I caught the walleye fishing bug about 5 years ago, when my friend and fishing partner Cody took me out to Alcova and helped me catch my first walleye. Fast forward a couple years and now I'm into tournament fishing for - you guessed it - Walleye.  This weekend I began my 3rd year as a tournament fishermen and participated in the 2-day season opener for the Wyoming Walleye Stampede at Glendo Reservoir.

The Wyoming Walleye Stampede is a tournament series run by fishermen for fishermen and fisher-women.  This past weekend kicked off the WWS tournament year with 88 teams competing to take home big checks as well as bragging rights for those that could find and land the biggest fish. (See the complete Final Results listed below)

Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day on the water and there were lots of big fish caught and at the end of the day, my teammate Cody and I were right in the middle of the pack (43rd) and only 3 pounds seperated us from 10th place on the leaderboard.  So naturally we had really high hopes for improving our position on Sunday.  However the bite was a bit tougher for us on day 2 and we were only able to measure 4 fish at just over 9 lbs in weight.  This meant we would fall down the board a little and we finished in 59th overall.

Every time I get to compete in a tournament it's a great learning experience for me as I learn more about fishing for walleye.  Even though I was a little disappointed with our finishing position, this is always a great opportunity to hang out with like minded individuals who love walleye fishing.  We enjoyed a lot of laughs as well as some good hearted ribbing and I made a few new friends.

For anyone in Wyoming and elsewhere for that matter that might think tournament fishing harms or even removes the fish from our precious Wyoming waterways, know that you are mistaken!!  The reality is that these tournaments are "LIVE RELEASE" tournaments help provide a lot of statistical data to Wyoming Game and Fish about the health of our fish populations on our Wyoming Lakes.  The Wyoming Walleye Stampede provides all of their tournament data and catch results to the Wyoming Game and Fish for statistical analysis to help better manage our Wyoming fish populations.

Here are a few fun facts from this weekend:

88 Teams (176 anglers) participated in the tournament
There were over 1100 walleye caught, measured and released back into Glendo Reservoir
Only 2 dead fish were brought in and harvested (and those teams were penalized)
In all, over 2,100 total pounds fish caught and released back into Glendo.

Director's Note from Brian Woodward, the Tournament Director for the Wyoming Walleye Stampede: "A large majority of the fish caught during the tournament this weekend measured between 16 to 20 inches, with a lot of teams relaying that they were catching large numbers of 13-15 inch fish.  This gives us lots of indication that Glendo Reservoir 'as a fishery' is in good shape for the next couple of years."

There were some great photos taken of some of the big fish from this weekend, and can be viewed on the Wyoming Walleye Stampede website, as well as on their Facebook page.  Plus tons of video, including some upcoming footage taken from a drone, taken by multiple boats during the tournament.

Here are the official results from this weekend. (Note: My team finished in 59th place)

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I for one, cannot wait to compete in the next WWS tournament event scheduled at Glendo on June 3rd and 4th.  For more info go to - WyomingWalleyeStampede.com

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