The Anglers of the Year, Teams of the Year, Adult/Child Team of the Year and Mixed Couple Team of the Year were all decided at the Crooked Creek Tournament. That tournament was being dubbed as a “Shoot-out” for circuit honors. That billing certainly was an understatement. A large number of anglers and teams were in contention for circuit honors when the first boat blasted out of the Crooked Creek Marina on the first day of the tournament. After the tournament was over and the smoke cleared, a number of names that showed up as 1998 circuit award winners were once again atop the list of Montana Walleye Circuit anglers and teams. Consistency was certainly the name of the game this year. 

1999 ANGLER OF THE YEAR AWARDS

        1ST PLACE        Rod Siemens 
        2ND PLACE        Mike Borland 
        3RD PLACE        Doug Komrosky & Dave Gilkison (TIE) 
        4TH PLACE        Luckie Bethel & Dale Gilbert (TIE) 
        5TH PLACE        Chuck Lawson 

1999 TEAM OF THE YEAR AWARDS 

         1ST  PLACE      Rod Siemens & Mike Borland
         2ND  PLACE     Doug Komrosky & Dave Gilkison
         3RD PLACE      Luckie Bethel & Dale Gilbert

1999 MIXED COUPLE OF THE YEAR

        1ST PLACE      Kyle and Jackie Grimsrud (Husband and Wife) 

1999 ADULT/CHILD TEAM OF THE YEAR

        1ST PLACE      Bill and Jordan Dasinger (Father and Son)

 The Montana Walleye Circuit would like to congratulate the anglers listed above. Through the course of 6 tournaments, hundreds of miles on the road, rain, wind, heat, and cold weather, these anglers have shown they can flat catch fish. Again, congratulations to all of them and hope to see them at next year’s tournaments.

A special thank you needs to go out to the 1999 Montana Walleye Circuit Sponsors. Without their support, the success of the circuit would undoubtedly be questionable. 

The Montana Walleye circuit would also like to take this opportunity to thank a few people who made this year so memorable for all the tournament anglers. 

To start with, the six tournament directors, Doug Grubb, Bill Dasinger, Rick Beyer, Doug Breker, Daryl Turner and Carol Sluggett all, along with their numerous tournament staffs,  spent many hours preparing their individual tournaments. This preparation was apparent at all the tournaments as they were all a lot of fun and competitive.

Next, the circuit would like to give a special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Luckie Bethel. The Bethels took on the awesome jobs of scoring individual tournament results as well as tracking circuit points after each tournament. Their efforts have certainly not went unnoticed The tournament directors and the circuit director truly appreciate the many hours that Mr. And Mrs. Bethel have volunteered.

Another person that needs to be thanked is Eric Beyer. Eric did an outstanding job of keeping the media informed as to the happenings within the tournaments and circuit standings. 1999 was the first year that an individual has volunteered to take care of this important task and Eric did a great job.

Last, but not least, the Montana Walleye Circuit would like to thank Mark Ward, alias “Captain Catchin”, of the Montana Outdoor Radio Show, along with all his staff for the fantastic coverage the radio show gave to all the circuit  tournaments in 1999. On numerous occasions, the Captain had the circuit director on the Saturday morning show to discuss the tournaments and circuit standings. On a recent show, the Captain and the circuit director teamed up to interview the circuit’s two time angler of the year, Rod Siemens.. Mark and his folks have certainly went the extra mile in support of the Montana Walleye Circuit. We look forward to working with the Captain next season. 

Submitted by:
Doug Komrosky 
Director, Montana Walleye Circuit