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Przekurat Wins Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year Award |
Dave Wahburn
Communications/FLW Outdoors
MINNEAPOLIS, MN- Completing an incredible 2007 season, Stevens
Point, Wis., native Jason Przekurat won the Land O’Lakes Angler of the
Year award on the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour with 577 points over four
qualifying events.
Those points also qualified Przekurat for the no-entry-fee Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship on Lake Erie
in Cleveland, Ohio. He was followed by pro Chris Gilman of Chisago
City, Minn., with 572 points, pro Todd Riley of Amery, Wis., with 485
points, pro Jeff Ryan of Lakeview, Iowa, with 483 points and
22-year-old pro Kelly Klemm of Beardsley, Minn., with 473 points.Przekurat is now the only professional walleye
angler in the history of the sport to have twice won AOY on the Walleye
Tour. His first AOY title came in 2003. In addition, he is the only pro
to have finished in the top 10 in three consecutive tournaments. In
those last three tournaments alone, the BP pro has won $127,500. He
will have a chance for an even bigger payday in Cleveland as the No.
1-seeded angler at the $675,850 Walleye Tour Championship.
In a
typical year, the AOY race would have been decided much earlier, but it
came down to the final day of the final qualifier. Gilman entered the
Bays de Noc event with a 4-point lead and he finished the tournament in
13th place. That left little room for error for Przekurat, but he
continued to do what he did all season - put walleyes in the boat.
"I
wasn’t worried about winning that tournament at all. I just wanted to
win Angler of the Year," he said. "The first one was awesome, but the
second one was better. It’s surreal. It’s almost like you’re looking at
it from the outside. It’s ultimately every angler’s goal at the
beginning of the season to win the Angler of the Year, but it takes a
lot of luck and skill. I give all my success as a pro angler to the
support that my family gives me. Without them I wouldn’t be where I am
today."
Przekurat started the Walleye Tour season off with a
12th-place effort on the Detroit River in Trenton, Mich. After the
Detroit River event, he then claimed his first tour-level victory and
$100,000 on the Mississippi River in Red Wing, Minn. Not only did he
win, he set an unofficial four-day weight record on that stretch of the
Mississippi. He also set a Walleye Tour record for margin of victory -
20 pounds, 13 ounces to be exact. His success continued at Devils Lake
in Devils Lake, N.D., where Przekurat earned his second top-10 finish,
completing the tournament in ninth place. He wrapped up the qualifying
season with a fourth-place finish on Bays de Noc in Escanaba, Mich.
"This
has been an unbelievable season. I got a win at Red Wing, I was crowned
Angler of the Year, and now all that’s left is a championship win. My
confidence is sky-high right now - I think I could do it."
The
Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year title is determined by the total
accumulated points from four regular-season events. One hundred fifty
points are awarded for a win, 149 for second, 148 for third, and so on.
Named
after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW
Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren
Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail
presented by Abu Garcia, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series,
Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW
Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish
Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined
purses of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.
Wal-Mart
and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW
Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW
Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of
tournament fishing.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000.
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