Michael Walters Wins $10,000 on Gull Lake with 86 lb 10 oz
Classic Bass (ClassicBass.com), a leader in providing relevant and timely information for tournament bass anglers and presenter of the Champions Tour presented by Skeeter Boats/Yamaha Outboards, held it’s first of two open events in 2018 on Saturday, June 30th , on Gull Lake.
Sixty two anglers hit Gull Lake looking to catch as many legal sized bass as possible and it was angler Michael Walters who took the win by catching a total of 45 bass for a total weight of 86 lb 10 oz. Walters came out firing during the morning session, where he fished the south end of the Gull Lake Chain and amassed a total weight of 55 lb 10 oz to garner the lead. Michael relied on a drop shot, wacky-rig Senko and a Texas-rig to fish offshore vegetation.
When the afternoon session hit, Michael knew that he was going to have to fish as many of Gull Lakes boat docks as possible to keep his lead. “The northern half of the Gull Lake Chain didn’t treat me as well in practice, so I knew I needed to make hay during the morning session and then just keep a line wet and my Ultrex on high speed during the afternoon session.”
During the morning session the winds were quite gusty on Gull, which made boat control and positioning critical for the anglers looking to make precise casts to the offshore vegetation that the bass were holding in. Walters and runner up finisher Bob Perkins both relied heavily on their Minn Kota Talon’s and Ultrex’s to get the job done.
The anglers headed out on to Gull Lake with High School anglers from the various high school fishing teams, serving as the boat officials. All of the anglers and boat officials were treated to a wonderful and excellent experience at the host site of The Quarterdeck Resort.
Rounding out the top-six Champions Tour anglers that punched their ticket to the 2018 Champions Tour Championship, where they will be fishing against thirty anglers, where the winner will walk away with a brand new Skeeter Boats/Yamaha Outboards package, valued at over $45,000! The location of the Championship will be announced following the August 7th Tour event, included:
2nd – Bob Perkins: 76 lb 1 oz
3rd – Jeff Allen: 76 lb 0 oz
4th – Will Pappa: 71 lb 9 oz
5th – Levi Christianson: 70 lb 8 oz
6th – Jay Przekurat: 69 lb 10 oz
The winner of the Big Bass Award presented by YETI was 2017 Champions Tour angler Lanny Isensee with a 4 lb 2 oz largemouth.
The Champions Tour angler who increased their weight the most from the end of the first half to the second half, won the Wenzels Farm Comeback Award, Arnold Helgerson increased his catch by 36 lb 9 oz between the two half’s.
The remaining events of the 2018 Champions Tour presented by Skeeter Boats and Yamaha Outboards schedule are as follows:
– July 13th, Gull Lake
Hosted by The Quarterdeck Resort
– July 21st, Lake Mille Lacs – OPEN Event
Hosted by Izatys Resort
– August 7th, Lake Minnetonka
Hosted by Lord Fletcher’s
– August 31st Champions Tour Championship – Location will be announced on August 7th
To learn more about the next Classic Bass Champion Tour Open event on Mille Lacs or to download an entry form, please visit: https://classicbass.com/blog/2018-classic-bass-champions-tour/
The Classic Bass Champions Tour will again be streaming live results, posting fish catches and fishing techniques throughout the day as competitors aim to catch as many legal bass as possible. Each angler is paired with a boat official who will weigh and record every catch into the new Classic Bass Champions Tour scoring system. At no time will any bass be placed in the boat’s livewells and brought to a weigh-in.
Classic Bass’s primary objective is to provide bass fisherman with beneficial and current bass fishing information, and this goal will now be boosted by the Champions Tour, as results can be followed real time via ClassicBass.com and on social media. Competing anglers will also be providing Classic Bass with helpful fishing information on the lake they are fishing, along with the techniques and lures they are using.
For advertising or event inquiries, please contact Michael at, michael.walters@studio503.com
About Classic Bass:
Since 1994, Classic Bass’s mission is to support bass tournament anglers of all skill levels with access to comprehensive information on tournaments, techniques, results and products. In addition, Classic Bass provides person-to-person boat sales and industry leading news.
