FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact Fishing Promotions Inc., at 800-890-3474
Itinerary for the 2003 GNWC South Dakota State Championship
By Steve Weisman
GNWC Publicity Director
The itinerary for the 2003 Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC) South
Dakota State Walleye Championship has been released by GNWC Executive
Director Bernie Barringer.
The championship will feature up to 30 teams who have qualified for the
two-day tournament at Richmond Lake August 23-24. Leading the way will Scott
Kaufmann from Spencer and Todd Weisz from Parkston, who captured the Mercury
Team of the Year as the top team on the South Dakota Circuit.
“The South Dakota circuit has been exciting,” said Barringer. “The
competition has been outstanding and, of course, the walleye fishing in
South Dakota is some of the best in the Midwest. Part of the excitement will
also be the filming of the championship by the Walleye Wisdom television
crews. The action will be part of our new walleye fishing show that will be
aired on the Sportsman Channel this fall.”
First place for the South Dakota State Walleye Championship is a
guaranteed $2,500 in cash plus trophies.
In addition, each day the team that catches the big walleye of the day
will be awarded two Abu Garcia 6500 Linecounter reels. An optional Big Fish
pot is $20 per team with a 100 percent payback to for the largest fish of
the tournament. Another award is the Berkley Family Award of over $200 in
Berkley product that goes to the top overall family team.
Another prize will be the GNWC Loyalty Bonus. “For those teams who
fished all of the regular season tournaments, the highest placing team will
received an extra $600, while the second highest placing team will receive
an extra $300,” noted Barringer.
Although the tournament begins on Saturday, the activities actually
begin on Friday with an awards banquet and supper at the Ramada Inn in
Aberdeen. “The meal, which is sponsored by The Aberdeen American News,
Farm Forum and Aberdeen Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, is complimentary
for all qualifying teams, and at the awards banquet we will present Scott
Kaufmann and Todd Weisz their Mercury Team of the Year certificates. There
will also be lots of door prizes to give out.”
Following the Friday evening banquet will be the Official Rules Meeting.
Saturday, August 23 is the first day of the State competition. Boat
inspection begins at 6:30 a.m., followed by the opening ceremonies and
take-off at 7 a.m. The weigh-in will begin at 3 p.m. sharp and will be held
each day near the main boat ramp on Richmond Lake. The weigh-in will be
followed by interviews with media for the top three teams.
“Even though Saturday is the first day of the tournament, we hope to get
a lot of people out to the weigh-in. To catch all of the action, people
should be at the weigh-in by 2:45. There is a lot of excitement at the
weigh-ins, and I think the crowd will be able to catch the excitement of the
Championship atmosphere,” said Barringer.
Sunday’s competition begins at 6:30 a.m. with inspection, following by
take-off at 7 a.m. However, the teams will take-off in reverse order. “We do
that to be fair to the top and bottom of the order,” noted Barringer.
Teams must be back in for the 3 p.m. weigh-in. “We really encourage
people to come to the second day weigh-ins. It is exciting to see the
baskets of fish come to the scales, and it is also educational for the crowd
because they get to find out what the teams did to catch their fish.”
Following the weigh-in, trophies and checks will be awarded.
For those interested in learning more about the GNWC, call 1-800-890-3474,
email the GNWC at [email protected] or check out the official GNWC website
at walleyecup.com. The website has all of the latest in GNWC information in
not only South Dakota, but also in Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin.
Major sponsoring partners for the GNWC include Ranger Boats, Mercury
Outboards, Berkley, Abu-Garcia, The Sportsman Channel and
UpNorthOutdoors.com.
Television viewers who do not have The Sportsman Channel and want to
watch the GNWC’s television series Walleye Wisdom, are encouraged to call
their cable company or satellite television provider and ask them to include
it in their package.