Quick Bites: FLW Walleye Tour Championship, Day 4

Allar corners market on second place, Olson battles pike for secret bait, and families back fishermen

Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship

Lake Oahe, Pierre, S.D.

Final round, Saturday

Second cubed … Scott Allar was likely feeling deja vu as the 2006 FLW Walleye Tour Championship wound down to its conclusion Saturday, but it was no illusion. The Welch, Minn., pro had indeed finished second in yet another Walleye Tour Championship event. The first time it happened in 2003, he was fishing his home waters on the Mississippi River in a championship event hosted right in Welch. That year Tom Keenan of Hatley, Wis. – the 2006 Walleye Tour Angler of the Year – took top honors. Today it happened all over again in Pierre, S.D., after fellow Minnesotan Richard Nascak whacked 28 pounds over the two-day final round on Lake Oahe to surpass Allar’s weight of 20 pounds, 6 ounces. Allar was a bundle of nerves as he waited to find out what Nascak had in his sack. “I’m a little worried,” Allar said, holding out his hand to show its shaking. “No, I’m a lot worried.” After Nascak weighed a puny three of a possible four walleyes, it looked as though Allar still had a shot, but Nascak had one more monster hidden away in his livewell that sealed the deal. “I’m satisfied with it,” Allar said after the weigh-in. “If they would have told me before the tournament that I was going to get second, I still would have been fine to go home with that.” Allar will take $75,000 in earnings home from Lake Oahe to cap off a season in which he amazingly earned yet another runner-up finish on the Mississippi River in May – making this one the third second-place finish of his career. “It could’ve been a whole lot worse,” he said. “One of these times I’m going to win it.”

Cranky pike … Mina, S.D., pro Rick Olson fished his way into a championship top-10 and ultimately fifth place by pulling a one-of-a-kind crankbait this week, so it’s not surprising he got a little worried when a northern pike attacked the bait today. “I had a secret crankbait … the one and only in existence that I got from Yarmo Rapala,” Olson said. “And that pike inhaled it, so I was concerned.” Olson said he had the privilege of looking through the personal crankbait collection of Yarmo Rapala, whose family is behind the famed lure company, when he saw a No. 7 with colorations unlike any he had ever seen. Olson said he thought the “snot rocket” might bite off his precious gift today, but he eventually outmaneuvered the Oahe monster and got it back unharmed.

Fishin’ tradition … Famed fisherman Al Lindner again addressed the capacity crowd to begin the final weigh-in taking place in what many consider to be the walleye capital of the world, and he acknowledged the strong connection between family and fishing. “It’s a family tradition,” he said. “Every great angler I’ve known had early exposure to fishing through family.” That theme would be illustrated repeatedly before weigh-in’s end. Before Nascak won the crown, he thanked his family for attending the festivities, and his son, Sam, was even pulled onstage to draw names for prize giveaways. “I’m happy to see them; I haven’t seen them for nine days,” Nascak said, and then shouted, “I’m happy to see you Saminelli!” When asked what he would do with the $150,000, Nascak said he would likely use it to start college funds for his son and daughter. Richmond, Minnesota’s Scott Steil (6th) wished his daughter Jane, who came with the whole family, a happy birthday from the weigh-in stage. Tom Brunz of Madison Lake, Minn., who said yesterday that he began fishing walleye tournament with his son back in the mid-`80s, introduced his grandson Kyle as the up-and-coming fisherman likely to take over the mantle of their angling family tradition. Brunz added, “I’d like to thank my dad for taking the time to take me fishing.” And these are only a few examples of the many among the top 10 best walleye pros in the world who thanked their families for coming to Pierre to see them compete.

Quick numbers

570: Number of miles Steil said he put on his boat and engine over the four-day tournament.

7: Number of top-10 FLW Walleye Tour finishes notched by runner-up Allar, more than any of the other championship pros in the finals.

29: Number of walleyes landed by the top 10 pros on the final day of the championship.

157,300: Number of bonus dollars awarded to qualified pro finalists from boat or engine sponsors G3, Polar Kraft, Ranger, Evinrude and Yamaha.

Sound bites

“There aren’t a lot of stoplights in the town where I’m from: One of them is where Wal-Mart is and one of them is where the Wal-Mart used to be.”

– Flippin, Ark., native and Ranger Boats founder Forrest L. Wood, on getting to travel the country to attend fishing tournaments.

“It’s kind of like blackjack; you have to decide whether to hit or to hold.”

– Allar, on how fishing a no-cull tournament forces an angler to decide immediately whether to put a fish in the livewell or release it.