THOMPSON, N.D. _ When Mike Olson placed fourth in the recent Cabela's National Walleye Tour championship on Lake of the Woods in northern Minnesota, it erased any doubts the fishing fanatic might have had about competing against the top walleye pros in the country.
As partner in a landscape business, Greenworks Landscaping and Fencing, and with a TV fishing show already on his plate along with the Fargo Ice Fishing Show _ a trade show making its debut Dec. 7-9 at Scheels Arena in Fargo _ Olson, 34, could have been excused for questioning the sanity of competing on the country's premier walleye tournament circuit and all of the travel and expense that requires.
In his first-ever NWT tournament in May on Wisconsin's Lake Winnebago, he finished in 101st place, following it up with a similar finish in June on Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron. Then, in late July on Devils Lake, Olson watched a hot bite in the days leading up to the tournament go south when a strong north wind rolled in the day the competition started.
"Everything I had going for me shut off just overnight," he said.
Olson qualified for the NWT championship Sept. 5-7 by virtue of fishing all three of the qualifying tournaments, and he made the opportunity count with his fourth-place finish. In the process, he continued the track record of success he's had fishing smaller tournaments on Lake of the Woods.
"It was a scary step," Olson said of his decision to fish the NWT. "You're fishing against some of the best of the best, and the regular season didn't go real well for me. I found myself kind of questioning the choice that I made. I know I can catch fish, but did I make the right choice to make this jump?"
That question was answered on Lake of the Woods.
"It felt really good to put a good solid performance together in the championship to validate the move that I made," he said.
