Walker Krampitz is a rookie on the Classic Bass Champions Tour this year. On Tuesday, that didn’t matter. He managed to pull in a total of 38 bass during the Le Homme Dieu Chain leg of the 2023 tour. Those fish totaled 77 pounds, 13 ounces. He edged out his teacher and mentor from his hometown of Waseca, Tim Schroeder by a mere 19 ounces, caught by a fish in the last minute of the tournament. That last fish was worth thousands of dollars, $13,000 to be exact.
Krampitz has been on a roll in the past few years. Last summer, as part of the Owatonna Fishing Team, he and fellow Waseca angler Brady Metz were on Lake Pickwick in Florence, Alabama. Walker’s dad Dave says they ran into boat problems and had to borrow a boat. While on the water the two managed to get 3rd place in the High School Bass Fishing National Championships and 2nd place in the High School World Finals. Then as a college student at Alexandria College, Walker and teammate Logan Huewe finished in the top 15% in Leesburg, Florida for the Major League Fishing Abu Garcia Harris Chain of Lakes Competition and he was named the school’s Top ATCC Bass Fishing Angler. Now add this first place finish and all of the other awards that complimented the day. As Walker entered the marina at Arrowwood Resort Tuesday afternoon, his mother Paulette was waiting to give him a big hug. His dad wasn’t far behind. Other competitors came up to him to offer their congratulations for a hard fought win.
Hear from Walker and his parents moments after the tournament ended. (Video below)
The stop in Alexandria was the third and final stop of the 2023 regular season for the anglers, with the championships for the top anglers next week in East/West Rush Lake.
In total the 59 fishermen brought into the boat 1,113 bass weighing more than 1,596 pounds during the one-day event. The first stop on the tour was on Big Stone Lake where they recorded 538 bass, weighing more than 1,130 lbs. The second stop was on the Whitefish Chain where 826 fish were caught weighing a total of more than 1,182 lbs.
The Classic Bass Champions Tour format was one of the first to ever record fish on the boat, using an app, and then safely returning the fish to the water moments after they were caught. The tour itself is in its seventh season. The last time the Champions Tours was in Alexandria was 2019.
You may also be interested in our earlier story on the start of the tournament.
