ORTONVILLE, MN. - Leon Fish and Todd Steffensen of Watertown, SD topped a field of 200 teams, winning the Wildlife Forever-Masters Walleye Circuit (MWC) Lindy Little Joe Team Tournament held May 20-21 on Big Stone Lake in Ortonville, MN.

With a windy first day and a calm second day, anglers needed to come up with creative strategies. Steffensen and Fish came in with a total of 49.65 lbs. of walleyes and collected $12,740 in winnings. The winning duo focused their attention to areas of the water that were shallow and vacant.

According to Steffensen, "Probably the number one thing was moving in new places that other fishermen weren't in - we stayed away from the crowd so we didn't fish used water. We didn't try to follow people or go to where the fish were spooked, especially when you are fishing that shallow." Added Fish, "We moved most of the day on Saturday, and today (Sunday) we were anchored for four hours out of six. We just tried to find a little bit of wind and a little bit of stirred up water and fresh fish."

Second place and $7,350 went to Justin Eidem and Dustin Kjelden of Brookings, SD with 44.85 pounds. Eidem and Kjelden also picked up the Panther Marine Products Overall Big Basket award for 25.30 lbs. on Sunday giving them a $530 Panther Marine gift certificate.

"We planned on casting jigs, but when the wind didn't come up we went shallow to about ten feet of water right by the shoreline and used Lindy Rigs and got a few out there using minnows," said Eidem. Third place with 29.85 lbs., worth $4,900, went to Mike Bringedahl of Fruitport, MI and Todd Conner of Hopkins, MN. Added to their winnings was the second day big fish award at 7.45 lbs. that netted the team an additional $1,425.

Despite the drastic change in the wind from Saturday to Sunday, a total of 1,317 walleyes weighing 2,588 lbs. were caught in the MWC catch and release format. The largest walleye of the tournament was 8.64 lbs. brought in by the team of Russ Brockel of Bloomington, MN and Chris Conroy of Shakopee, MN which earned them the Abu Garcia "Center Drag Big Fish Award" giving each an Abu Garcia Center Drag CD6 reel. The top 35 teams shared the $50,960 cash purse. An additional $8,500 was paid in prizes. The next Wildlife Forever-Masters Walleye Circuit stop will be the Berkley Trilene Tournament on Little Bay de Noc in Gladstone, MI June 17-18. Spots for this tournament are still available, for information contact Carol Nelson of Wildlife Forever at (952) 833-1522.

The Wildlife Forever-Masters Walleye Circuit is a nonprofit organization that conducts a series of professionally operated fishing tournaments, emphasizing family participation and conservation of fishery resources. To date the MWC Conservation Fund, unique in professional fishing, has contributed $213,000 to fisheries programs in states where MWC tournaments are held. A gift of $2,000 was given to the citizens of Ortonville for conservation efforts during the tournament. The 2000 Wildlife Forever-MWC title sponsors are: Abu Garcia, Berkley Trilene, Lindy Little Joe, Mercury, MotorGuide, North American Fishing Club/North American Fisherman, and Ranger Boats. Supporting sponsors are Big Jon, Inc., Panther Marine Products and Walleye Central-the official web site of the Masters Walleye Circuit (www.walleyecentral.com).