When the Professional Walleye Trail headed south a dozen years ago, it's likely a few eyebrows were raised on logo-capped heads.

Destinations like Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky and Arkansas — bass country — seemed far removed from the northern walleye belt of the Great Lakes states and upper Missouri River reservoirs.

But it's not surprising that North America's finest walleye anglers fared well on these distant venues, often revealing populations of fish local anglers were either unaware of or pretty much ignored.

Southern PWT events have showcased excellent walleye fisheries, bringing big-time attention to them. And the contestants learned that there are both similarities and differences in catching walleyes outside more typical northern environments.

It takes a spirit of adventure to be a walleye-tournament angler, so blazing trails south of the Mason-Dixon Line wasn't much of a stretch for most.

"I love fishing new waters," said longtime PWT pro Daryl Christensen, of Montello, Wis. "That's the whole deal for me. You learn so much because you don't approach the water with any preconceived ideas."

Christensen said the prospect of fishing southern waters, especially during early-in-the-year events, expanded the season. But a period of adjustment was necessary.

"One of things what was obvious to me was how the calendar speeds up down there," said Christensen, winner of the Super Pro event on Missouri's Lake Stockton in 1998. "The lakes don't freeze, so for all of us that grew up fishing ice-out and pre-spawn periods, that mentality had to be adjusted."

Bill Ortiz of Wisconsin was a bit skeptical when he first heard the tour was going south.

"We thought, 'What are we doing?'" he said. "But we found out there are some beautiful walleye fisheries there."

Ortiz, who has enjoyed success on reservoirs in general and won the 2005 Pro-Am on Bull Shoals Lake in Arkansas, said southern impoundments have much in common with their northern and western counterparts.

"I've found that reservoirs are reservoirs," said Ortiz. "They fish pretty much the same. The first step is locating the area of the reservoir they are using and then fine tuning things from there. The southern reservoirs fish very much the same as the western reservoirs.

"The key to reservoir fishing is to have a ton of spots, because the fish move around so much. Running and gunning is something I feel comfortable doing. A lot of times, some of the places that weren't so good in practice end up being your best spots during the tournament."

Though PWT tournament experiences have proven that southern walleyes have a lot in common with their northern cousins, some subtle distinctions have been noted.

"During the early season, in the springtime, southern reservoirs can be tougher to fish," said pro Mike Gofron of Antioch, Ill. "The water is clearer, especially in Bull Shoals. The spots can be fragile."

Gofron said he believes southern walleyes might be more sensitive to cold fronts than northern fish.

"I call them sissy walleyes when it comes to cold fronts," said Gofron. "Northern fish probably become a bit accustomed to drastic weather changes. In the south, severe cold fronts throw them in more of a tizzy."

The positive experiences enjoyed by the PWT confirm the notion that for northern anglers, it's worth a trip south. And for many of the locals, they are missing out on some fine walleye fishing.

Ortiz said that the first year the tour visited Bull Shoals, an older gentleman pulled up to him and asked what he thought of their "pond."

"I replied that I had caught 14 or 15 walleyes that day. Just then I had a double: a spotted bass and a walleye," Ortiz said.

"He wanted to know what I was doing. I told him to come to the weigh-in on Day 3 and I would show him."