Moving the tournament back a couple of weeks this year made for great weather for this year's 13th annual Keyhole Walleye Spring Classic three-in-one Tournament. This was one of the closest Spring Classics that we had in a long time. When it was all said and done there was only a 5 pound difference that separated the top 8 teams!
It was a slow day of fishing with only one team being able to bring 6 fish to the scales on day 1. With that being said, there was only 5 teams that did not weigh a fish in the 28 boat field on the first day of competition. The team of Ryan Dittus and Dean Dittus led the field on day one with a weight of 22.34 pounds. Darin Rudland and Gene Dittus was right on their heels with a weight of 21.10 pounds. Dusty Evenson and Richard Evenson with their 6 fish catch was sitting in 3rd place with 16.38 pounds.
On day 2 the skies where cloudy most of the day with rain in the forecast. Luckily the rain held out until the tournament was over. The team of Randy Adams and Terry Weaver brought three fish to the scales with a weight of 22.48 pounds. Ed Rust and Kyle Groves brought 5 fish to the scales with a weight of 20.36 pounds for second place. Jim Gabriel and Chris McClaren rounded up the top three for day 2 with 20.22 pounds.
After two days of fishing with all of the weights combined from day1 and day 2 the team of Randy Adams and Terry Weaver win the 13th annual Keyhole Spring Classic with a combined weight of 26.54 pounds. Second place went to Brian Mensing and Kevin Taylor with a combined weight of 25.12 pounds and third place went to Jim Gabriel and Chris McClaren with combined weight of 24.30 pounds.
There was a two-way tie for the Big Fish award sponsored by Wyoming Marine of Gillette.
Jim Gabriel and Harold Mason both had big fish at 30.25 inches. 11.25 pounds!
The Northeast Wyoming Walleye Association would like to thank the Keyhole Marina for all their help and all of the sponsors that kicked in this year.
Wyoming Marine Big Fish Award
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Donating all of the food for the BBQ
Tire Rama For the end of year club membership drawing.
Foundation Coal To help with weigh boat cost.
The Northeast Wyoming Walleye Association is sending four teams to this year’s Cabela's National Team Championship to be held at Devils Lake, North Dakota on July 25 and 26, 2009. The following teams qualified from fishing in the spring and fall club tournaments:
Ed Hoffman and Tom Chapman
Keith Riggle and Sue Owens
Bryan Torres and Thomas Torres
Joe Hubbard and Russ Hubbard
Please mark your calendars for the Fall Tournament to be held on September 19, 2009. Entry fee for the Fall Tournament is $175.00. This tournament is a three-person tournament and the club encourages one member to be under the age of 18. This tournament is also a Cabela's qualifying tournament.
For a new twist this year the Northeast Wyoming Walleye Association is going to hold the first ever archery carp tournament at Keyhole this year on July 11th and 12th of 2009. The entry fee for the tournament is going to be $100.00 per three-man team including club membership. I will updating the web site with more information on the carp roundup as we get more things put into place.
More great news for tournament anglers!
The Northeast Wyoming Walleye Association has partnered up with the new AIM (Anglers Insight Marketing) Pro Walleye Series and our tournaments are now a Sanctioned Event for qualifying for the AIM International Walleye Championship!
Here are the details: NEWWA team of the year will have the opportunity to compete against the top professional walleye anglers from the Pro AIM Walleye Series and other quality U.S. and Canadian regional fishing circuits. You will be competing against your fishing heroes - names Parsons, Kavajecz, Martin, Gofron and more. All entrants must qualify for this special tournament.
All Pro Angler participants will have the opportunity to compete for the total payout of not less than $150,000.00 - based on a minimum 100 boat field. The payout will exceed $150,000.00 significantly based on the potential for 150 boats or more!
First place will win a prize package valued at over $65,000.00 including a minimum of $10,000.00 in cash and a Lund 2075 Pro V Boat and Mercury Verado motor package!
The entry fee for this tournament is $1500.00 for the pro and $250.00 for the Co-angler.
NEWWA is going to PAY your entry fee for this tournament! That's right, NEWWA is going shell out the $1750.00 to the 2009 team of the year to participate in the AIM International Walleye Championship.
AIM International Walleye Championship is going to be held at Lake Winnibigoshish in Northern Minnesota September 2-4, 2009
To get more information on the AIM Pro Walleye Series go to www.aimfishing.com
