walleyesrus
02-17-2008, 10:01 AM
If one were to examine all the threads currently on here you would come to the conclusion that Competitive walleye fishing is on it's death bed and it might be but I'd like to offer a little different perspective. I moved to Missouri from Iowa 25 years ago, I was brought p fishing for walleyes and really couldn't get interested fishing for anything else. I had heard that there were walleyes in Lake Stockton and started targeting them with mixed success. You seldom saw another boat that was actually targeting walleyes and while a few people were catching them they were extremely closed mouthed. At that time I was busy building a business and my fishing opportunities were somewhat limited but my passion never waned. I continued to follow tournament fishing in hopes to someday fish with one of my heroes.
Then my wishes came true and the PWT held a Super Pro event on Lake Stockton and I was lucky enought to fish with my Greatest hero Gary Roach unfortunately the bite was pretty tough and we didn't catch many fish it was still memorable one of my other heroes Darrell Christiansen won that tournament so I was pretty happy, unfortunately due tothetiming of that tournament and the shaky bite it was really viewed as an anomoly by the locals. About that time I became aware of a small walleye group calledthe Missouri Walleye Anglers assn I joined and it was really neat to realize there were a few other nuts that liked to target walleyes, we grew slowly until a few years later the PWT came to Bull Shoals Arkansas at the right time and they caught more fish than most people thought possible. That one tournament did more to spur the growth of walleye fishing it this area than any one single factor. This is getting pretty long so I'll cut to the chase, the mwaa died an unfortunate deaath but in it's place a new tournament organization was formed called Mid-South Walleyes, in the last two years members of our group have purchased at least 20 fully rigged tournament ready walleye boats when 5 years ago you would seldom see one. The number of walleye specific crank baits spinner components planer boards lead core ect that our members have purchase the last few years should be enough to open any manufacturers eyes. Bottom line if you want to grow this sport take it to new areas and do your research so you hit the right lakes at the right times and it will grow.
Then my wishes came true and the PWT held a Super Pro event on Lake Stockton and I was lucky enought to fish with my Greatest hero Gary Roach unfortunately the bite was pretty tough and we didn't catch many fish it was still memorable one of my other heroes Darrell Christiansen won that tournament so I was pretty happy, unfortunately due tothetiming of that tournament and the shaky bite it was really viewed as an anomoly by the locals. About that time I became aware of a small walleye group calledthe Missouri Walleye Anglers assn I joined and it was really neat to realize there were a few other nuts that liked to target walleyes, we grew slowly until a few years later the PWT came to Bull Shoals Arkansas at the right time and they caught more fish than most people thought possible. That one tournament did more to spur the growth of walleye fishing it this area than any one single factor. This is getting pretty long so I'll cut to the chase, the mwaa died an unfortunate deaath but in it's place a new tournament organization was formed called Mid-South Walleyes, in the last two years members of our group have purchased at least 20 fully rigged tournament ready walleye boats when 5 years ago you would seldom see one. The number of walleye specific crank baits spinner components planer boards lead core ect that our members have purchase the last few years should be enough to open any manufacturers eyes. Bottom line if you want to grow this sport take it to new areas and do your research so you hit the right lakes at the right times and it will grow.