Merrill Leads FLW Walleye Tour Championship On Leech Lake

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FLW Outdoors News

Merrill Leads FLW Walleye Tour Championship On Leech Lake

WALKER, Minn. (Sept. 22, 2010) – Pro Kevin Merrill of Pierre, S.D., and co-angler Matt Hiller of Grand Rapids, Mich., brought in five walleyes weighing 16 pounds, 5 ounces Wednesday to lead day one of the FLW Walleye Tour Championship on Leech Lake. The pair now holds a 2-pound, 4-ounce lead over their closest rivals in the championship featuring 40 pros and 40 co-anglers representing 12 states and Canada fishing for top awards of up to $40,000 in the Pro Division and $12,000 in the Co-angler Division.

"What a day," said Merrill, who said he had a steady bite all morning until around noon. "I really struggled in practice and hit a spot yesterday morning and picked up some bites where they chewed up the bait pretty good and that is where I went this morning and it worked out pretty good. I probably only caught 10 fish during practice and no over's [26 inches or larger]."

Merrill was one of only a handful of anglers to bring in any over's and he had two. "We caught our fish today near the launch, so hopefully if the weather is bad that will be a good thing and we won't have to make a long run tomorrow," continued Merrill. "The weather could play a large factor tomorrow. I will try and catch my five tomorrow, but I may not get my over's, but I think there are enough under's [14-18 inches] that we can get our limit."

Rounding out the remainder of the top-10 pros and co-anglers after day one are:

2nd:  Brian Brosdahl, Max, Minn., and Tim Depooter,
       Rock Island, Ill., five walleyes, 14-1
2nd:  Terrence Filkins, Lake City, Minn., and Darrell Martin,
       Forest Lake, Minn., four walleyes, 14-1
4th:  Pat Byle, Colgate, Wis., and Bryan Bayerkohler,
       Eagan, Minn., five walleyes, 13-14
5th:  Scott Steil, Richmond, Minn., and Jason Anderson,
       West Fargo, N.D., five walleyes, 13-6
6th:  Dean Arnoldussen, Appleton, Wis., and Cal Van Cleve,
       Wilmot, S.D., five walleyes, 13-3
7th:  Bill Shimota, Lonsdale, Minn., and John Spiegel,
       Appleton, Wis., five walleyes, 10-13
8th:  Nick Fautsch, Maddock, N.D., and Tim McClaran,
       Mansfield, Ohio, five walleyes, 10-9
9th:  Chris Gilman, Chisago City, Minn., and Kyle Schuchard,
       Essex, Ont., five walleyes, 10-4
10th: Don Loch, Iron Mountain, Mich., and Jerry Chwierut,
       Lake Villa, Ill., three walleyes, 9-6

Overall there were 140 fish weighing 260 pounds, 1 ounce caught by 38 boats Wednesday. The catch included 17 five-fish limits.

In FLW Walleye Tour competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day and fish for a combined boat weight.

Anglers will take off from Walker City Park located on Minnesota Ave. in Walker at 7:30 each morning. Thursday's weigh-in will also be held at the marina beginning at 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday's weigh-ins will be held at the Northern Lights Casino, host of the championship, located at 6800 Y Frontage Rd. N.W. in Walker beginning at 4 p.m.

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