A Tail of Two Champions

Most readers now know that I just won the 2009 FLW Tour Championship.  It is a very exciting time in my life, busy, but exciting.  What shouldn't be forgotten when you look at the final results of this tournament is the fact that my good friend, teammate and travel partner Tony Renner took second and lead the tournament going into day 4.

Tony Renner is from Hutchinson MN and we have been fishing together for the last 3 years.  Tony is an excellent walleye angler and continuously finds those tough bites in tough conditions.  Besides being an excellent angler he is a great person and I am so glad to call him a friend and teammate.

Most people don't understand what teammates are in the sport of competitive fishing.  This can be a tough concept to understand as essentially come game time you have teammates that are competing against each other.  To some, that sounds odd, but if you take a step back to what goes into preparing for the tour and these events it may help you understand.

Often times we are traveling long distances across the country towing our boats and things can and will go wrong.  Your teammate is the guy in the rig behind you that helps you change your flat tire, gives you directions when you are lost or that wake-up call when you are falling asleep at the wheel.  Your teammate on Tour is that person that shares a beer with you after a hard day on the water or pats you on the back after the fish showed you that you are not as good as you thought.  Your teammate on Tour is that guy that has two crankbaits that are working and gives you one of his two so you can be competitive.  Your teammate on Tour is the guy you sit with at supper each night and come up with a game plan for the next day to make you both better at what you do.

I am very fortunate to have a teammate like Tony Renner.  Tony does all of the above and more.  I could not have won this Championship without him and what shouldn't get overlooked is that Tony fished second.  Yes, Tony and I entered the championship competing against 54 other professional anglers and ended up one-two.  To me that is very special and I hope all the readers can appreciate just how tough that is to do.  The guys we fish against on Tour are the best or the best and it was nice to come away with one-two for Tony and I.  While I will always be known as the 2009 FLW Tour Champion, in my mind their were two champions at this event and I can't thank Tony enough for his hard work and efforts this year.  It was truly a great way to end a great year!

I am still writing a recap of the fishing during the championship and should have that up this week yet, so check back often.