Sgt. Jason Wertz of Redfield, S.D., and Sgt. John Meyer of Brookings, S.D. won the FLW Walleye National Guard Soldier Appreciation Tournament held on Lake Oahe Tuesday, June 22, 2010. The team, fishing with pro Kevin McQuoid of Isle, Minn., caught three walleyes for a total of 7 pounds, 8 ounces to take the title and bragging rights amongst their peers.
“We each caught at least one.” said pro Kevin McQuoid, who will fish at the FLW Walleye Tour event which starts Thursday. “We were fishing live-bait rigs with night crawlers and 1-ounce bottom bouncers to land our fish on points in water anywhere from 10 to 22 feet deep. It was a lot of fun and I was honored to take these guys out fishing.”
“I haven’t been walleye fishing in about 10 years,” said Sgt. Wertz. “It was a lot of fun; I wish I could do it every day!”
“It was a good education to go fishing with Kevin. He was probably sick of me asking questions by the end of the day,” said Sgt. Meyer, who fishes Oahe at least once a year. “I really had an awesome day and want to thank the National Guard and FLW for giving me this opportunity.”
Each of the participants in the National Guard Soldier Appreciation Tournament are members of the South Dakota National Guard and most have had at least one tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. In this tournament, FLW Walleye pro anglers take teams of two, which consist of members of the National Guard, fishing to compete amongst their peers. Each team is allowed to bring in three walleyes. FLW Outdoors is operating the tournaments in conjunction with the National Guard to show appreciation to our service members of the National Guard.
Rounding out the teams were:
| 2nd: | Sgt. Dale Lefebre & Sgt. Tyler Campbell fishing with FLW pro Brian Brosdahl | 7-5 |
| 3rd: | Sgt. Eric Jennings & Sgt. Chad Haaland fishing with FLW pro Curt Rees | 7-3 |
| 4th: | OC Travis Tipton & SPC Tyler Jacob fishing with FLW pro Glen Vinton | 6-2 |
| 5th: | Sgt. Jarid Jeske & Sgt. Micky Higgens fishing with FLW pro Dusty Minke | 5-5 |
| 6th: | Sgt. Jared Richter & Sgt. Jeff Nord fishing with FLW pro Kevin Kerkvliet | 4-6 |
| 7th: | Sgt. Josh Bryant & Jason Schwartz fishing with FLW pro Mark Courts | 3-13 |
| 8th: | Sgt. Kelly Wolfe & Sgt. Jamie Bachman fishing with FLW pro Toby Kvalevog | 3 |
| 9th: | PFC Chris Curry & Sgt. Darnell Hubbard fishing with FLW pro Jason Przekurat | 2-11 |
| 10th: | CSB Cory Jaragoske & Sgt. Jim Poppen fishing with FLW pro Scott Steil | 2 |
Sgt. Dale Lefebre and Sgt. Tyler Campbell will participate as co-anglers in the FLW Walleye Tour Western Division which will be on Lake Oahe in Pierre, S.D., June 24-26 for the second of three stops in the Western circuit. Hosted by the Pierre Area Chamber of Commerce, the tournament will feature as many as 300 top walleye anglers casting for top awards up to $35,000 in the Pro Division and $7,500 in the Co-angler Division.
Anglers will take off from Spring Creek Resort & Deep Water Marina located at 28229 Spring Creek Place in Pierre at 7 each morning. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will also be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at Beck Chevrolet located at 500 South Grant in Pierre beginning at 4 p.m.
ABOUT FLW OUTDOORS
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 189 tournaments in 2010. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000.By: Julie Huber,
