LINWOOD, Mich. – The Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League Michigan Division will stage its final tournament of 2005 with a Super Tournament on Saginaw Bay in Linwood, Mich., Aug. 6-7. The tournament, presented by Evinrude, 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 $5,250 and co-anglers in the hunt for a top award of as much as $2,625.
Anglers will take off Saturday from Hoyles Marina at 7 a.m., and the weigh-in will be held there beginning at 3 p.m. On Sunday the takeoff will again be at 7 a.m. at Hoyles Marina, however, the weigh-in will conclude at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart on 3921 Wilder Road in Bay City. 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 $4,500 cash for the win, and if the winner is a registered owner of a Ranger boat used during the event, the winner receives a $750 Ranger bonus for a top award of $5,250 cash. If the winning boater uses only Garmin electronics with at least one unit being a qualifying unit, the winner will also receive a $1,000 bonus from Garmin for a total award of $6,250. The winning co-angler will earn as much as $2,250 and if the winner is a registered Ranger owner, the winner will receive a $375 bonus for a top award of $2,625.
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 $115,000 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League Finals, set for Sept. 8-10 on the Mississippi River in Winona, Minn. Anglers finishing in the top 10 in each division also receive priority entry into the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour for 2006.
If the Super Tournament on Saginaw Bay is not yet full, entries will be accepted at tournament registration, which will be held August 5 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Hoyles Marina located at 135 South Linwood Beach Road. Entry fees are $200 for boaters and $100 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 seven other national tournament circuits offering a combined $30 million in awards through 214 events in 2005. The 27-year-old organization is the purveyor of America’s largest and most prestigious fishing tournaments, including the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, EverStart Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series.
For more information on FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, browse 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.