GREEN BAY, Wis. – Pro Scott Allen of Green Bay and co-angler Douglas Ohler Sr. of Mineral Point, Pa., caught five walleyes weighing 39 pounds, 14 ounces on Green Bay to lead day one of the third event of the $2.6 million 2005 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour. Pros are competing for a potential top award of $87,000, while co-anglers are competing for a potential top award of $16,600.
The morning started with a few light rain showers, but the rain subsided and left anglers with mostly overcast conditions. The fishing, however, was phenomenal with several hefty five-fish limits weighed on Wednesday.
“We didn’t catch many fish today,” said Allen, “but every one of them was a quality fish.” Allen and Ohler worked crawler harnesses in one specific area of Green Bay. “We boated our last fish around 1:30 p.m.,” Allen said. He found the school of walleyes in practice and meandered through his area all day before eventually ending with their day-one leading limit.
Rounding out the top five teams are pro Joseph Mans of Peshtigo and co-angler Eric Ballstad of Green Bay (five walleyes, 39 pounds, 12 ounces); pro Victor Stolcers of Round Lake Beach, Ill., and co-angler Randy Peterson of Omro (five walleyes, 35 pounds, 6 ounces); pro Greg Darsow of Billings, Mont., and co-angler Tony Thornton of Jamestown, Ohio (five walleyes, 35 pounds, 2 ounces); and pro Patrick Neu of Forestville and co-angler Mark Cottingham of Green Bay (five walleyes, 35 pounds, 1 ounce).
A total of 454 walleyes weighing 2,193 pounds, 14 ounces were caught Wednesday.
“We caught a 30-inch walleye on our first pass in [Allen’s] area,” Ohler said. “We just kept making passes through the area and would catch at least one fish every time through.”
Pros and co-anglers fish for a combined boat weight and are randomly paired each day. The FLW Walleye Tour is the world’s most lucrative professional walleye-fishing series. At the $650,000 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship on the Mississippi River in Moline, Ill., Sept. 28 – Oct. 1, pros will fish for as much as $140,000 cash and co-anglers will chase as much as $22,000.
Daily takeoffs at Green Bay start at 7 a.m. at Metro Park Boat Launch. Thursday’s and Friday’s weigh-ins starts at 3 p.m. at the marina, and Saturday’s weigh-in starts at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart store located at 2440 West Mason Street in Green Bay. The community is invited to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins, which are free and open to the public.
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 is determined by the heaviest four-day weight.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour 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 Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour.
For more information on FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, visit 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 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.