Springfield, MO (September 30, 2024) — As we look back at the 2024 Bass Pro Shops & Cabela’s National Walleye Tour (NWT) presented by Progressive season, we want to take a look at how every winner utilized their strengths on the water and fished what they had the most confidence in to earn their victories. At every event of the 2024 season, we saw baits and techniques that were very unique and as different as the bodies of water the NWT anglers fished.
Here is a look back at how each NWT champion won their respected tournaments.
April 18th & 19th – Lake Erie: John Hoyer
The first NWT event of the season was held on Lake Erie out of Port Clinton, OH and it was won by Ranger/ Mercury Pro-Angler John Hoyer with a final weight of 64.10!
Throughout the tournament Hoyer fished a Berkley Switch throughout the tournament and other Berkley baits to do his damage. He was focusing on rock piles and areas holding a lot of bait in Lake Erie that bigger walleye was relating to as they were on the early stages of preparing for spawn.
May 24th & 25th – Mississippi River: Mike Schommer Jr.
The second stop of the 2024 NWT brought the anglers to the Mississippi River where Mike Schommer Jr won the event with a total weight of 28-08. Mike earned $15,000 cash and a new 2024 Nitro ZV20 powered by a Mercury Pro XS 225, to push his earnings to $95,310 in cash & prizes.
Mike was using Willow Cats as well as ribbed swimming grubs to catch his winning weight.
Mike’s plan involved 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 while alternating between using live bait and a swimming grub.
June 20th & 21st – Bay of Green Bay: Eric McQuoid
Eric McQuoid had a two-day total worth 43-14 of Wisconsin Walleye out of the Bay of Green Bay to take the win at the third stop of the 2024 season. Eric gambled on not making a long run up north like many of the anglers did. He instead stayed relatively local near the takeoff, and it paid off for him. His victory earned him a new 2024 Ranger 620FS powered by a Mercury 250 Pro XS motor, plus $15,000 cash.
To capture the win, Eric reported catching his fish on a Kalin’s Google Eye Jig targeting fish using his Garmin Livescope.
August 1st & 2nd – Lake Sakakawea: Duane Hjelm
Ranger/ Mercury Pro-Angler Duane Hjelm won the final regular season stop of the 2024 NWT season on Lake Sakakawea in Garrison, ND with a total of 56-08.
“Garmin really saved my tail this week and helped me get the win,” said the South Dakota native. “I caught every fish during the week looking at them on the Garmin LiveScope and running my Garmin Force trolling motor on high each day. Being able to cover water 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.
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.
September 4th – 6th NWT Championship Lake Huron: Tom Huynh
The Bass Pro Shops & Cabela’s National Walleye Tour (NWT) presented by Progressive championship was won by Aftco/Garmin Pro Angler Tom Huynh. He weighed in a total of 58-10 pounds to earn the win while fishing against all the other NWT championship qualifiers on Lake Huron in Oscoda, Michigan
Day one he was able to catch 16-00 and backed that up with 18-14 on Day 2. Tom sealed the win as he came to the NWT weigh in stage with the biggest bag of the tournament on day 3, a five fish walleye limit of 23-12 to take the victory. Tom was one of the only anglers in the NWT championship field that improved his weight each day on Lake Huron.
After many anglers reported a very tough practice and tough bite during the actual tournament, mainly because of changing weather conditions each day, it was Tom who locked one rod in his hand, trust his Garmin electronics, and stayed in the area he had the most confidence in from practice.
Although he primarily used one rod throughout the duration of the tournament, he sealed the deal using crawlers rigged on a 3/8 black jighead.
Anytime I come to the Great Lakes, I am always going to cut my teeth using crawlers and finding the right fish using LiveScope. This week I truly didn’t understand Just how important it is to use that set up here during practice and realized how tough it was going to be. An additional tip that I found that probably added to my success is even during the wind picking up yesterday and today, the fish still reacted to the crawler the same. At times, it seemed like I needed to present the bait closer to the fish, but regardless of it didn’t take long for them to react.”
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.
###
National Walleye Tour events are made possible through the sponsorship and continued support of these well-respected brands: Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, Progressive, Nitro Boats, Ranger Boats, Triton Boats, Mercury Marine, Aftco, Garmin, Power-Pole, TH Marine, Sunline, Gamakatsu, Panther Marine, Trollmaster