Jerowski, Top Fifteen Head to Final Day on the Mississippi River
Category: Tournament
Sep 10th, 2005 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Sep 10th, 2005 at 12:00 AM
WINONA, Minn. (Sept. 9, 2005) – Pro Mitchell Jerowski of Winona, caught nine walleyes weighing 35 pounds, 7 ounces over the first two days to lead the $115,000 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League Finals tournament on the Mississippi River near Winona. The field of 88 boaters and their co-anglers will be cut to the top 15 boaters and top 15 co-anglers for Saturday’s final day of competition. “It was a lot tougher today,” Jerowski said. “I had my fourth fish at 9:30 a.m., and I never got another bite the rest of the day.” He continued fishing wing dams as he did on Wednesday, but several anglers were fishing his same areas. He couldn’t get to several of his key areas Friday as a result. “I’m going to do the same thing Saturday because there will be a lot less guys on the water.” Rounding out the top five boaters Troy Saunders of Menasha, Wis. (nine walleyes, 29 pounds, 2 ounces); Tim Chick of Winona (nine walleyes, 24 pounds, 2 ounces); Adam Rasmussen of Stevens Point, Wis. (nine walleyes, 23 pounds, 8 ounces); and Leonard Jamison of Hager City, Wis. (nine walleyes, 23 pounds, 4 ounces). Zachary Jerry of Deer River held on to his day-one lead with a two-day total of 10 walleyes weighing 37 pounds, 5 ounces. He fished with Jamison on Friday. The duo caught nine keeper walleyes trolling willow cats on river rigs around wing dams. A willow cat is a small catfish-like minnow that only grow to 4 or 5 inches. Jerry fishes with Saunders on Saturday. Rounding out the top five co-anglers are David Palecek of Green Bay, Wis. (10 walleyes, 31 pounds, 8 ounces); Mike Eiden of New Haven, Ind. (eight walleyes, 21 pounds, 8 ounces); Todd Shirkman of Gibraltar, Mich. (six walleyes, 20 pounds, 7 ounces); and Tom Laveque of Saginaw, Mich. (seven walleyes, 19 pounds, 10 ounces). A total of 178 walleyes weighing 387 pounds, 12 ounces were caught Friday including a beautiful trophy walleye weighing 9 pounds, 6 ounces caught by Tim Long of Winneconne, Wis. Boaters and co-anglers who finished in the top 35 in final points standings in each FLW Walleye League division advanced to this no-entry-fee tournament. The winning boater will receive an Evinrude- or Yamaha-powered Ranger 621 boat, while the winning co-angler will receive an Evinrude- or Yamaha-powered Ranger 620. FLW Walleye League boaters and co-anglers are randomly paired and fish for a combined boat weight, with boaters competing against other boaters and co-anglers competing against other co-anglers. The full field competed Thursday and Friday and were cut to the top 15 boaters and co-anglers for Saturday’s final round. Winners are determined by the heaviest three-day weight. 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, 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.