2001 MWC World Walleye Championship Press Release

Treasure Island Resort & Casino, Red Wing, MN - Although gold is at just under $300 an ounce, slightly more than an ounce of a walleye was worth $10,000 to the 2001 World Walleye Champions Don Solis (Perronville, MI) and Bert Wilson (Gladstone, MI).

According to Pete Wuebker, Director of Wildlife Forever's Masters Walleye Circuit, This was perhaps the closest finish in the sixteen years of the Masters Walleye Circuit Championship." Solis and Wilson won the World Championship by one tenth of a pound and took home $20,000, while the second place team pocketed $10,000.

The three-day walleye tournament started slow for the team. Their first day weight of 10.21 pounds put them at just 25th place. But increasingly greater catches each day moved them up rapidly. Solis and Wilson's basket on day 2 came in at 19.94 pounds, the fourth heaviest of the day and enough to move them from 25th to 4th place. Their basket on Saturday was the heaviest of all the teams and just enough to send them to the winners' circle.

Less than four tenths of a pound separated the top three teams. Nick Johnson and Curt Poquette (Both of Elmwood, WI) lead the Championship field from day one taking a commanding lead of nearly five pounds by Friday. But the team failed to put a fifth fish in the basket on Saturday weighing only four fish for 9.26 pounds. Their final weight was 53.51 pounds putting Johnson and Poquette in third place for $5,000.

Second place was taken by the team of Mike Bringdahl (Fruitport, MI) and Tod Conner (Hopkins, MI). Bringdahl and Conner's weight of 10.82 pounds on day one put them in the closely contested spot of 17th place. Their weight on Friday was the biggest basket of fish of the Championship. At 28.81 pounds, Bringdahl and Conner had a strong hold on second place with a total of 39.63 pounds. The team's final basket of fish was a moderate 14.17 pounds but enough to hang on to second place and $10,000.

The Husband/Wife Team of the Year, Glenn and Carol Chenier weighed the heaviest fish of the Championship. Their 9.08-pound walleye earned them a pair of Motorguide trolling motors and helped them finish in 20th place.

Wildlife Forever's World Walleye Championship catch and release tournament weighed a total of 614 walleye and sauger over the three days, returning 99% of all fish to the water. An 85% return rate is considered very good. Nearly ¾ of a ton of fish were weighed.

The daily weigh-in was watched online across the country on the live leader board hosted by walleyecentral.com.

In addition to their financial sponsorship, The Frontenac Sportsman Club volunteered their time to run the World Championship tournament for the second year in a row. This was also the second year that the world event was hosted by Treasure Island Resort and Casino.

Wildlife Forever is a national fish and wildlife conservation organization with projects in all 50 states, Canada and Mexico. The Masters Walleye Circuit, a division of Wildlife Forever, is a venue to promote and support aquatic conservation while enjoying the great outdoor recreational pursuit of fishing.

Wildlife Forever's Masters Walleye Circuit is supported by Berkley Trilene, Lowrance Electronics, The North American Fishing Club, Lindy Little Joe, Ranger Boats, Mercury Marine, Motorguide, Panther Goldeneye and Walleye Central.