NPAA Members Dominate Top Ten the Final Day of the FLW Walleye Tour at Spring Valley
Category: npaa
May 3rd, 2010 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified May 3rd, 2010 at 12:00 AM
Tom Keenan, NPAA #907, confidently left the docks yesterday morning in 5th place, with a plan to win the FLW Walleye Tour event on the Illinois River. “Honest to God, I’ll be surprised if we don’t catch the biggest weight of the tournament today. I think I’ve got it figured out, and I know where to catch them. I’m fishing all by myself and I’m expecting huge things”, he said. He and his Co Angler brought in 5 Sauger that weighed in at 9.5 pounds, which was indeed the largest weight of the tournament, and gave him a total three day weight of 22.7 pounds! For his efforts he won a total cash prize of $27, 884.00, which included a $10,000.00 Ranger Cup contingency prize, along with an Evinrude contingency award of $8,000.00.
David Kolb, NPAA #607, managed to catch a three day limit of Sauger for a total weight of 21.15 pounds. His weight tied for second place, but he failed the tie breaker rule of having the largest one day weight between the two. “This is a great river, with a lot of fish. I look forward to coming back here in a few years when they’re all grown up”, said David. Kolb won a total of $3,372.00, which included the Ranger Cup contingency of $1,000.00.
NPAA Vice President, Tommy Skarlis, NPAA #11, held second place for two days of the event, but only brought 4 fish to the scales on the final day. “Anytime you’re sitting there jigging, and one fish is worth 25 or 30 thousand dollars, that makes it pretty exciting”, said Tommy. He added, “This is like coming home for me. I’ve been fishing here, fishing the Masters Walleye Circuit on this river since 1993. Looking out at the crowd here today, and seeing all the great people, one thing I want to acknowledge is the “Spring Valley Walleye Club” for their conservation efforts that they put into this body of water, the volunteers, the people, that’s something that’s really special about this community”. Tommy won a total of $5,477.00, which included the Ranger Cup contingency of $1,000.00 and the Evinrude contingency of $2,500.00.
NPAA Members who also finished in the top 15 included:
6th Place: Jason Przekurat of Stevens Point, WI NPAA #169
8th Place: Chris Gilman of Chisago City, MN NPAA #60
9th Place: Pat Byle of Colgate, WI NPAA #114
10th Place: Ryan Jirik of Rhinelander, WI NPAA #605
11th Place: Chris Burns of Davenport, IA NPAA #966
15th Place: Mark Michael of Princeton, IL NPAA #427
Catching fish on the Illinois River this past weekend wasn’t a problem, but catching legal sized fish was. 41 Pros and Co Anglers caught hundreds of fish a day to sort through and find 5 legal fish to bring in to the scales. Of those 41 boats, only 24 limits of fish were caught on day one, and on day two there were only 9 limits caught. On day three, when it was cut to the top ten, only half the field brought a 5 fish limit to the stage. “I’ve caught so many fish my hands hurt”, said Tommy Skarlis. “But, it’s a good kind of hurt”, he said with a big grin.
The NPAA is a non-profit organization focused on growing the sport of fishing and increasing the professionalism of its members. Its supporting partners include Northland Fishing Tackle, Navionics, Mercury Marine, Evinrude Outboards, Lund Boats, Ranger Boats, Off-Shore Tackle, Fin-Tech Tackle, Berkley, AIM Walleye Series, Masters Walleye Circuit, FLW Outdoors, Frabill, U.S. Forest Service, Liddle Marketing, FPS Financial Planning Services, Do-it Corp., Optima Batteries, John Butts Outdoors, Pasha Lake Cabins, Oahe Wings and Walleyes Guide Service, Outdoor First Media, Advanced Tex Screen Printing and Worldwide Marine Underwriters. More NPAA member and association news can be viewed at www.npaa.net.