Pro Bill Shimota of Lonsdale, Minn., and co-angler Cal Van Cleve of Wilmot, S.D., caught five fish weighing 35 pounds, 8 ounces to win the FLW Walleye Tour Western Division tournament on Mississippi River, where the anglers were fishing pool no. 3. Shimota had a three-day catch of 15 walleyes weighing 90-4. He won by more than 15-pounds over his closest competitor. Shimota took home $36,001 for his efforts.
“I got my live bait rigs in the water right away this morning at my ‘A’ spot and picked up my casting rod,” said Shimota, who earned his first Tour victory. “My first cast I lost a big fish, but fired back in there and caught a 27-incher and a 28-incher about 10 minutes later. We had four big fish before 8 o’clock.
“After we got our limit, we ended up going trolling all day and relaxing and we upgraded our lone 20-incher to a 24-incher. We were getting even more relaxed and upgraded the 24-incher to a 27-incher.
“We were rigging with live bait with big creek chubs and at the same time casting crankbaits. The last couple of days I actually stumbled into some fish,” said Shimota. “Yesterday I was out wasting time because I already had a big bag and was prefishing for today and found some fish trolling on Fireline with #5 Shad Raps. Actually we needed it again today. Well actually we may not have needed it, but we ended up getting a couple of big bites from it also.”
Shimota said the win was what he has been looking for. “It is pretty cool and something you dream of. I have gotten some smaller wins, but this is the one I wanted, so done deal.”
Rounding out the top-10 pros were:
| 2nd: | Toby Kvalevog | Brainerd, Minn. | 15 fish | 74-14 | $5,792 |
| 3rd: | Dusty Minke | Forest Lake, Minn | 15 fish | 65-13 | $4,131 |
| 4th: | Steve Lotz | Lena, Ill. | 15 fish | 63-2 | $5,991 |
| 5th: | Richard Lowe | Soldiers Grove, Wis. | 15 fish | 60-5 | $1,993 |
| 6th: | Nick Fautsch | Maddock, N.D. | 15 fish | 57-9 | $1,744 |
| 7th: | Paul Meleen | Isle, Minn. | 13 fish | 41-11 | $3,974 |
| 8th: | Chad Nissen | White Bear Township, Minn. | 14 fish | 40-12 | $2,061 |
| 9th: | Brian Bjorkman | Fargo, N.D. | 13 fish | 40-2 | $3,149 |
| 10th: | Byron Peterson | Blair, Neb. | 13 fish | 36-2 | $747 |
Van Cleve, with the victory in the Co-angler Division, took home $6,629. His three day weight totaled 79 pounds, 12 ounces. He fished with Terence Filkins, Kvalevog and Shimota over the course of the tournament.
“I had a great deal of confidence in Bill as he has been very consistent the previous two days,” said Van Cleve, who had never been in first place before and said he felt like he had already won. “The final conclusion was not that important to me, but it is a once in a lifetime experience for me. This is the sort of thing that happens to other people.”
Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers were:
| 2nd: | Robert Dube | Williston, N.D. | 14 fish | 68-14 | $1,159 |
| 3rd: | William Drake | Horace, N.D. | 15 fish | 59-15 | $1,739 |
| 4th: | Dave Hennings | Hartley, Iowa | 15 fish | 58-7 | $754 |
| 5th: | Victor Wood | Rapid City, S.D. | 15 fish | 52-9 | $1,524 |
| 6th: | Lance Bainville | Mounds View, Minn. | 12 fish | 50-4 | $946 |
| 7th: | Bryan Bayerkohler | Eagan, Minn. | 12 fish | 42-12 | $580 |
| 8th: | National Guard co-angler Daniel Halan | Rochester, Minn. | 13 fish | 38-11 | $522 |
| 9th: | Daniel Meisner | Merrill, Wis. | 13 fish | 38-5 | $464 |
| 10th: | Christopher Hanson | New Hope, Minn. | 10 fish | 34-15 | $406 |
Overall there were 45 walleyes weighing 170 pounds, 6 ounces caught by 10 boats Saturday. The catch included seven five-walleye limits.
In FLW Walleye Tour competition, pros and cos are also competing for valuable points in the hope of qualifying for a shot at the FLW Walleye Tour Championship.
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: Jeff McCoy, PR dir / FLW Outdoors
