Dylan Nussbaum Catches 67 lb 15 oz of Mille Lacs Walleye to Take Home Top Prize
Classic Bass (ClassicBass.com), the presenter of the Champions Tour Tournament Series hosted its inaugural Champions Tour Walleye Event on Saturday, September 15th, on Lake Mille Lacs. The field of 22 anglers was filled with veteran walleye fishermen, along with up and coming young guns in the walleye arena.
The first half of the day provided ideal fishing conditions for the anglers, while the afternoon session saw high skies and no wind, which proved to be difficult. Like all Champions Tour events, the lake was divided into two sections. The dividing line was from the host site of Izatys Resort, running directly to the north. During the morning session, anglers were allowed to fish the west side of the lake and then the afternoon session, they were relegated to the eastern section.
To learn more about the format of the Champions Tour, here is a video from owner Scott Bonnema.
Twenty year old Dylan Nussbaum who recorded a big win this season already on Devil’s Lake employed a single tactic to catch 26 Mille Lacs walleye and assemble his winning catch of 67 lb 15 oz. Nussbaum used a Rapala Flat Jig around isolated boulders with grass to rack up his days catch, which for the majority came in the first half of the day when he caught over 55 lb’s of walleye.
To learn more about the winning baits and strategy, you can view this video recap.
The Champions Tour Anglers headed out on to Lake Mille Lacs with Minnesota High School fishing club anglers 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 Izatys Resort.
Making a hard charge during the second half of the day was Drake Herd, who took the runner up spot by a mere 5 oz behind Nussbaum. Much like the winner, Herd relied on a vertical jigging presentation of a Rapala Jigging Rap to assemble his tournament catch of 67 lb 10 oz.
Rounding out the top-six Champions Tour anglers that punched their ticket to the 2019 Champions Tour Walleye Championship, where they will be fishing for a brand new Skeeter Boats/Yamaha Outboards package include:
3rd – Jason Przekurat
4th – Kent Andersen
5th – Bill Shimota
6th – Dusty Minke
The winner of the Big Fish Award was Bill Shimota with a 5 lb 13 oz walleye. For his award, he walked away with a Humminbird HELIX 12 Mega SI unit.
The location and further details of the Championship will be announced in 2019.
Inaugural Champions Tour Walleye Results:
1st – Dylan Nussbaum: 67 lb 15 oz
2nd – Drake Herd: 67 lb 10 oz
3rd – Jason Przekurat: 51 lb 15 oz
4th – Kent Andersen: 37 lb 13 oz
5th – Bill Shimota: 37 lb 8 oz
6th – Dusty Minke: 29 lb 9 oz
7th – Mark Courts: 27 lb 11 oz
8th – Kevin Goligowski: 22 lb 10 oz
9th – Dan Stier: 21 lb 6 oz
10th – JR Carter: 15 lb 12 oz
11th – Justin Schneider: 13 lb 6 oz
12th – Jacob Ell: 11 lb 10 oz
13th – Robert Cardenas: 11 lb 10 oz
14th – Korey Sprengel: 9 lb 8 oz
15th – Tim Abraham: 7 lb 5 oz
16th – Scott St. Sauver: 6 lb 14 oz
17th – Pat Neu: 6 lb 9 oz
18th – Jason Bahr: 6 lb 6 oz
19th – Brett King: 6 lb 1 oz
20th – Matt Jollymore: 5 lb 5 oz
21st – Adam Andersen: 2 lb 10 oz
22nd – Tyler Nickel: 0 lb 0 oz
The Champions Tour posts live results, fish catches and fishing techniques throughout the day as competitors aim to catch as many legal fish as possible. Each angler is paired with a boat official who will weigh and record every catch into the Champions Tour scoring system. At no time will any fish be placed in the boat’s livewells and brought to a weigh-in.
