ALEXANDRIA — One of the Alexandria area’s premier fisheries will host the 2022 AIM Weekend Pro Walleye Series’ national championship June 3-4.
Lake Miltona will be the site of the championship, and Woodland Resort on the lake will be the hosting headquarters.
“At seven miles long, Miltona has never seen a boat hull from any major walleye tournament, and we’re wondering why,” AIM national tournament director Denny Fox said in a release announcing the tournament stop with Explore Alexandria Tourism. “We’re super excited to get onto this pure fishing lake that has structure upon structure upon structure. And it poses a unique opportunity for teams to show their stuff. This lake is made for a championship that will challenge all our teams, which is exactly what a championship is meant to do.”
The AIM Pro Walleye Series features a catch, record and release format for the weigh-in where no fish are brought into a weigh-in stage. This gets them back into the water fast to reduce stress on the fish after recording the catch through a photo taken of the fish on the official AIM ruler.
At the end of each day, each two-person team selects up to five fish to be counted toward their daily weight. Those fish are scored by converting the lengths to an overall weight using a standardized AIM length-to-weight conversion chart.
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“We are excited to see a major national tourney coming to the Alexandria Lakes Area,” Executive Director of Explore Alexandria Tourism Joe Korkowski said in the release. “When a contest like this comes along, it’s important for everyone that the fish are treated well. This tournament provides the right format to help keep the fishing sustainable.”
Lake Miltona, about a 10-minute drive north of Alexandria, is one of the area’s popular fishing destinations. It features many species for anglers to target, and is well known for its muskie and walleye populations.
“I think it’s a fantastic opportunity. The lake has been producing good fishing for years,” Woodland Resort owner Mark Fredericks said in a release. “It’s a top seven muskie lake in the state and the walleyes are plentiful. The structure is unbelievable. We have sunken islands. Sand bars. Deep holes. And our weed lines are right on the ledges. The last couple of years, the early season has been phenomenal.”
Fox is confident that the lake itself and the time of year the tournament is running in early June will provide a great challenge for the anglers who take part.
“We’ve talked a lot about AIM’s philosophy of leveling the playing field so everyone has a chance to win,” Fox said. “Miltona does that in spades. It can more than handle 31 boats for a national championship. Because fish may be transitioning then, it will give our teams a little bit of a headache to find and keep on them for two days. It will get very interesting to see who will figure it all out. They’re just going to have to figure out where the right ones are to bring home that Warrior-Yamaha- Garmin combo at the end of day two.”
For more information, visit www.aimfishing.com.
