Oh, man, what a tournament season I had this year!  Two days after a land based hurricane called a “derecho” drove over 700 miles from Nebraska to Illinois and tore up central Iowa along Highway 30 on August 10,  I left to fish the NWT event at Sault Ste Marie, Michigan.  Fortunately, none of our trees came through our home and we were able to do a hurry up clean up the day after knowing there would be plenty to do following the tournament.  If you haven’t ready about our trials here in Cedar Rapids, just Google for stories about the damage and ongoing cleanup–our town will never be the same.  On to NWT.  Mark Alexander and I drove to Michigan together and arrived in time to take part in our “virtual” registration and rules meeting Wednesday, August 12.  My day one partner was Peter Schaefer from Michigan.  Peter took me over 90 miles ONE WAY in his Ranger 620 to fish his spot south off the main lake!  We caught our limit on cranks, headed back to the weigh-in, lost one on the ride back, and were able to upgrade one smaller fish pitching jigs to a rock hump.  I’ve never gone that far in a walleye tournament to catch fish!  We were in second place with our weight for the day.  Day two found me paired with Dave Andersen from Wisconsin.  I rode in his Warrior tiller 53 miles one way!  We weren’t able to catch a limit pulling cranks around various islands and flats he’d caught them on during practice and his first day.  End result was Peter duplicated his Day one program and won the event!  You can check out all NWT results on their website link here on www.walleyewisdom.com.  Once home, we resumed our yard and home cleanup along with helping neighbors.  On Sunday, August 23, I helped a neighbor load some large logs on a flat bed trailer.  Apparently, the logs were covered with poison ivy!  Two days later, Sue took me to the emergency room because my temp was 103 degrees, I was dry heaving, and could barely walk.  My left arm was on fire!  I spend the next nearly six days in the hospital on a constant IV filling my body with antibiotics to combat the cellulitis in my left arm!!  Mike Ganzeveld came by from his hospital work to visit my first day there but I really didn’t know who he was until he told me!  I realized I would not be able to fish the next NWT event on Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota so let my pals and the NWT know.  I was still in recovery mode when the tournament started September 10. The NWT rule for co-anglers this year was if you paid for all three events and fished two you’d get invited to the Championship. I did receive my invite and paid my entry fee before leaving on a crappie fishing trip to Mississippi (filing a separate report on that trip for you).  My fishing partner, Ralph Kitson from South Dakota, and I came home a day early on October 8 so I’d have a day to recoup then leave for the Championship out of Huron, Ohio on Lake Erie.  Unfortunately, I received a call FRIDAY morning from the tournament director saying there were not enough pro boats for my entry to be satisfied–they ended up with only 47 boats in the competition.  From my co-angler pal group, only Mark Alexander made it in because he finished 16th on the co side after fishing the three qualifying events.  So, I stayed home.  I want to publicly thank Mark Cahlik from Bays Edge for allowing my week’s deposit to carryover to next year.  Like many of you, I followed the event on Facebook.  What a flip flop from day one to day two of the top 10!  We offer our congratulations to Jason Przekurat for his second NWT Championship win and Korey Sprengel for his Angler of the Year Award!  The schedule for 2021 if out.  Entry fees are going up.  And the new Head to Head walleye series has captured many NWT pros for next year’s events.  How this all plays out and where we are with Covid is yet to be seen.  Thank you, NWT, for saving this year with a schedule and handling the events with Covid precautions.  Oh, man, what a tournament season!!  Spike