Americana Outdoors E-Magazine - September 2018

MAX WILSON WINS CHAMPIONSHIP AT LAKE OF THE WOODS B rett K ing and T erry H ora take A ngler of the Y ear titles BY B rett C arlson

Max Wilson, of Lomira, Wisconsin, weighed a combined total of 45.83 pounds to win the Cabela’s Na- tional Walleye Tour Championship on Lake of the Woods, September 6. The angler won a fully rigged Ranger 620FS with a 250-horsepower Evinrude outboard, $15,000 in cash and $2,120 in Anglers Advan- tage cash for a total of $88,585 in winnings. When 20-year-old Dylan Nussbaum won the Cabela’s National Walleye Tour event on Devils Lake ear- lier this year, the walleye fishing industry collectively took notice. At the time, it was inexplicable that someone so inexperienced could outperform the world’s best walleye anglers. Fast forward six weeks and the unthinkable has happened again. This time, 21-year-old Wisconsin angler Max Wilson took his knowledge of deep basin fishing and applied it to Minnesota’s Lake of the Woods. This was only Wilson’s second full season on the NWT. Prior to that, he fished as a co-angler and dab- bled as a pro on other circuits for two years. After a strong season opener on Winnebago, his home waters, he struggled at Saginaw Bay and Devils Lake. First-place pro-angler Max Wilson (left) and first-place co-angler Scott Mathson (right) display their championship trophies at the Cabela’s National Walleye Tour Championship at Lake of the Woods on September 7. “I came into this championship with an open mind,” said Wilson. “I really did not expect to do well. I only caught three overs in all my practice and all three came within 15 minutes of each other.”