FLW walleye championship returns to Bismarck

[LMITOUT]

For the third time in the last four years, the National Guard FLW Walleye Tour is coming to Bismarck and the Missouri River for its season championship.

The FLW championship will happen Sept. 22-25 with weigh-ins each evening at the Bismarck Civic Center.

The tour wrapped up its regular season on Lake Oahe on Saturday, headquartered out of Pierre.

Chase Parsons of Brillion, Wis., won the event with his three-day total of 15 walleyes weighing 58 pounds.

Keith Kavajecz, a perennial contender on the tour finished second and Tommy Skarlis, who won the championship in Bismarck in 2008, finished fourth.

Even with the flooding issues this summer on the Missouri, Sonny Reynolds, director of walleye operations for the FLW, said Bismarck is where the tour, and the anglers, wanted to finish up the season.

“It’s a great venue, a great fishing community and the guys like coming to Bismarck,” Reynolds said.

The format will be the same as in past events here. The top 40 pros will fish with a different amateur the first two days of the championship. Weigh-ins will start at 5 p.m. each night, with the exception of the Saturday night weigh-in which is National Guard soldier appreciation night. Weigh-ins get going at 4 p.m. The top 20 pros and amateurs will advance to fish Saturday with the amateur winner crowned that night. Sunday, the top 10 pros will square off for the top prize — the 2011 FLW walleye championship.

Fishing begins at 8 a.m. each day and there is no charge to attend the weigh-ins.

The championship on the Missouri River will be televised on Versus later this fall.