TRENTON, Mich. – The Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour returns in 2006 for its sixth season, and the Detroit River near Trenton, Mich., will host the tour’s first stop April 5-8. With a $2.69 million total purse, including the no-entry-fee $675,000 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship on Lake Oahe near Pierre, S.D., Oct. 4-7, and television coverage on FSN (Fox Sports Net), the FLW Walleye Tour is bigger and better than ever.
A full field of 150 pros and 150 co-anglers will take on the Detroit River for their share of a $503,300 purse, including as much as $100,000 for the winning pro and $18,000 for the winning co-angler.
“It should be a good bite,” said pro Dean Arnoldussen of Appleton, Wis., who won the 2005 FLW Walleye Tour event on Lake Erie. “Some big fish can come out of the river at that time of year. I’m hoping to catch them vertical jigging, but if it gets windy and muddy, the handliners could do really well. It’s going to be a lot of fun and we should see some big fish.”
Elizabeth Park Marina in Trenton will host daily takeoffs each morning at 7. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will also be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 23800 Allen Road in Woodhaven, Mich., beginning at 4 p.m. The community is invited to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins, which are free and open to the public.
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 the winner determined by the heaviest four-day weight.
Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points, with 150 points awarded to the winner, 149 to second, 148 for third, and so on. These points determine angler standings. The top 50 pros and 50 co-anglers based on year-end points standings will advance to the 2006 FLW Walleye Tour Championship.
The FLW Walleye Tour Championship is the most lucrative event in professional walleye angling, with guaranteed cash awards for the entire field. A guaranteed cash award of $100,000 plus potential sponsor bonuses totaling $50,000 will go to the FLW Walleye Tour Championship winner for a total pro award of $150,000. The champion co-angler will win a guaranteed cash award of $11,000 plus potential sponsor bonuses totaling $11,000 for a total co-angler award of $22,000.
Coverage of the FLW Walleye Tour opener on the Detroit River will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on May 21 as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to more than 350 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
Following the Detroit River tournament, the FLW Walleye Tour will visit the Mississippi River in Red Wing, Minn., May 3-6 for an event presented by Yamaha. Devils Lake in Devils Lake, N.D., will host the third regular-season event June 7-10, and the regular season will come to a close with an event presented by Evinrude July 12-15 on Green Bay in Green Bay, Wis.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers 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. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006. FLW Outdoors also recently announced the addition of a striped bass circuit, which will debut in May.
For more information about 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 an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.