CASS LAKE, Minn. – Carl Adams Jr. of Blackduck, Minn., along with his partner, Douglas Chapman of Hills, Minn., caught five walleyes weighing 12 pounds, 13 ounces to lead day three of the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour presented by Yamaha on Cass Lake in Cass Lake, Minn. Adams now has a three-day catch of 15 walleyes weighing 40-05. He now holds a slim 4-ounce lead over the second place finisher going into the final day of competition.
The Cass Lake event is a nationally televised tournament that features 248 competitors fishing for top awards of $100,000 in the Pro Division and $20,000 in the Co-angler Division
“I caught a lot of fish today, so overall it was a pretty good day,” said Adams, who is fishing in only his third FLW Walleye Tour tournament. “I didn’t make all the right decisions which could have cost me.
“I promised myself that I needed to be consistent everyday and that if I caught one over 20 inches that I need to put it in the boat, and risk having a bad day. We caught one fairly early in the day and then doubled up on a 16 and a 20-incher. I thought that we would catch them really good so we threw them both back.
“Later in the day we started to panic because we weren’t catching them anymore but as the day went on the fish started biting better. The fish weren’t as big and we never caught another fish over 20 inches.”
Adams along with his partner caught a total of 24 keepers fishing 10 to 15 spots catching fish on all his key areas.
“We didn’t make the right decision but the fish were biting today,” Adams said. “When the wind blows like the way it did today the fish on Cass go nuts.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Scott Steil of Richmond, Minn. (15 walleyes, 40 pounds, 1 ounce); Pete Harsh of Sauk Centre, Minn. (15 walleyes, 39 pounds, 10 ounces); Toby Kvalevog of Brainerd, Minn. (15 walleyes, 39 pounds, 5 ounces); and Daniel Dejaeghere of Bemidji, Minn. (15 walleyes, 38 pounds, 14 ounces).
“It’s all about making the right decisions and when I threw that keeper back early this morning it wasn’t because I planned on placing in the top-10,” Adams said. “I threw it back with the idea that if I was going to catch Harsh today then I was going to need to catch some big fish.”
Kevin Bruer of Robbinsdale, Minn., leads the co-angler division with a three day weight weighing 38-11.
“It’s a good feeling to be in the top 10,” Bruer said, who has been fishing the FLW Walleye Tour as a co-angler since 2000. “I have been doing this a long time and I have never made the cut.
“This week I have had pros that were consistent each day. With that being said, each day was a little different depending on the weather. One day you might catch all your fish in the morning and the next day, not have a fish in the boat until 1 p.m.”
Bruer has previously fished two PWT tournaments on Cass Lake and is using his knowledge of the lake to help assist his pros in locating fish.
“The weights are what I expected but I was surprised at the number of big fish being caught,” Breuer said. “During practice we caught a lot of fish but not as many big ones.”
Pros and co-anglers fish for a combined boat weight. Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Nate Brunz of Madison Lake, Minn. (15 walleyes, 35-06), Greg Oppegard of W. St. Paul, Minn. (15 walleyes, 35-04), David Anderson of Sauk Rapids, Minn. (15 walleyes, 34-13) and Ronald Carson of Omaha, Neb. (15 walleyes, 33-10).
“I am very excited going into tomorrow since I have been close to making the cut before but always fell short,” Bruer added. “Hopefully, since Carl has a lot of knowledge of Cass that we will locate the right fish to help us both win this thing.”
Saturday’s takeoff will be at Stony Point Resort at 7 a.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.
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.
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 event 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.
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.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.
Awards are based on a full field of 150 boats in every tournament.