LAMPMAN WINS WAL-MART FLW WALLEYE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP
Category: Tournament
Oct 2nd, 2005 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Oct 2nd, 2005 at 12:00 AM
MOLINE, Ill. (Oct. 1, 2005) – Pro Robert Lampman of DeSoto, Wis., caught five walleyes weighing 21 pounds, 6 ounces in the two-day final round of the $650,000 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship on the Mississippi River in Moline to win $125,000 – the largest award in professional walleye fishing. “I went to one spot this morning and worked it, worked it and worked it, but only caught one small fish by 10:30,” said Lampman, who has fished six championships in as many years on the FLW Walleye Tour. “I thought man, this isn’t going to work, so I decided to go to a trolling bite. When I got there, the weeds were so bad I knew it wouldn’t work. I decided to go back to what got me here, and in 15 minutes, I put two nice fish in the boat.” Lampman caught two walleyes weighing 5 pounds, 7 ounces Wednesday while fishing with co-angler Jackie Perry of Milaca, Minn., to finish opening day in 13th place. He then added two walleyes weighing 5 pounds, 3 ounces to his total Thursday while fishing with co-angler Jerome Chwierut of Glenview, Ill., to advance to the final round of 10 pros as the No. 9 seed with a two-day total of four walleyes weighing 10 pounds, 10 ounces. On Friday, Lampman and co-angler Matthew Hiller of Ada, Mich., caught two walleyes weighing 10 pounds, 8 ounces to give Hiller an $11,000 victory and send Lampman into the final day of competition with a 1-pound, 4-ounce lead over Shannon Kehl of Menoken, N.D., who caught four walleyes weighing 9 pounds, 4 ounces while fishing with co-angler Keith Strauss of Syracuse, Ind. Lampman, who finished 18th at last year’s championship in Moline, added three walleyes weighing 10 pounds, 14 ounces to his total Saturday to secure his first FLW Walleye Tour victory by 3 pounds, 10 ounces over Kehl who added two walleyes weighing 8 pounds, 8 ounces to his catch to finish second and earn $55,000 with a two-day total of six walleyes weighing 17 pounds, 12 ounces. Both Lampman and Kehl were fishing Pool 14 all week, but that is where the similarities in their techniques ended. While Lampman targeted wing dams with Lindy Rigs and willow cats, Kehl trolled with No. 5 Rapala Shad Raps in a new color called Hot Steel. “I really thought I had the spot to win the tournament,” said Kehl, who has earned five FLW Walleye Tour top 10s in four years on the tour. “Robert is a river rat though, and he really knows how to fish wing dams. And generally those are the fish that win on the Mississippi River. They did it again, here.” Rounding out the top five pros were Kevin Goligowski of Maplewood, Minn. (three walleyes, 6 pounds, 13 ounces, $20,000); Jarrad Fluekiger of Alma, Wis. (four walleyes, 6 pounds, 1 ounce, $17,500) and Carl Grunwaldt of Green Bay, Wis. (three walleyes, 4 pounds, 11 ounces, $20,000). The original field of 50 pros and 50 co-anglers representing 18 states and Canada advanced to the championship following four FLW Walleye Tour qualifying tournaments. Weights were cleared for the final round, and final pro standings were determined by the heaviest two-day total catch. Coverage of the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour championship will air on FSN (Fox Sports Net) Midwest Dec. 3 at 11 a.m. Central time. Check local listings for air times. Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour and eight other national tournament circuits offering more than $32 million in purses through 230 events in 2006. The 27-year-old organization is the purveyor of America’s largest and most prestigious fishing tournaments, including the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Stren 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, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. 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. For more information about the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship hosted by the Quad Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about the Quad Cities, go to Visitquadcities.com.