By Louie Stout

Walleye fishing tournaments aren’t as popular in Michigan as bass contests, but the state’s statistical data reveals where there were several held in 2019.

Just as they have done for bass tournaments, the Michigan DNR began requiring tournament directors in 2019 to register their events and file a report about angler successes.

The 2020 stats are still being tabulated and will be released once they become available.

There were 107 walleye events registered in 2019. Of those events that were reported, some 34 bodies of water were involved and each event averaged 41 boats. The month of June accounted for 22 of those events while May was second most popular month with 20.

The tournaments averaged 133 walleyes weighed or measured. In weight-based tournaments, the average weight per fish was 2.6 pounds and the average of the heaviest caught in the events was 6.1 pounds.

The biggest walleye caught in a 2019 tournament was a 14.4 pounder taken from Portage Lake in Houghton County. Others ranking among the five biggest include 14.18 pounds, Lake Huron (Alpena County); 12.72, Lake Erie (Wayne County); 11.4 Lake Erie (Wayne); and 10.5 Lake Superior (Chippewa County).

Lake Erie and Lake Huron tied with 11 events as the most popular tournament sites followed by the Detroit River (5), Black River (4) and Lake St. Clair (4).