a four-day total of 20 walleyes weighing 58-02 to net him the win and $100,000.
��This is like a dream come true,� said Steil, who now has one win and four top-10 finishes in six seasons of FLW Walleye Tour competition. �It�s amazing. There are a lot of anglers out there that are good competitors that want to win as bad as I do. Now I can say that I�ve won and competed against the best.
�It was a perfect day on the water. We were done fishing at 1:30 p.m. The fish came in the right order and that�s the key in these slot tournaments.
�You don�t want your first fish to be a 21 or 22-incher,� Steil said. �That really makes you sweat the rest of the day.�
Steil fished three key spots on Cass within four miles of Stony Point Resort. He made his first run through the areas and didn�t catch one fish. He decided to make a second run over his areas and landed a 25, 18 and a 19-incher. Then he ran to his shallow water spot.
��One key area I found was shallow and I decided to stop there because the wind was blowing nice in the cabbage,� Steil said. �I am glad we did because we each caught a 27-incher. I knew from that point on that we were going to have a big bag.�
Steil said he and Brunz caught seven fish during the course of the day, but weighed the first five fish they caught. Those five fish turned out to be all they needed.
Rounding out the top five pros are Carl Adams Jr. of Blackduck, Minn. (20 walleyes, 55 pounds, 9 ounces, $30,839); Toby Kvalevog of Brainerd, Minn. (20 walleyes, 52 pounds, 12 ounces, $8,827); Pete Harsh of Sauk Centre, Minn. (20 walleyes, 52 pounds, 8 ounces, $10,582); and James Gordon of Spicer, Minn. (20 walleyes, 51 pounds, 9 ounces, $8,380).
Kevin Bruer of Robbinsdale, Minn., wins the co-angler division and $10,000 with a four-day total catch of 20 walleyes weighing 53-15 beating the closest competitor by less than a pound.
�It�s a new experience to be up here (on stage),� said Bruer, who made his first top-10 on the FLW Walleye Tour since 2000. �I�ve never made the cut. I didn�t think I was going to win.
�I knew that Carl was on some good spots so I felt confident that we would have a big bag but to win by 8-ounces was a little too close.�
Pros and co-anglers fish for a combined boat weight. Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Brunz (20 walleyes, 53-07, $6,644); David Anderson of Sauk Rapids, Minn. (20 walleyes, 48-04, $3,547), Greg Oppegard of W. St. Paul, Minn. (20 walleyes, 48-02, $2,225) and Mike Taylor of Midland, Mich. (20 walleyes, 31-5, $2,880).
Overall there were 50 walleyes weighing 123 pounds, 5 ounces caught by 10 boats Saturday. The catch included 10 five-walleye limits.
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 for one of 10 final-round slots based on their three-day accumulated weight. Weights carry over to day four, with winners determined by the heaviest four-day weight.
In addition to cash awards, anglers are competing for valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the $650,000 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship � the sport�s richest event � in Bismarck, N.D., Sept. 24-27. The top 50 pros and top 50 co-anglers in the Land O�Lakes Angler of the Year points standings will advance to the Championship, where they will compete for top awards of $150,000 and $20,000, respectively.
Tournament pros aren�t the only ones winning big this season. With the introduction of FLW Fantasy Fishing�, FLW Outdoors� offers anyone the opportunity to enter for their chance to land the catch of a lifetime with the opportunity to win $7.3 million in cash and prizes. Players can become a virtual pro angler by signing up for Player�s Advantage, providing them with exclusive insider information that could guide them to a $100,000 victory at every Wal-Mart FLW Tour stop and the Forrest Wood Cup. Player�s Advantage will give them an edge over the competition and increase their shot for a $1 million cash grand prize that will be awarded to the FLW Fantasy Fishing cumulative points winner. Those who visit FantasyFishing.com today can sign up for Player�s Advantage and FLW Outdoors will include a $15 Wal-Mart gift card.
Coverage of the FLW Walleye Tour stop on Cass Lake will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on Sept. 14 as part of the �FLW Outdoors� television program. �FLW Outdoors� is also broadcast in Canada on WFN (World Fishing Network) and to more than 429 million households in the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East through a distribution agreement with Matchroom Sport, making it the most widely distributed fishing program in the world. The program airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time in most markets. Check local listings for times in your area. |
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| Harsh Takes the Lead at Cass Lake FLW |
 |  | Pete Harsh on Day 2
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Clear skies and sun set the stage for Day 2 at Cass Lake, but the improved weather conditions didn't help everyone. Pete Harsh, however, was one angler that did stay consistent on a body of water where his strengths as a rigger shined. His catch of 14.69 lbs and a miracle grab by his co-angler on a net job that sealed a solid fourth slot fish that measured 19-plus inches put him atop the leader board with 31.06 lbs.
Prilosec Pro David Kolb also stayed consistent, netting 15.88lbs, one and a half pounds more than yesterday's 14.06lbs.
|  | Dave Kolb stayed consistent
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Day 1 leader Tony Renner struggled a bit today with 10.31lbs. He felt the high skies played a part in why his fish just weren't going.
Brian Bjorkman made the jump of the day with 18.69lbs, the largest basket of the tournament so far. Bjorkman holds twelfth place with a two-day weight of 24.56lbs, just over a pound short of the ever improving Chris Gilman.
Gilman, one of the hottest sticks as of late made another push to secure a top-ten spot for Saturday's shootout with 12.69 lbs and a two-day weight of 24.75 to hold down that tenth and final spot.
October will once again reappear according to tomorrows forecasts; calling for 50% chance of precipitation and winds 20+mph out of the west-southwest. Temps at take-off should be 45 degrees and a high of 56 degrees by weigh-in.
Day 2 images
Big fish action on Day 2:
http://walleye.outdoorsfirst.com/watch.asp?id=978 |
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| Harsh on Top at Cass Lake |
CASS LAKE, Minn. (June 12, 2008) � Ranger pro Pete Harsh of Sauk Centre, Minn., caught five walleyes weighing 14 pounds, 11 ounces Thursday to take the lead in the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour presented by Yamaha on Cass Lake in Cass Lake, Minn., with a two-day total of 10 walleyes weighing 31-01.
Harsh now holds a 1-pound, 11-ounce lead heading into the third day of competition in the nationally televised tournament that features 248 competitors from 23 states fishing for top awards of $100,000 in the Pro Division and $20,000 in the Co-angler Division.
�Today was brutal,� said Harsh, who has amassed more than $202,000 in career earnings with FLW Outdoors. �Yesterday, I was done fishing at 1 p.m. Today, we struggled and struggled. We threw the first three fish back including one over 20 inches. I thought to myself, if I�m going to win this I can�t be making mistakes like this.
�We were averaging about a bite an hour. I fished three spots yesterday and today I think I went 15 places. The weather system has been horrible.�
Harsh stated that he would rather have the strong winds from the first day of competition than a day like today with sunny skies and calm wind.
�Let the wind be your friend,� said Harsh. �Wind was made for tilling boats and boat control is triggering the fish this week. Also, I made a change and fished considerably deeper with the sun being out.�
Harsh explained that he has a different practicing method than most anglers. He locates fish with his depth finder but doesn�t see the need in hammering the fish.
�During practice I located fish and would catch two or three breaking them off at the surface. I looked to make sure they were walleyes and then I stopped. I could tell the size with my depth finder, I didn�t need to catch five and make them sore in the mouth.
�I do everything for a reason. Hopefully, with my knowledge of fishing Minnesota lakes I will have a good day tomorrow and make the final day cut.�
� Rounding out the top five pros are Prilosec pro David Kolb of Ada, Mich. (10 walleyes, 29-05); Carl Adams Jr. of Blackduck, Minn. (10 walleyes, 27-8); Tony Renner of Hutchinson, Minn. (10 walleyes, 27-03); and Scott Steil of Richmond, Minn. (10 walleyes, 27-01).
Rick Engelman of Hoople, N.D., leads the Co-angler Division with a two-day total of 10 walleyes weighing 27 pounds, 7 ounces. He caught five walleyes weighing 12-13 Wednesday while fishing with Andy Renner of Spicer, Minn., then added another five walleyes weighing 14-10 Thursday while fishing with James Gordon of Spicer.
Pros and co-anglers fish for a combined boat weight. Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Ronald Carson of Omaha, Neb. (10 walleyes, 25-12), Kevin Bruer of Robbinsdale, Minn. (10 walleyes, 25-09); Cal Van Cleve of Wilmot, S.D. (10 walleyes, 24-03) and Mike Taylor of Midland, Mich. (10 walleyes, 23-10).
�It was a picture perfect day,� said Carson, who fished with pro Brian Bjorkman of Fargo, N.D., weighing in 18-11 for the heaviest bag of the tournament thus far. �I only had 7-1 yesterday so I needed to gain some ground today and it worked out well.
�Now, all I have to do is have a good day tomorrow and hopefully I will make the cut.�
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 for one of 10 final-round slots based on their three-day accumulated weight. Weights carry over to day four, with winners determined by the heaviest four-day weight.
Stony Point Resort in Cass Lake will host daily takeoffs each morning at 7. Thursday and Friday�s weigh-ins will be held at Stony Point Resort beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday�s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 2025 Paul Bunyan Drive N.W. in Bemidji, Minn. beginning at 4:30 p.m. The community is invited to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins, which are free and open to the public.
In addition to cash awards, anglers are competing for valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the $650,000 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship � the sport�s richest event � in Bismarck, N.D., Sept. 24-27. The top 50 pros and top 50 co-anglers in the Land O�Lakes Angler of the Year points standings will advance to the Championship, where they will compete for top awards of $150,000 and $20,000, respectively.
Tournament pros aren�t the only ones winning big this season. With the introduction of FLW Fantasy Fishing�, FLW Outdoors� offers anyone the opportunity to enter for their chance to land the catch of a lifetime with the opportunity to win $7.3 million in cash and prizes. Players can become a virtual pro angler by signing up for Player�s Advantage, providing them with exclusive insider information that could guide them to a $100,000 victory at every Wal-Mart FLW Tour� stop and the Forrest Wood Cup. Player�s Advantage will give them an edge over the competition and increase their shot for a $1 million cash grand prize that will be awarded to the FLW Fantasy Fishing cumulative points winner. Those who visit FantasyFishing.com today can sign up for Player�s Advantage and FLW Outdoors will include a $15 Wal-Mart gift card.
Coverage of the FLW Walleye Tour stop on Cass Lake will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on Sept. 14 as part of the �FLW Outdoors� television program. �FLW Outdoors� is also broadcast in Canada on WFN (World Fishing Network) and to more than 429 million households in the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East through a distribution agreement with Matchroom Sport, making it the most widely distributed fishing program in the world. The program airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time in most markets. Check local listings for times in your area.
Overall there were 445 walleyes weighing 936 pounds, 4 ounces caught by 124 boats Thursday. The catch included 62 five-walleye limits.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2008 alone the organization is offering more than 90,000 anglers the chance to win over $40 million through 230 tournaments in 10 circuits targeting bass, walleye, redfish, kingfish and striped bass. FLW Outdoors is also taking fishing mainstream with the largest cash awards in the history of fantasy sports, $7.3 million.
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| Keenan's Big Release |
Tom Keenan, with two "overs" already in his livewell, went looking for small fish on Day One at Cass Lake. What he found was the largest walleye he has ever caught.
"I have fished Lake Erie, I've fished everywhere, I grew up on Little Bay de Noc, and I have never sen on that long," stated Keenan.
Keenan measured he fish at over thirty-two inches in length. Considering he already had two fish over the slot in his livewell, he was forced to return the fish to the lake.
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| Renner Leads FLW Tour on Cass Lake |
|  | Tony Renner on Day One (WalleyeFIRST Photo) |
CASS LAKE, Minn. (June 11, 2008) - Pro Tony Renner of Hutchinson, Minn., and co-angler Josh Johnson of Fargo, N.D., caught five walleyes weighing 16 pounds, 14 ounces to lead day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour presented by Yamaha on Cass Lake in Cass Lake, Minn. The pair now holds a slim 8-ounce lead over their closest rivals in the nationally televised tournament that features 248 competitors from 23 states fishing for top awards of $100,000 in the Pro Division and $20,000 in the Co-angler Division.
During the first day of competition FLW anglers faced wind gusts up to 50 mph and temperatures as low as 45 degrees on Cass Lake. As for Renner, the weather was an advantage to getting him at the top of the leader board.
"The wind really helped us today," said Renner, who is fishing in his sixth season of FLW Walleye Tour competition. "When the wind picked up to 40 mph we caught our biggest fish. I hope the wind stays strong and it is rough out there tomorrow, it has helped the bite I am focusing in on."
On a day when large fish were few and far between, Renner's big fish measured more than 28 inches and anchored the team's bag.
"I was just looking for 15 pounds today," Renner said. "I defiantly overachieved. I had no idea that I would go beyond my expectations. Even with the large sack, I didn't go to my big fish areas. I have three key areas that I am hitting and tomorrow I won't even touch where I caught the big fish."
Renner estimated the team caught around nine fish during the course of the day. Renner said he and Johnson rigged crawlers, leeches and grubs in 6 to 24 feet of water to catch their fish.
"I am very excited to be leading on the first day of the tournament," Renner said. "This is my type of lake and the way I like to fish- with live bait and one rod in hand."
Rounding out the top five pros and co-anglers are Pete Harsh of Sauk Centre, Minn., and Larry Behsman of Elysian, Minn. (five walleyes, 16-06); Scott Steil of Richmond, Minn., and Bob Schultz of Marietta, Ga. (five walleyes, 15-06); Carl Adams Jr. of Blackduck, Minn., and Chuck Jones of Michigan City, Ind. (five walleyes, 15-00); and Reggie Thiel of Laporte, Minn., and Boyd Strissel of Billings, Mont. (five walleyes, 14-14).
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 for one of 10 final-round slots based on their three-day accumulated weight. Weights carry over to day four, with winners determined by the heaviest four-day weight.
Stony Point Resort in Cass Lake will host daily takeoffs each morning at 7. Thursday and Friday's weigh-ins will be held at Stony Point Resort beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday's final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 2025 Paul Bunyan Drive N.W. in Bemidji, Minn. beginning at 4 p.m. The community is invited to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins, which are free and open to the public.
In addition to cash awards, anglers are competing for valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the $650,000 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship - the sport's richest event - in Bismarck, N.D., Sept. 24-27. The top 50 pros and top 50 co-anglers in the Land O'Lakes Angler of the Year points standings will advance to the Championship, where they will compete for top awards of $150,000 and $20,000, respectively.
Tournament pros aren't the only ones winning big this season. With the introduction of FLW Fantasy Fishing�, FLW Outdoors� offers anyone the opportunity to enter for their chance to land the catch of a lifetime with the opportunity to win $7.3 million in cash and prizes. Players can become a virtual pro angler by signing up for Player's Advantage, providing them with exclusive insider information that could guide them to a $100,000 victory at every Wal-Mart FLW Tour� stop and the Forrest Wood Cup. Player's Advantage will give them an edge over the competition and increase their shot for a $1 million cash grand prize that will be awarded to the FLW Fantasy Fishing cumulative points winner. Those who visit FantasyFishing.com today can sign up for Player's Advantage and FLW Outdoors will include a $15 Wal-Mart gift card.
Coverage of the FLW Walleye Tour stop on Cass Lake will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on Sept. 14 as part of the "FLW Outdoors" television program. "FLW Outdoors" is also broadcast in Canada on WFN (World Fishing Network) and to more than 429 million households in the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East through a distribution agreement with Matchroom Sport, making it the most widely distributed fishing program in the world. The program airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time in most markets. Check local listings for times in your area.
Overall there were 480 walleyes weighing 933 pounds, 7 ounces caught by 124 boats Wednesday. The catch included 63 five-walleye limits.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2008 alone the organization is offering more than 90,000 anglers the chance to win over $40 million through 230 tournaments in 10 circuits targeting bass, walleye, redfish, kingfish and striped bass. FLW Outdoors is also taking fishing mainstream with the largest cash awards in the history of fantasy sports, $7.3 million. |
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