St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Leech Lake Brings Professional Anglers to Walker

Summer is coming to an end, but it’s not quite over yet. There is still time for next leg of the St. Croix Bassmaster Open, which kicked off Monday on Leech Lake in Walker.

The weekend tournament was off to a great start with some beautiful skies to begin the day. Some sun, some clouds, and warm weather made for great fishing conditions as a crowd formed to watch the boats set off. But Leech Lake wasn’t taken over by any ordinary anglers.

“This is a professional circuit,” explained Bassmaster Tournaments Executive Director Hank Weldon. “It’s nine events ranging from – we started out earlier this year in the South, and in January we migrate north. We follow the good weather and will be back in the South later in October. There’s nine events total ranging from Florida all the way to Minnesota.”

This is first time Bassmaster has ever come to Walker. The tournament tries to go to as many new places as possible to even the playing field.

“We want to try to give the anglers a true test throughout the season,” stated Weldon. “Going new places is always a great, great opportunity because, there’s not a lot of history on this lake, they can’t do a lot of research. There’s not a lot of anglers who have been here before, so it’s going to be interesting to see how they break down the water through the next two days.”

And not only do contestants get to spend the day out on this gorgeous lake with perfect fishing weather, they’re also competing for a pretty hefty prize.

“The way we score this, they go out and they’re going to bring in five bass on the pro side, five of the largest bass they catch,” Weldon said. “They have to be 15 inches in length, and we’ll weigh ’em. And whoever has the most weighed after two days will take home, right, that $45,000, a berth to the Bassmaster Classic, valuable Angler of the Year points.”

203 professionals are competing alongside 102 co-anglers. The non-professionals tagging along on the boats are also competing in their own category, fighting for a separate $15,000 prize. The anglers set off on the lake first thing in the morning for their catch-and-release day and then return to the festivities.

“Walker is a huge expo, we would call it, and they’ve got all kind of things going on,” added Weldon, “So if you’re around, you want to come see it, it’s looking like it’s going to be a big party. So you get to see all the fish they caught, they’ll hold them up for ’em, they’ll talk to you. You get autographs, meet the pros, and hang out and have a good time in Walker.”

Throughout the two-day tournament, live updates and leaderboards can be found at the Bassmaster website.