Americana Outdoors E-Magazine - September 2018

Wilson had two separate patterns, one for unders and one for overs. In this event, all walleyes be- tween 19 1/2 and 28 inches had to be released. Anglers were allowed to keep one walleye over 28 inches in length per day, hence the term “over.” Likewise, fish less than 19 1/2 inches are known as “unders” or “slots.” For his overs, Wilson ran to the Knights and Bridg- es area, located near the Canadian line, just south of the Garden Island complex. There, female wall- eyes were actively feeding on big tullibees. “There were smaller fish on the bottom, but I was intentionally fishing above them,” said Wilson. “They would sit just off the sharp, jagged rock structure. In the morning, they would sit up closer to the structure and then slide out into the abyss during the day.” Each of the first two days, Wilson was without an over with 15 minutes left to fish. Then, he’d turn to his “Hail Mary,” a No. 9 Rapala Tail Dancer painted by Viper Custom Tackle (green UV coated). “I knew the wild-card in this tournament would be the overs. Each day I was kind of downtrodden and then, boom, it would happen right at the end.” For his unders, Wilson trolled custom-painted No. 7 Berkley Flicker Shads (purple, chartreuse and pink). Both his crankbaits were fished with lead- core line and trolled at 2.4 to 2.6 mph. On day one, Wilson caught 14.37 pounds and sat just outside the top 10. On day two, he caught an- other 12.84 and rose to fifth place. Today, he man- aged a near-perfect 18.62 pounds, which gave him a cumulative weight of 45.83 pounds. Brett King wrapped his season with a fifth-place finish at the championship and won the Angler of the Year title. King finished the season with 753 points, three more than fellow Wisconsin Pro Tom Kemos.

“It’s kind of mind-boggling; it’s going to take a few days to soak in,” said King, who won the Saginaw Bay event earlier in the year. “I still had to fish into the last hour today to make sure I had this sealed up. That just shows how brutal this competition is, how good these guys are.” King and Co-Angler of the Year, Terry Hora, earned entry fees into the 2019 NWT tour events and cus- tom NWT rings. Nick Schertz (second), Robert Blosser (third), Mi- chael Olson (fourth), Brett King (fifth), Drake Herd (sixth), Gary Maher (seventh), Rick Olson (eighth), Jason Przekurat (ninth), and Kevin McQuoid (tenth) round out the top 10 pro-anglers. The top-10 co-angler finishers are Scott Mathson (first), Glenn Trudeau (second), Aaron Johnson (third), Jeremy Brenner (fourth), John Herd (fifth), Dillon Robinson (sixth), Terry Hora (seventh), Eric Sherrill (eighth), Randall Vandezande (ninth) and Dave Nichols (tenth). For more details, anglers are encouraged to call 612-424-0708 or check out the website at www. nationalwalleyetour.com. 2019 NWT SCHEDULE RED WING, MN May 2-3, 2019

MARINETTE, WI May 30-31, 2019

SAULT STE MARIE, MI July 25-26, 2019

DEVILS LAKE, MN - CHAMPIONSHIP September 11-13, 2019