We have some exciting news for the 2003 Championship. As you know the top forty finishers based on points are invited to fish the championship in October of 2003. (Championship is scheduled October 15-18 in Prairie du Chien, Wisconson.)

Also, per our arrangement with Cabela's as the title sponsor, the top five teams from the Cabela's National Team Championship will be invited to fish the 2003 World Walleye Championship.

Those five teams are:

Kenny A. Ludwig of Leavenworth, KS & Steven P. Stein of Leavenworth, KS
Bruce Hill of Forest Lake, MN & Gary Houdek of Charles City, IA
Darren Dossi of Canton, OH & Joe Dossi of North Canton, OH
Jeffrey A. Miller of Fox Lake, IL & Dave Zurawski of Prospect Heights, IL
Tim Lookingbill of Lander, WY & Harold Mason of Casper, WY


We're now adding FIVE additional -- Wildcard spots. Only those teams that fished ALL FOUR tournaments in 2002(with the same partner at all four) are eligible. According to our records -- that means the following teams are eligible for the Wildcard spots.

Dan Anderson of Red Wing, MN & Spencer Kuehl of Red Wing, MN
Todd Barrows of Iron Mountain, MI & Jon Barrows of Racine, WI
Cory Batterson of Pleasant Hills, IA & Rich Holmes of Urbandale, IA
Douglas Berggren of Lakeland, MN & Michael Meyer, Jr. of Lindstrom, MN
Dennis Butz of Suamico, WI & Scott Allen of Green Bay, WI
Dan Christensen of Kellogs, MN & Richard Reinhardt of Minneiska, MN
Tod Conner of Hopkins, MI & Mike Bringedahl of Fruitport, MI
Glenn Daugherity of Manville, IL & Les Roemig of Amana, IA
Rod DeClark of Kingsford, MI & Brandon Rouse of Kingsford, MI
Derrick De Deker of Larsen, WI & Mark De Deker of Larsen, WI
Ralph Diercks of Red Wing, MN & Keith Carlson of Goodhue, MN
Perry Dreyer of Elk River, MN & Frank Hanzal of West St. Paul, MN
Pat Ellingson of Carlos, MN & Al Sholts of Alexandria, MN
Tim Fields of Clarendon, PA & Charlie Brant of Russell, PA
Erik Gravley of Alexandria, MN & Mark Brinkman of Farwell, MN
Douglas Hauser of Rockford, IL & Michael Lewis of Gurnee, IL
Daniel R. Hauser of Rockford, IL & Thomas Ping of Rockford, IL
Dennis Hefner of Park Forest, IL & Anthony Brooks of North Judson, IN
Bob Henderson of Worthington, MN & Dan Iblings of Mpls, MN
Dale Jessogne of Shawano, WI & Todd Jessogne of Green Bay, WI
Bill Koehne of Abrams, WI & Tim Cain of Mankato, MN
Ed Krawiecki of Red Wing, MN & Brad Ramthun of Eagan, MN
Douglas Kreger of Hartford, WI & Robert Thompson of Amery, WI
Dale Kruger of Cassville, WI & Art Lehrman of Dubuque, IA
Robert Lampman of DeSoto, WI & Colleen Lampman of DeSoto, WI
John Madson of Cokato, MN & Gordon Schreifels of Kimball, MN
Donald W. Miller of Menasha, WI & Travis MacDonald of Menasha, WI
Harlan Perron of Maple Grove, MN & James Preissner of Hastings, MN
Ryan Karlin Peterson of Lindstrom, MN & Mark Bruley of East Bethel, MN
Eric Peterson of Mpls, MN & Brian Peterson of Mpls, MN
Mark Piper of Green Bay, WI & Gordie Yewman Jr. of Green Bay, WI
Ken Poole of Byron, MN & Mike Kirkland of Welch, MN
Vince Raimondi of Addison, IL & Doug Larsen of Westmont, IL
Bill Reabe of Eau Claire, WI & Tom Hoinacki of Waupun, WI
Brent Rothgarn of Lake City, MN & Brent Hughley of Excelsior, MN
Ed Scheele of Hudson, WI & Geoff Bradt of Hudson, WI
Hans JR Schneeberger of Oregon, WI & Steve S. Small of Oregon, WI
Ed Schoenecker of Slinger, WI & Steve Balliu of Antioch, IL
D.J. Siewert of Lake City, MN & Corey Meincke of Lake City, MN
Dale Sogla of Lake City, MN & Derek Sogla of Lake City, MN
Manny Sparks of Shawano, WI & Joe Mans of Peshtigo, WI
Bill Standke of Redgranite, WI & Barbara Standke of Redgranite, WI
Scott Strangstalien of Coon Valley, WI & Steve Tauscher of Holmen, WI
Jim Tiemann of Menominee, MI & John Mans of Menominee, MI
Bert Wilson of Gladstone, MI & Donald E. Solis of Perronville, MI
Larry Wisniewski of Milwaukee, WI & Chad Burns of Cedarburg, WI
Rodney York of Centerville, MN & Richard Stange of Blaine, MN
Jeff Zawicki of Muskego, WI & Tom Sowinski of Menomonee Falls, WI
Mark Zillges of Oshkosh, WI & Louis J. New III of New Berlin, WI
Michael Zsido of Stevens Point, WI & Joe Totman of Stevens Point, WI

We are scheduling the Wildcard drawing to occur on Tuesday October 29th at 6pm central standard time. We'll log on to the bulletin board and post each name as we draw them.

Let's log on at the same time next Tuesday and have fun finding out who will round out our Championship to 50 teams.

Tuesday October 29th at 6pm. How do you like your odds?

Kristine

[This message has been edited by Kristine Houtman (edited 10-29-2002).]

Just a reminder -- here are the teams that qualified for the 2003 World Walleye Championship as the top forty point receivers.

Richard Nascak of Winona, MN & Brad Kaczorowski of Lewiston, MN with 413 points

Jim Minnema of Randolph, WI & Tim Minnema of Markesan, WI with 368 points

Thomas D Walters of Campbellsport, WI & Andy Schmidt of Fond du Lac, WI with 360 points

John Renschen of Red Wing, MN & Steve DeLain of Red Wing, MN with 349 points

Dean Nathe of Sartell, MN & Paul Thompson of Wallace, MI with 318 points

Joe Wilson of Rollingstone, MN & Randy Carroll of Oswego, IL with 300 points

Pat Schuette of Manitowoc, WI & Randy Blasczyk of Depere, WI with 277 points

George Gahagan of Sheboygan, WI & Russell Gahagan of Sheboygan, WI with 260 points

Jim Siewert of Lake City, MN & Tom Diercks of Hager City, WI with 253 points

Jim LaPine of Fond Du Lac, WI & Jacob LaPine of Fond Du Lac, WI with 251 points

Brad Stockman of Pine River, MN & Mark Dammann of Glencoe, MN with 247 points

Ken Bjorkman of Marshfield, WI & Brian Bjorkman of Fargo, ND with 246 points

Craig Anderson of Mound, MN & Eric Anderson of Mound, MN with 232 points

Don Kohl of Suamico, WI & Tom Zag of Rudolph, WI with 229 points

Joseph Fisher of Chisago, MN & Chad Swanson of Mahtomedi, MN with 228 points

Dean P. Novak of Sheboygan, WI & Pete Huibregtse of Sheboygan Falls, WI with 228 points

Neil Hammargren of Waterloo, IA & Doug Newhoff of Waterloo, IA with 225 points

Robert Bodin of Red Wing, MN & Scott Mann of Red Wing, MN with 222 points

Chris Gasser of Random Lake, WI & Gina Gasser of Random Lake, WI with 219 points

Dan Wheaton of Naperville, IL & Ted Koplin of Yorkville, IL with 214 points

Wayne Butz of Oneida, WI & Don Frederick of Appleton, WI with 213 points

Glenn Chenier of Gladstone, MI & Glenn L. Wangerin of Escanaba, MI with 212 points

Jason Semler of Cambridge, MN & Todd Lindgren of East Bethel, MN with 211 points

Chad Christianson of Coon Rapids, MN & Ben Munsch of Hugo, MN with 208 points

Dean Crom of Keil, WI & Michael Thun of Sheboygan, WI with 202 points

Mike Tompkins of Green Bay, WI & Dan Stankevitz of Hudson, WI with 200 points

Robert Lauridsen of Oconomowoc, WI & Kim Spigarelli of Rapid River, MI with 199 points

Dennis E. Pollesch of Markesan, WI & Jon VandeBrink of Markesan, WI with 197 points

Blaine Hornes of Neenah, WI & Chris Schrader of Larsen, WI with 195 points

Kevin Dahl of Muskego, WI & Steve Stack of Muskego, WI with 194 points

Maury Schmerbach of Dubuque, IA & Mike Glynn of Dubuque, IA with 191 points

Brian Ernat of Seatonville, IL & Jerry Ernat of Princeton, IL with 188 points

Gary Houdek of Charles City, IA & Bruce Hill of Forest Lake, MN with 185 points

Jim Devenport of Jackson, WI & Lloyd Devenport of Jackson, WI with 185 points

John Balla of Bartlett, IL & Kevin Byrne of Plainfield, IL with 185 points

Chris Nelson of South St. Paul, MN & Jerry Nelson of South St. Paul, MN with 182 points

Kevin McQuoid of Isle, MN & Karen McQuoid of Isle, MN with 180 points

Jay A. Janny of Eagle, WI & Kim Chief Papineau of Escanaba, MI with 179 points

Bradley West of Palmyra, WI & David Garlock of Helenville, WI with 179 points

Dan Krukow of Rochester, MN & Dean Krukow of Rochester, MN with 177 points

Cristine,

I would much rather see the next five teams in the points standings make the championship. They are the teams that earned it. I believe that it's a bad idea to make qualifying for our championship a lottery. Personally, it would bother me to get my butt kicked by someone who won a drawing, or didn't even fish our circuit at all.

Thanks,
Tommy D.

This is a bad idea, it dilutes the accomplishment of those that worked hard all season by allowing 5 lucky(lottery)teams that did not earn the trip and by allowing 5 teams that fished one tournament that was not even in our circuit. This is not a step forward. Whyt not leave what worked for so many years alone?

[This message has been edited by npaa125 (edited 10-25-2002).]

The five spots from the Cabela's National Team Championship is non-negotiable. It's part of the contract for their title sponsorship for the next three years.

Please remember -- that the top three winners from our four qualifying tournaments -- TWELVE teams are invited to fish in the Cabela's National Team Championship. It's inter-connected.

About the Wildcard spots...we feel the need to incent the behavior that we want to take place. And we want MORE anglers to fish all four tournaments. We don't want teams who fished all four, and did well yet still missed the top forty cut, to not want to fish all four next year. This is an incentive to stand firm. Give it your best shot and the top forty go in -- guaranteed. We'll just also reserve five spots for Wildcard...and when you look at that list of qulifiers (for the Wildcard drawing) -- you can see there are a lot of great teams in that line up.

I was surprised to read that wildcard spots will be offered to non-MWC anglers, but I can understand the non-negotiable aspect with the major sponsor.

That said, why not invite MWC champions to the championship? Open additional MWC wildcard positions to any team that wins one of the qualifying tournaments even if they have not already qualified based on points.

It is arguably just as hard to win one tournament as it is to consistently finish well enough to finish in the top 40 for the season.

One approach some smaller circuits are taking for recruitment is a bonus of some sort for teams that are able to sign up somebody new. Kind of complicated when it comes to keeping records and all that, but something to think about.

You mentioned that 12 MWC teams are invited to the Cabela's Championship next year, the W.A.T. has 15 teams going. While the WAT is a very fine circuit it is still much smaller than the MWC yet is allowed more slots and is not associated with Cabela's.

Some of you have to re-read Kristine's initial statement. Per a three year contractual title sponsorship agreement with Cabela's, five teams from the Cabela's Team Championship will be invited to fish the MWC Championship. It's a contract! Some of these teams may very well turnout being MWC teams. The seclection of these teams, is not, by lottery. Also, per agreement as stated, some MWC teams will be invited to fish the Cabela's championship. The number of teams invited to fish the Cabela's championship is in part decided upon, how many tournaments makeup a particular circuit.

The five MWC teams chosen to fish the MWC championship must have fished all four of this year's MWC tournaments. In the past, if a team won a MWC tournament, they automatically qualified for the championship. Usually, as soon as a team won, thay quit fishing the circuit for the rest of the year. The same happened with the previous year's championship winners. They didn't even have to fish the circuit to fish the championship the following year. Again, a team has to have fished all of the tournaments during the season to qualify for the lottery. The idea is to get as many teams as possible to fish all four tournaments, knowing that they have a couple of ways to qualify for the championship.

The MWC made huge strides this season with the highest payouts in history including $100,000 at the championship which was mostly MWC and MWC sponsors dollars. I like constructive change.

Best regards......."Kaz"

I like the idea of the five wild card teams but I have a quick question. If I remember correctly, there were 78 circuit teams this year. Subtract the 40 that qualifyed for the championship and we have 38 teams. How are there 51 teams (if my count is correct)eligible for the lottery?
Thanks,
Rick Stange

The lottery teams are the teams which fished all four tournaments this year. They're made-up of early bird entries and teams that fished all four tournaments without being early birds.

"Kaz"

Tonight five teams will be drawn from a hat to fish the 2003 championship.
The first 40 qualified with points.
If you are to allow 5 more teams, that had fished all of the MWC tournaments, then it should be the next five in the point standings.
For the team that was 2 points short to give way to someone that was 50!!!!!!!!!!
All of the teams that fished them all deserve to be treated equal. Let the point standings be the judge-not a hat.

First of all, I�d like to commend all those involved with making the MWC in 2002 a great year to be a contestant. Kaz, Kristine, and the NAFC did a tremendous job in securing the circuit for the future. The increased purses, media exposure, attention to detail, and communication, all contributed to the enjoyment and professionalism of the circuit. We appreciate the opportunity to discuss topics and changes to the circuit. Change is good and necessary to grow.

One topic recently discussed is the lottery for an additional 5 teams drawn for a spot in the MWC Championship. What is the reason for this? Is it to motivate more teams to sign up for all tournaments next year, in hopes the same incentives will increase early bird teams? In fact, a team does not have to be an early-bird team to be drawn as a wild card. Where is the incentive in that? There must be other ways to offer incentives. Why wasn�t this mentioned to prospective teams before signing up to fish all 4 tournaments in January?

Many feel that qualifying will lose some of its� luster and sense of accomplishment with a random drawing. A spot in the Championship is earned, not given as a gift. The lottery is a gift. A generous one indeed, but now a team not in the group of qualifiers has a chance to win some of the $100,000 purse from a deserving team. If more teams are to be added, teams 41-45 deserve the spots. Could you imagine if the PGA drew five guys from below the top 30 to play in the season-ending Tour Championship? Or if B.A.S.S. drew five extra names and the guy in last place in the season standings wins the first place prize of $100,000? The PGA is not B.A.S.S., which is not the MWC, but the concept of making a Championship is the same

Also, since Cabela�s is the title sponsor of the MWC, I hear that the top five from the Cabela�s National Team Championship teams will be invited. Apparently the contract has been signed. However, it raises some interesting questions. Does a non-MWC circuit team have a right to fish for $100,000 in prize money destined for a team who committed the time and money for the chance to qualify in the MWC Championship? Isn�t this the same reason the MWC East will have their own Championship, because they are fishing four tourneys at $300 each opposed to the $600 entry fee for the MWC? In effect, a Cabela�s team gets a shot at 2 Championship purses. Shouldn�t the top five teams from the MWC Championship qualify to fish the Cabela�s Team Championship? How would the Cabela�s qualifiers feel about an MWC Team fishing their Championship?

I also believe there are many veteran anglers who have not been heard. The circuit could only benefit by listening to those teams who have been around during the last 5-10 years. Why not get some feedback, maybe a survey, from those involved?

Again, I�d like to thank the MWC for making 2002 a great year, and providing a forum for us to express our opinions and be heard. Please hear the teams on this one; it�s an important topic to which many of us feel very strongly against.

Sincerely,

John Balla

I too want to thank everyone for the hard work and dedication to make the MWC what it was this year. This situation reminds me of an old baseball saying, "sometimes the best trades are ones that were not made", in this case the best change would be in not making this one.

This past year I qualified for my fifth straight MWC WWC championship, five in five years of fishing the circuit. This is an accomplishment I am very proud of. When I place this information on a resume for a prospective sponsor, it was very clear I had earned the right to claim this.

Now with the direction of adding "lottery"teams to the championship those facts will no longer be true. Five teams that did not earn the right to participate in the WWC will be there in 2003. That is ten percent of the total field! Twenty percent of the field will be there under new rules, rules not disclosed to us at the beginning of the year when our money was paid. It is hard to believe these new rules were not known at the beginning of the year, why else the reduction to forty legitimate qualifying teams? Why were we kept in the dark about this? Did the angles advisory committee know about this? Were the fisherman's/fisherwomen's opinions considered? These lottery teams reduce the accomplishment of appearing in the WWC, it is no longer clear cut that you earned the right instead of being just lucky. This changes this tournament from a championship to an invitational. To me this is a very sad day for the MWC, this reduces the credibility of this long respected circuit.

Wow what a bunch of bull,i'm totally against all of it. somebody better start changing this now,or you will have a tough time filling any tournaments. somebody better wake up!!!!!!!!

OK...OK. We're listening.

We will NOT hold the lottery drawing for the five wildcard spots this evening. This does NOT affect the five spots from the Cabela's National Team Championship. At this point, we will have a championship with 45 teams until further notice.

Both Kaz and I liked this idea.... but hey -- if this just doesn't work for the MWC anglers that are working hard to fish the circuit....we can bag this idea. We listen. We can't pull out the NTC teams -- as stated earlier -- that's contractual. And we have to remember where the championship purse comes from, it's sponsor money. So...those are non-negotiable. But we can drop the other five spots.

The MWC is stronger than ever -- and it's due to YOU -- the anglers. Thank you for such a great first year for NAFC's ownership of MWC. And thanks for using the bulletin board for communication and feed back. We may not always be able to do what you ask -- but if we can -- and if we agree with your logic -- we can affect change together.

Thanks!

Kristine

Thank you very much for listening.

Well done. It was clear from the posts that nobody was eager to "qualify" through the lottery process.

If the original purpose of the lottery was to provide an incentive to participate in all 4 qualifiers, how about a consolation drawing at the end of the season for cash to a team that fishes all the qualifiers but does not qualify for the chmapionship?

There are probably some other good ideas out there - how about some more suggestions to help the MWC create the type of tournament curcuit we will all be proud of?

OK now what was the incentive for the early bird entry again for this year???? Good job cry babies this was supposed to be an incentive for next year. Guess it won't happen.

Thanks Kristine and Kaz for listening!
We believe the MWC will be better for it.
There is no better championship than the MWC Cabelas World Championship and non that is harder to get into. We are glad it's integrity is going to stay that way!
Keep up the good work!
Chris and Gina Gasser