Hughes, Buechel win Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League event on Petenwell Lake

Boater Jimmy Hughes (right) of Oshkosh, Wis., and co-angler Dennis Buechel of Fond Du Lac, Wis., combined for a total of five walleyes weighing 6 pounds, 14 ounces to claim victory at the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League Wisconsin Division tournament held on Petenwell Lake. Hughes claimed $2,660 for the win, with Buechel earning $1,313. Anglers: Dennis Buechel, Jimmy Hughes.

April 23, 2005 • MLF • Archives

ARKDALE, Wis. – Boater Jimmy Hughes of Oshkosh and co-angler Dennis Buechel of Fond Du Lac combined for a total of five walleyes weighing 6 pounds, 14 ounces to claim victory at the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League Wisconsin Division tournament held Saturday on Petenwell Lake. Hughes claimed $2,660 for the win, with Buechel earning $1,313.

Hughes and Beuchel worked live bait rigs and jigs over mid-lake, wind-swept rocky points. They worked their offerings from anchored positions as well as slow trolling them to grind out their winning catch under blistering 25-mph winds.

Finishing second were Clifford Jakusz of Stevens Point ($1,368 plus $400 bonus) and John Reynolds of Machesney Park, Ill. ($675) with three walleyes weighing 6 pounds, 5 ounces. Dennis Skurulsky of Waukesha ($1,140) and Philip Singleton of Grovertown, Ind. ($563) caught three walleyes weighing 6 pounds, 4 ounces to finish third. John Schneider of Shawano ($988 plus $250 bonus) and Kevin Adams of Shawano ($487 plus $125 bonus) claimed fourth place with five walleyes that weighed 5 pounds, 15 ounces. Finishing fifth were Matthew Seifert of Wisconsin Rapids ($684 plus $200 bonus) and Brian Boelter of Colgate ($337) thanks to a four-walleye catch that weighed 5 pounds, 3 ounces.

The Wisconsin Division’s next event will be May 14 on Green Bay. Boaters and co-anglers who finish in the top 35 in final points standings in each FLW Walleye League division will advance to the no-entry-fee $115,000 Wal-Mart FLW League Finals Sept. 8-10 on the Mississippi River in Winona, Minn. The winning boater at the finals will receive an Evinrude-or Yamaha-powered Ranger 621 boat. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points, with 200 points awarded to the winner, 199 points for second, and so on, except for Super Tournaments, which award 300 points to the winner, 298 to second, and so on.

FLW Walleye League boaters and co-anglers fish together for a combined boat weight, with boaters competing against other boaters and co-anglers fishing against other co-anglers. The Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League meets the needs of America’s fishing masses by providing professionally administered, close-to-home, affordable events with lucrative cash purses.

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 this Web site 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.