FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BYLE, PETERSEN LEAD SEMIFINAL ROUND OF WAL-MART RCL WALLEYE TOUR EVENT ON LAKE ERIE
PORT CLINTON, Ohio (May 30, 2003) – Pro Patrick Byle of Hartford, Wis., and his co-angler partner Phil Petersen of Lowell, Mich., combined for five walleyes weighing 44 pounds, 10 ounces to take the lead Friday at the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour event on Lake Erie near Port Clinton. The four-day, $386,000 event concludes Saturday, with $50,000 cash plus a fully-rigged Ranger, Crestliner or Lund boat awarded to the winning pro.
The semifinal-round field of 20 pros and 20 co-anglers was cut to 10 in each division for Saturday’s final round, and anglers will again start at zero Saturday. On Friday, anglers enjoyed what could be the last day of pleasant weather at the Lake Erie event, as inclement weather looms on the horizon. Because of Lake Erie’s massive size, high winds brought on by thunderstorms will make traveling far from launch highly difficult, which could change several anglers’ strategies. Byle and Petersen took advantage of Friday’s calm and caught their walleyes pulling crawler harnesses in 13 to 28 feet of water about 15 miles from launch.
“We’re doing something a little different from most people out there,” said Byle, who finished third at the inaugural Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Championship in 2000. “We’re pulling crawler harnesses while most guys are pulling crankbaits. We’re more or less contour trolling, so you have to be at the right place at the right time. It’s what I’ve been doing all week. It was almost dead calm (Friday), and three gorgeous days in a row is almost unheard of on Lake Erie. It’s been a miracle for me.”
Byle’s Friday triumph might have turned to tragedy had it not been for an impulse buy of a backup net earlier in the week. “When we went to net the first fish (Friday), the hoop and the basket fell off and fell to the bottom of the lake,” he said. “Thank goodness we had the backup net.”
While Byle has visited the top 10 before, Petersen is taking advantage of his first top-10 performance, which he has achieved in only his second RCL Tour event. “This is the first tournament I’ve ever led, bar none,” Petersen said. “I’ve never been this high (in the standings), and I’ve been doing this for going on four years. To get a win would just put me on cloud nine. I would be ecstatic if I could win.”
Finishing second on Friday were pro Adam Hammons of Westland, Mich., and Tony Jawokski of Chicago with five walleyes weighing 42 pounds, 1 ounce. Pro David Kolb of Riverview, Mich., and co-angler Mel Reichling of Watertown, S.D., combined for five walleyes weighing 42 pounds to finish third. In fourth place were pro Rick Mealey of Westerville and co-angler Steve Anderson of Lovespark, Ill., with five walleyes weighing 41 pounds, 10 ounces, and rounding out the top five were pro Jamie Friebel of Roberts, Wis., and co-angler Karl Elsner Jr. of Cortland, N.Y., with five walleyes weighing 40 pounds, 10 ounces.
A total of 100 walleyes were caught Friday, meaning each pair of contenders brought in a five-walleye limit.
Takeoff starts at 7 a.m. Saturday at Catawba State Park in Port Clinton, and the final weigh-in starts at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart store located at 4070 E. Harbor Road in Port Clinton.
While the winning pro will receive a $90,000 prize package, the winning co-angler will take home a top award of $15,000 cash. Pros and co-anglers fish for a combined boat weight and are randomly paired each day.
Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour anglers compete in four regular-season tournaments in their quest to qualify for the $1.4 million Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Championship Oct. 1-4 at Treasure Island Casino and Resort on the Mississippi River in Red Wing, Minn. With a total purse of $3.07 million for the season, the RCL Tour is the world’s most lucrative walleye-tournament series.
The tour is administered by FLW Outdoors and named after boat manufacturers Ranger, Crestliner and Lund. FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing, is named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood. Other FLW Outdoors-sanctioned tournament trails include the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye League for weekend anglers; the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the world’s most lucrative bass-tournament series; the EverStart Series, designed as a pathway to the FLW Tour; the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League for weekend anglers; and the Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its six tournament trails. Wal-Mart has been the title sponsor of FLW Outdoors since 1997. For a complete list of FLW Outdoors sponsors and for more information about the premier products and services they offer, please visit FLWOutdoors.com.
For more information about the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.
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