Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour fills fields

$2.69 million purse, international TV exposure lure record number of anglers

BENTON, Ky. – The $2.69 million Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour will kick off its 2006 season with a full field of 150 pros and 150 co-anglers competing on the Detroit River April 5-8 for a share of $503,300 cash while Lindner Media cameras capture all the action for broadcast to 380 million households in the United States and abroad. With more than a month remaining before the start of the FLW Walleye Tour season, all four qualifying tournaments have filled to capacity.

Part of the appeal for the nation’s top walleye anglers is the fact that each of these tournaments and the $675,000 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship will be featured in one-hour episodes of “FLW Outdoors,” which airs every Sunday at 11 a.m. Eastern time on FSN (Fox Sports Net). Each broadcast goes out to 80 million households in the United States plus 300 million households in Europe, Asia and Africa thanks to a distribution agreement with Matchroom Sport.

“The media resources dedicated to FLW Walleye Tour anglers this season are unprecedented,” said Mark Dorn, director of Walleye Operations for FLW Outdoors. “Not only will FLW Walleye Tour anglers be featured in international television coverage, they will also be included on our industry-leading Web site and in the pages of FLW Outdoors Magazine, which will soon be launching a new walleye edition.”

FLW Outdoors added several new sponsors this year, including the National Guard, G3 Boats and Polar Kraft, allowing the organization to offer the sport’s largest cash paybacks. Pros will be fishing for top awards of $60,000 cash in every qualifier plus cash bonuses totaling $40,000 from G3, Polar Kraft, Ranger, Evinrude and Yamaha. Pros who advance to the no-entry-fee championship will fish for a top award of $100,000 plus $50,000 in bonuses. Co-angler competitors will cast for a top award of $18,000 in every qualifier and $22,000 in the championship.

While there is currently a waiting list building for pros and co-anglers at every tour stop, there are openings available in the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, which serves as a weekend qualifying circuit for the lucrative FLW Walleye Tour.

Every year the top 10 boaters and 10 co-anglers from each of the FLW Walleye League’s three divisions receive priority entry into the FLW Walleye Tour for the following season. Regular qualifier entry fees are $150 per tournament for boaters and $75 per tournament for co-anglers.

In regular-season FLW Walleye Tour events, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired and fish for a combined boat weight. The field is cut from 150 boats to 10 boats after three days of competition. The top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers continue competition on day four, and the winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days. One hundred and fifty points are awarded to the winner, 149 points for second, 148 points for third, and so on. The top 50 pros and top 50 co-anglers at the end of the season advance to the FLW Walleye Tour Championship on Lake Oahe in Pierre, S.D., Oct. 4-7.

FLW Walleye Tour entry fees are $1,360 per tournament for pros and $360 per tournament for co-anglers.

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.

To enter an FLW Walleye Tour or FLW Walleye League tournament, 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.

2006 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour schedule

2006 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League schedule