Jason Doyon grabs third in first pro angler tournament

NEWS RELEASE

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Sault Ontario Angler Makes a Splash in First Pro Tournament

(SAULT STE. MARIE, ON SEPTEMBER 16th, 2008) – Sault Ste. Marie Ontario angler Jason Doyon made an auspicious debut in his first professional tournament last weekend. Doyon placed third out of 71 competitors in the Sault Michigan PWT (Professional Walleye Trail) tournament held on September 11th, 12th and 13th and he will be taking home $11 475 American in prize money for his efforts.

"Fishing for walleye professionally is something I’ve wanted to do for a real long time, ever since I was in high school,” says Doyon, who in his day job is the Business Manager for Northside Toyota. “It’s pretty exciting to be able to get off to such a great start fishing against so many other long-time pros, like Mike Gofron and Dan Stier.”

The Sault Michigan tournament is one of the longest running professional walleye tournaments and it has been a jumping off point for many top competitive anglers. “A lot of guys who went on to have very successful careers got their start fishing in the PWT in Sault Michigan,” says Doyon.

Final standings in the three-day tournament were determined by the total weight of each angler’s five biggest fish. Doyon’s total was 57.37 pounds, a little less than four pounds behind overall winner Dan Stier who hauled in 61.04 pounds of walleye to take first place. In addition to Doyon, three other Sault Ontario anglers also took part. John Giuliani placed fifth with a total catch of 52.73 pounds, his brother Joe Giuliani was 20th overall with 34.87 and Chris McMillan placed 26th with a total of 32.88.

"I did all vertical jigging and live-bait rigging, that was the key,” says Doyon, when asked for the reasons behind his success. “Most of the top guys were using vertical jigging.”

Although last weekend’s event marked his first foray into professional angling, Doyon is no stranger to fishing competitively. Included in his accomplishments are three first place finishes in local amateur tournaments and six top ten placements in other amateur walleye tournaments.

"Joining the pros has been something I’ve really wanted to do for a long time,” says Doyon. “I owe a big debt of thanks to my sponsors at Mercury Marine, Starcraft Boats, Bert’s Custom Tackle, Wave Whackers and Okuma who have helped make this possible for me.”

At only 25 years of age, Doyon has plenty of time to carve out a place for himself in the professional ranks. He plans to fish two to three professional tournaments next year on the Anglers Inside Marketing (AIM) circuit.

"In a few years I would like to become a major tournament angler,” he says. “It’s something that I really enjoy and I am prepared to work very hard for.”

For more information, including full standings from the Sault Michigan PWT tournament, please visit www.professionalwalleyetrail.com.

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