2nd Goes to Nussbaum, Skipper lands in 3rd
Final Day Story Presented by Garmin
Garrison, ND (August 2, 2024)- Ranger/ Mercury Pro-Angler Duane Hjelm has won the final regular season stop of the 2024 Bass Pro Shops & Cabela’s National Walleye Tour presented by Progressive on Lake Sakakawea in Garrison, ND!
Duane started the final day of competition on Lake Sakakawea in third place after weighing in a five-fish limit worth 27-12. Yesterday he also reported struggling to find an area where the fish were actively feeding, but today he did not have that issue and got right to work catching fish.
“That spot from yesterday, my fourth spot, I went right to immediately and started catching the quality I knew I needed to put into my Ranger live well in order to have a shot at winning.”
When the day ended Duane brought another five-fish limit that tipped the scales at 28-12 giving him a total of weight of 56-08, which was enough to take home the victory. For the win he takes home a 2024 Nitro ZV20 powered by a 225 Mercury Pro XS and $15,000 cash. For being Ranger Cup qualified he also takes home and extra $8,000 cash and a $2,000 gift card. He also earned the $500 Garmin Contingency Bonus for having both Garmin Graphs and a Garmin Force trolling motor on his boat. His total winning payout is $103,041 in cash and prizes.
“Garmin really saved my tail this week and helped me get the win,” said the South Dakota native. “I caught every fish this week looking at them on the Garmin LiveScope and running my Garmin Force trolling motor on high each day which was key to staying around the most active fish, because for some reason the fish I was targeting were really moving”.
Duane reported targeting areas that he would see a lot of bait on his Garmin electronics and typically when he found the bait he found the fish with them close by.
“I do have another tournament coming up soon, so I don’t want to give away too many of the secrets, but here in North Dakota in the summer months the walleye key into chasing bait and moving around a bunch. But if there was a pattern to what helped me get the win, it was the area of the lake I was in.”
Duane reported that is winning baits were a Rapala Jiggin’ Rap for the better, quality bites but also caught several fish on the new Rapala “Crush City” Mooch Minnow rigged on the new VMC Redline Tungsten Swimbait jighead. All his fish came on a new prototype 13 Fishing Signature Series rod that he helped design.
Nitro/ Mercury Pro-Angler Dylan Nussbaum Takes Second
Dylan Nussbaum, a former NWT champion, stayed consistent on the final day at Lake Sakakawea bringing in 27-03 pounds to end his tournament with a total weight of 54-08 and finish 2nd place in Garrison, South Dakota.
“This week I was targeting my fish really deep that were relating to a very specific type of structure and catching them, using forward facing sonar,” said the Nitro/ Mercury Pro-Angler.
The Pennsylvania native said during his final day interview that the fishing was very tough for him, and getting bites wasn’t too terribly hard, it was just finding the quality of fish. The ‘no cull’ rule really got me this week, I don’t think I threw any fish back that would have cost me the win, but I didn’t think I was going to end up where I did.”
Dylan was one of only a few anglers to weigh-in early each day, coming to the scales around noon both days of competition. He caught all of his fish using a new plastic style fluke bait from Z-Man rigged on a VMC Moon Eye Jig Head. He took home a check worth $26,642 which included the Nitro Rewards Bonus.
South Dakota Pro-Angler Justin Skipper Finishes in Third
“Not going to lie…. the nerves got to me today,” said the Ranger/ Mercury Pro-Angler. Justin left the take-off today out of Fort Stevensen State Park with the lead after catching a five-fish limit worth 30-04 on Day-1 of the tournament.
“I did not fish clean today, and it cost me, but when you are competing for a boat and the kind of prize money that NWT has to offer, it can rattle anyone.”
Justin said in his post-tournament interview that he was catching up to twenty fish a day, but struggled on which fish to keep and bring to weigh-in. He targeted drains and points throughout the lake, making as many as thirty stops during each day to catch his fish.
He relied on fishing a Rapala Jiggin’ Rap plus mixed in fishing with live minnows during the tournament.
Top-10 Pro-Angler Results:
- DUANE HJELM PIERRE, SD 56-08 $103,041
- DYLAN NUSSBAUM ST MARYS, PA 54-08 $26,642
- JUSTIN SKIPPER HURON, SD 54-07 $19,736
- KOREY SPRENGEL BEAVER DAM, WI 53-00 $15,730
- CURT HANSON MAYVILLE, ND 51-05 $14,534
- JUSTIN SCHNEIDER MALONE, WI 49-10 $11,030
- JAKE CAUGHEY FARGO, ND 49-05 $11,250
- TOM HUYNH WOLVERTON, MN 48-04 $9,656
- BILL SHIMOTA NORTHFIELD, MN 46-11 $8,500
10.) KENT ANDERSEN AMERY, WI 46-09 $6,600
Full Pro-Anglers can be found here.
Duluth, MN Co-Angler Joe Artim took the Co-Angler win home from Lake Sakakawea with a total weight of 52-13 and cashed a check worth $7,500.
Top-10 Co-Angler Results:
1.) JOE ARTIM DULUTH, MN 52-13 $7,500
2.) ZACH JACKSON GARRISON, ND 51-15 $4,030
3.) SCOTT PETERSON RAMSEY, MN 48-06 $5,160
4.) DONALD KLYM BISMARCK, ND 48-01 $3,090
5.) NICHOLAS DRAEGER MILWAUKEE, WI 42-12 $1,520
6.) MARK BEGOTKA STRATFORD, WI 42-07 $2,160
7.) DANNY SWENSON VALLEY CITY, ND 41-09 $1,940
8.) DONALD WEIKER MAPLETON, ND 41-08 $1,650
9.) CHUCK HARMSTON CHIPPEWA FALLS, WI 41-00 $1,495
10.) MIKE DALLMAN SPICER, MN 40-13 $920
Full Co-Anglers can be found here.
The National Walleye Tour consists of four regular-season events and a no-entry-fee championship. Each regular season event is a two-day tournament and delivers over a 100 percent payback. Pro-Anglers compete against other Pro-Anglers, and Co-Anglers compete against other co-anglers. The 2024 season kicks off with a record number of Co-Anglers signed up for all events!
For more information on rules and tournament payouts, visit https://www.nationalwalleyetour.com/
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About National Walleye Tour
National Walleye Tour (NWT) is part of the Outdoor Team Works family of fishing tournaments. The OTW brand offers a wide range of fishing events from professional tournaments to grassroots fishing derbies. All events are supported by some of the top companies in the nation and include on-site activation and activities, as well as extensive media support. For live updates and information, follow NWT on Facebook and Instagram or visit www.nationalwalleyetour.com to catch up on all the action.