Springfield, MO (September 13, 2024) – In only his second season on the Bass Pro Shops & Cabela’s National Walleye Tour (NWT) presented by Progressive, Ranger Pro-Angler Hunter Nitti finds himself in a position and now with a title that changes a walleye angler’s life, a Progressive Angler of the Year.
Hunter, from Rosemount, MN, competed last year as a rookie. Unfortunately, he was met with a hard reality of how tough it can be to compete against the caliber of anglers the NWT has to offer. After a challenging rookie year that left him in 57th place and on the outside looking in for qualification for the 2023 NWT championship he knew he had to do better in 2024. After a good off season picking up a few new sponsors and partnering with United Heroes League. Hunter decided going into the 2024 season, to take a much different approach and change his tournament routine and increase the amount of practice time he spent on the water. Additionally, he stuck to himself and stayed away from all of the ‘dock talk’.
“I was lucky to find a new group of guys to travel with this season and I was determined to put in the work. You look at someone like Duane Hjelm or John Hoyer, those guys put fishing as the number one priority throughout the week of a tournament. And I knew if I didn’t discipline myself to follow that same work ethic, it was going to be hard to compete at the level of those guys. Attitude and work ethic is everything as a pro angler.”
Hunter’s gameplan paid off and came together from the start of the season, after finishing 2nd and runner-up to fellow Ranger/ Mercury Pro-Angler John Hoyer at Lake Erie he knew his new plan was in place and he continued to work hard.
“Another thing I committed to this season was to run the electronic strategy. These guys out here are too good, and the technology available to anglers is too advanced, to not rely on it. I’ve said to everyone all year ‘if you’re not using it, you’ll get beat by it.’ So that is why I upgraded by boat to a complete Garmin graph set-up with Garmin LiveScope.”
Another sponsor for Hunter is Rapala, who this past year introduced the Rapala ‘Crush City’ plastics, a line-up that Hunter utilized a lot throughout the year and contributed to a lot of his success.
“Man all year, the ‘Crush City’ Freeloader and the soon-to-be released Mooch Minnow as well as the Rapala Jiggin’ Rap was on my deck all year and it put a lot of fish in the boat for me and my co-anglers. It’s not only me, you look in any of the NWT angler’s boats out here and they all have a box full of Rapala tackle, even the guys that aren’t sponsored. If you don’t fish for walleyes with Rapala and paired with Garmin LiveScope….. it makes for some long days.”
Lake Erie was not Hunter’s only Top-10 finish in the 2024 season on the NWT. He also found Top-10 success in Red Wing, MN on the Mississippi River with a 7th place finish. Backed up with a 4th place finish in Wisconsin at the Bay of Green Bay. And the championship was another added Top-10 finish, finishing the event in 9th. But the Progressive Angler of the Year title did not come without some drama. Even through a dream season with four Top-10 finishes and earning over $72,000 in cash, Tom Huynh tied Hunter in points after winning the 2024 NWT Championship on Lake Huron. But when the dust settled, Hunter was still determined the Angler of the Year winner after bringing more fish to the weigh-in scales during the 2024 season.
“I would like to apologize to my mother for the stress I put her under that final day. Man it wasn’t pretty and I don’t think either of parents slept the week of the championship. But we were able to get it done, and we went back to Minnesota with the boat.”
For winning the AOY title, Hunter was the new owner of a 2024 Nitro ZV21 powered by a Mercury 300 Verado. More than the boat, the trophy, he forever etches his name into the walleye fishing history books as an Angler of the Year title winner. The Angler of the Year title is arguably one of the hardest titles to ever accomplish and serves as a catalyst to an angler’s career. Proof comes from the career’s anglers like John Hoyer, Duane Hjelm, and Korey Sprengel have had since earning their respected Angler of the Year titles.
“Finally, I just want to thank so many people for helping me get to this point and creating the best support of any angler on tour: United Heroes League, Nitti’s Hunters Point Resort, Nitti Sanatation, Ranger, Mercury, Power-Pole, Rapala, Suffix, VMC, Frankies Bait & Marine and of course my family. My mom and dad have been by my side all year, that made a huge difference. And then of course the boys I travel with- those guys have been the best.”
To ‘round out the year of drama and fishing stories with Hunter Nitti and becoming the 2024 NWT Progressive Angler of the Year, he finished the year tied in points with 2024 NWT Champion angler Tom Huynh. An entire story about Tom and his 2024 season, which ended in winning the 2024 NWT Championship and nearly winning Angler of the Year also will be coming in the next week!
Additional information on the events, contingency prizes, and more exciting announcements will be shared soon. For more information on updated angler qualifications, please visit www.nationalwalleyetour.com.
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.
For more information on rules and tournament payouts, visit https://www.nationalwalleyetour.com/
2025 National Walleye Tour Schedule:
- April 24-25 – Bismark, ND | Missouri River
- May 22-23 – La Crosse, WI | Mississippi River
- July 10-11 – Alpena, MI | Lake Huron
- August 7-8 – Dunkirk, NY | Lake Erie
- September 3-5 – *CHAMPIONSHIP* Marinette, WI | Bay of Green Bay
For more information on the National Walleye Tour, including the 2025 tournament schedule, fact sheets, photos, and official tournament results from past events, visit nationalwalleyetour.com. Subscribing to the NWT e-newsletter is the best way to receive up-to-date information, registration announcements, sponsor incentives, and Outdoor TeamWorks news.
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.