Lydic takes Second and Heiser Finishes Third
Final Day Tournament Recap is presented by Garmin
Red Wing, MN. (May 24, 2024) – The second stop of 2024 Bass Pro Shops & Cabela’s National Walleye Tour (NWT) presented by Progressive being held on the Mississippi River out of Red Wing, MN goes to Ranger/ Mercury angler Mike Schommer Jr., from Prescott, WI! Mike is a humble angler of few words and emotions, but today he was crowned champion of the NWT event on the Mississippi River, and he never stopped smiling the whole time after the weigh-in while signing autographs for kids and taking photos.
He started day two in 5th place as the field took off from the Treasure Island Casino & Resort. He had hopes of just staying in the top 10 against the best walleye anglers in tournament fishing. “You look around and see the caliber of anglers out here, I wondered how I could fish against these guys, but I just went fishing- the only thing I know to do.”
Just going fishing obviously paid off as Mike commented planning each day starting on a big fish spot in Pool-4 of the Mississippi River then running back to Pool-3 to catch the rest of his limit using live bait and a swimming grub.
“Today was a little trickier, I went ahead and waited on the barge this morning and locked through to my big fish spot, but a boat was sitting on it. Luckily, I fished around the area and caught my kicker for the day, and then came back up to pool 4”, said the Ranger Boats angler. “I was able to finish out my limit with just enough time to make it back to weigh-in.” He also reported not catching very many keeper walleye, and still felt shocked that he won the event with many other NWT Pro-Anglers talking about the number of fish they were catching.
Mike was using live Willow Cats as well as a ribbed swimming grub.
His overall weight total after two days of competition was 28-08 which netted him the win $15,000 cash and a new 2024 Nitro ZV20 powered by a Mercury Pro XS 225, for combined total of $95,310 in cash & prizes.
Wisconsin Pro-Angler Allan Lydic ends in Second with 28-03
Triton/ Mercury angler Allan Lydic from Cassville, WI ends his tournament taking home the second place spot, and a check worth $26,268 which included a $4,000 Triton Gold Contingency bonus.
“Man, this one kind of stings…,” said the Triton/ Mercury Pro-Angler. “I feel like today I could have made better decisions that would have made the difference in walking away with the win. But for a local guy who does not do too much, taking away second place is okay also.”
Allan reported catching multiple fish each day throwing Willow Cats as well also throwing a Rapala DT-6 fishing off of wing dams in Pool 3.
“I do not really have any sponsors, but I want to thank a lot of great people that help me out. My employers (D&D Electric), my wife (Alyssa), and then my fishing partners Rob Lampman and Tom Tunabeck.
Third Place goes to Ranger/ Mercury Pro-Angler Corey Heiser
No stranger to Top-3 finishes on the NWT, North Dakota Pro-Angler Corey Heiser ends his Mississippi River tournament in third place with a two-day total of 28-03. He takes home a check worth $19,354 which also includes $2,500 in Ranger Cup bonus cash.
“One of these days I am going to finally pull one of these tournaments off and take home the trophy,’ said Heiser.
“I really don’t have any regrets in this tournament, I was cranking both days, fished clean and did everything I could.”
Corey reported throwing Berkley Money Badger crankbaits on spinning rods using light line. He also wanted to give his wife a shout out as well as sponsors Happy Harry’s Bottle Shops and OK Tire Store.
The Rest of the Top-Ten After Day 2 on the Mississippi River
4.) John Kopcok Maidstone, ON 27-15 $14,490
5.) Tony Flatten Albert Lea, MN 26-14 $13,246
6.) Eric McQuoid Kewaunee, WI 26-07 $13,440
7.) Hunter Nitti Rosemount, MN 26-03 $10,840
8.) Tom Huynh Wolverton, MN 26-01 $9,176
9.) Will Pappenfus Shelvin, MN 25-07 $8,140
10.) Josh Wetzstein Wanamingo, MN 24-12 $6,920
Final Pro-Angler results can be found here.
Winning Co-Angler was Chris Haines from Pierre, SD with a total of 27-06 taking home a check worth $7,500.
Final Co-Angler results can be found here.
Eric McQuoid took home the $500 Garmin bonus for being the highest finishing Pro-Angler having both exclusive Garmin Graphs and running a Garmin Force trolling motor.
Jason Przekurat took home the T-H Marine $250 Contingency Bonus for being the highest finishing Pro-Angler running the T-H Marine Atlas Jackplate.
A special ‘Thank You’ to the City of Red Wing, MN, and Treasure Island Casino & Resort for the great hospitality toward the NWT throughout the entire week and weekend!
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.
Congrats to all the top finishers!