FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HIGH WINDS ON LAKE ERIE FORCE CANCELLATION OF DAY TWO AT WAL-MART RCL WALLEYE TOUR STOP
PORT CLINTON, Ohio (April 29, 2004) — Sustained southwest winds of 15 to 20 mph Thursday morning coupled with a U.S. Coast Guard Small Craft Advisory and a forecast calling for 35 mph winds by noon forced officials at the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour stop on Lake Erie to cancel day two of the four-day, $401,750 tournament presented by Yamaha.
Competition will resume Friday with the top 20 pros and co-anglers from opening day taking off from Catawba Island State Park at 7 a.m. These anglers will start from zero and compete for 10 spots in Saturday’s final round where the winners are determined by the heaviest two-day weight. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins start at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart store located at 4070 E. Harbor Road in Port Clinton. The community is encouraged to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins.
Pro Mark Christianson of Walker, Minn., and co-angler Kurt Turner of Kasson, Minn., caught five walleyes weighing 36 pounds, 1 ounce Wednesday to lead the tournament, which features 348 anglers representing 22 states and Canada. Anglers in the Pro Division are fishing for a top award of $90,000, including a Ranger, Crestliner or Lund boat powered by Evinrude or Yamaha, and co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $15,000. Pros and co-anglers fish for a combined boat weight and are randomly paired each day.
Rounding out the top five teams from opening day are Thomas Nordyke of Newport, Mich., and co-angler Charles Dahl of Burlington, Wis. (five walleyes, 34 pounds, 8 ounces); Mark Meravy of Shorewood, Ill., and co-angler Terry Fowler of Minot, N.D. (five walleyes, 34 pounds, 3 ounces); and Bill Leonard of Estherville, Iowa, and co-angler Will Taege of Rhinelander, Wis. (five walleyes, 32 pounds).
Named after boat manufacturers Ranger, Crestliner and Lund, the RCL Tour is the world’s most lucrative professional walleye-fishing series. This is the second of four regular-season stops en route to the $1.4 million Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Championship on the Mississippi River in Moline, Ill., Sept. 29 – Oct. 2 where pros will fish for as much as $400,000 cash and co-anglers will chase as much as $150,000.
The RCL Tour is administered by FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing. 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. FLW Outdoors is named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood.
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 more information about the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.
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