Scheide Wins Walmart FLW Tour Walmart Open on Beaver Lake
Scheide Earns First FLW Outdoors Victory In Five Years
Team BP pro Ray Scheide of Dover, Ark., caught a final-round total of 10 bass weighing 21 pounds, 1 ounce to win $200,000 in the $1.1 million Walmart FLW Tour Walmart Open presented by Kellogg’s on Beaver Lake. Scheide topped his closest rival, Mark Rose of Marion, Ark., by one pound, four ounces to earn the win and 200 points toward qualifying for the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by Castrol and BP, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pa., where they could win as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award.
“It really feels good today to have a little redemption,” said Scheide, who won his first event with FLW Outdoors in more than five years. “Yesterday I missed some opportunities, but actually today I only had five bites. I caught the big one about 11 o’clock, but didn’t get my limit until after one.
“I had some options to go out and catch spots. But there was only one way to come back and try to make a run at this thing and that was to fish for largemouths.
Scheide said the fish were relocating each day. “One day they would be in real shallow water, the next they would be under trees. Today I actually got my first two bites in about eight to 10 foot of water. I just started running through new water and caught a majority of my fish on banks I had not even fished.”
“It was slow out there today,” said Scheide, who fished from Prairie Creek down to Coppermine. “I got my first bite around nine and another about 10. I was throwing a chigger craw and a big profile bait, alternating between them. That just shows my confidence in flipping baits right there.”
Scheide opened the tournament Thursday in 13th place with five bass weighing 11-7. He moved to seventh place Friday on the strength of a five-bass catch weighing 10 pounds, 9 ounces to advance into the final round of 10 pros with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 22 pounds even. On Saturday, weights were cleared, and Scheide caught five bass weighing 8-13 to advance to the final day of competition in fourth place. Scheide added another five bass weighing 12-4 to his final-round total Sunday.
Rose caught a final-round total of 10 bass weighing 19-13 to claim second place and $55,000.
“I started off catching the same fish today as I had been, they were just smaller,” said Rose, who would catch his limit early and then move on to new water searching for bigger fish. “I stayed there too long. I caught about 15 keepers, but I was still trying to get to seven or eight pounds.
“I was running out of time to go flip and when it got down to it, I only had about an hour and forty-five minutes to go fishing and I culled three times. Had I done that three hours earlier, who knows?”
Rose was using a topwater bait early in the week, but on the final day said he had to slow down using a shaky head. “I weighed in every fish today on that except one right at the end. I flipped in a trash pocket where I had to put it in four-wheel drive and go get it.”
Rose, who said it was hard to feel bittersweet about finishing second, said, “I wish I could finish second in every one of these. I have been at this 11 years and it would feel great to win one. I have finished everywhere from second to 200th and every place in between in those 11 years and I haven’t won one. How can you be upset with second place?”
Rounding out the top 10 pros were Team Kellogg’s pro Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas (nine bass, 19-12, $45,000); Jason Christie of Park Hill, Okla. (eight bass, 18-11, $35,000); Keith Combs of Del Rio, Texas (10 bass, 16-14, $30,000); Team Chevy pro Jay Yelas of Corvallis, Ore. (eight bass, 16-4, $28,000); Team Pringles pro Gabe Bolivar of Ramona, Calif. (eight bass, 16-1, $26,000); Team Berkley pro Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla. (nine bass, 13-10, $24,000); Rob Kilby of Hot Springs, Ark. (10 bass, 13-6, $22,000); and Team National Guard pro and current Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif. (eight bass, 12-3, $20,000).
Overall there were 43 bass weighing 84 pounds, 14 ounces caught in the Pro Division Sunday. The catch included six five-bass limits.
Brent Bridgeman of Elkmont, Ala., won the Co-angler Division and $40,000 Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 7 pounds, 5 ounces followed by Zac Cassill of Fairfax, Iowa, in second place with five bass weighing 7-3 worth $15,000.
Bridgeman opened the tournament in second place Thursday with five bass weighing 9-14 while fishing with Bobby McMullin of Pevely, Mo. On Friday he slipped to third place with a five-bass catch weighing 6-0 while fishing with Team Febreze pro Craig Powers of Rockwood, Tenn. He wrapped up his win while fishing with Team Berkley pro Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla.
“I didn’t even practice for this event,” said Bridgeman, who is fishing his rookie season of the FLW Tour. “I showed up barely in time for the meeting.
“My first cast on Beaver Lake I caught my first keeper fish,” Bridgeman added. “First cast, first fish, first time on the lake. That’s a lot of coincidences.”
A custom airbrush artist for 21 years, Bridgeman decided to relocate from the west coast to fish the FLW Tour in 2009. Bridgeman grew up fishing tournaments with his father and won his first at age seven.
Bridgeman got the idea to fish the FLW Tour after researching Fantasy Fishing online. He had competed in a tournament at one point against angler Gary Yamamoto and had success and decided he could fish at the sport’s top level. Once he was verified to fish the Tour, Bridgeman packed his bags and moved to Alabama. That turned out to be a profitable move for Bridgeman.
“I figured I was in the top six or five,” Bridgeman said. “I thought it would take nine or 10 pounds to win it. I knew I had seven to eight pounds, and I’m glad it held up. I used a balance beam, and I bet that balance beam saved me.”
Bridgeman said he caught all of his fish on a green pumpkin with green and purple flake 6-inch Gary Yamamoto Swimming Senko rigged on a shaky head jig head.
“The fish would catch it on the fall,” Bridgeman said. “If they didn’t catch it on the fall, I’d just reel it in.”
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers are Todd Lee of Jasper, Ala. (three bass, 6-3, $7,500); T.R. Fuller of Auburn, Ala. (four bass, 4-13, $5,000); Moo Bae of West Friendship, Md. (two bass, 2-10, $4,000); Eddie Laster of Morton, Miss. (one bass, 2-2, $3,500); Dirk Davenport of Delaware, Ohio (one bass, 2-1, $3,000); Shane Lehew of Charlotte, N.C. (two bass, 2-0, $2,500); Kevin Hawk of Ramona, Calif. (one bass, 1-15, $2,000) and David Hudson of Jasper, Ala. (one bass, 1-4, $1,750).
The total purse for the Walmart Open event on Beaver Lake was more than $1.1 million, including $10,000 through 50th place in the Pro Division.
Coverage of the Beaver Lake tournament, hosted by the Rogers Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Bentonville Convention & Visitors Bureau, will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS, the network which brings anglers the best fishing programming on television featuring the most-trusted authorities on the water. The Emmy-nominated “FLW Outdoors,” will air June 14 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide, including internationally through agreements with WFN (World Fishing Network) and Matchroom Sport to such countries as Canada, Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world.
The FLW Tour will award more than $8 million cash to the world’s top bass anglers in 2009. Regular season competition includes three qualifiers and three opens. Each event takes anglers a step closer to the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by Castrol, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pa. The prestigious championship and outdoor show hosted by Visit Pittsburgh will feature 77 pros, 77 co-anglers and bass fishing’s largest cash award – a potential $1 million first-place prize for the winning pro.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.
For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.
FLWOutdoors.com
Source: FLW Outdoors
Bad Luck Streak Ends With $100,000 Fantasy Fishing Miracle
Unemployed for a year and recovering from heart bypass surgery, New York man reels in $100,000 playing FLW Fantasy Fishing
They say bad luck comes in threes, but not for Eugene Sullivan. The Syracuse, N.Y. resident broke his run of bad luck by winning the third tournament of an international online fantasy fishing game, FLW Fantasy Fishing (www.FantasyFishing.com), and claiming its $100,000 prize — by just a 15 point margin.
Out of work for nearly a year and facing mounting bills, the $100,000 win couldn’t have come at a better time for Sullivan. The 54-year-old data security administrator had been laid off by JPMorgan Chase a year ago amidst mass lay-offs within the financial services industry. His luck had taken a turn for the worse three weeks ago when Sullivan unexpectedly underwent heart bypass surgery, from which he is now recovering.
Last week, Sullivan went online to www.fantasyfishing.com and using an online research tool called Player’s Advantage, picked a team of 10 bass pros scheduled to fish the National Guard Open. He earned 12,188 points based on the performance of his ten bass pros who fished Lake Norman, near Charlotte, N.C., from April 23-26. The National Guard Open is one of six regular season tournaments on the Walmart FLW Tour, the largest and richest professional bass fishing tournament series in the world.
Sullivan scored big when he picked Stetson Blaylock, a rookie on the Walmart FLW Tour, to finish first, and Sean Hoernke, to finish fifth, two exactas that earned Sullivan huge bonus points. In addition, three of his other 10 bass pros finished in the top 10 of the National Guard Open. At just 21 years old, Blaylock became the youngest bass pro in Walmart FLW Tour history to win a major tournament taking the National Guard Open’s $200,000 first place prize. Blaylock, a Benton, Ark., resident fishing for the Berkley fishing team, weighed in 10 fish in the final two days of the tournament with a total weight of 23 lbs., 15 oz.
Sullivan’s $100,000 win was close — almost too close. Edging out Wadsworth, Ohio, resident Dan Broadbent by just 15 points, Sullivan won by the closest margin ever recorded in FLW Fantasy Fishing history.
“This is simply a miracle,” said Sullivan, who suspected that he had done well as he watched the National Guard Open final weigh-in on FLW Live, a live satellite broadcast available through flwoutdoors.com. “I desperately need the money. This will give me a cushion as I continue my job search. Thank you FLW Fantasy Fishing and FLW Outdoors.”
Sullivan learned about FLW Fantasy Fishing back in January when he visited the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, N.Y., which is located about 30 miles east of Syracuse. Sullivan registered for FLW Fantasy Fishing as part of Turning Stone Resort & Casino’s “Cast and Cash” promotion. Sullivan entered the first FLW Fantasy Fishing tournament of the 2009 season at FantasyFishing.com, which took place in February.
Sullivan, who has never played any other fantasy sports games, says he owes his $100,000 win to Player’s Advantage, the online research tool offered by FLW Fantasy Fishing, which he purchased for just $10. Not familiar with any of the bass pros who fish the Walmart FLW Tour, the Player’s Advantage research tool helped Sullivan decide which bass pros to pick before each FLW Fantasy Fishing tournament.
A recreational angler who enjoys fishing for just about any type of fish, Sullivan is now in 9th place overall in FLW Fantasy’s six tournament series and is within easy striking distance of the $1 million grand prize. But it won’t be without a fight; there are players in 123 countries competing to accumulate the most points over six tournaments and receive the $1 million grand prize on Aug. 1 in Pittsburgh, Pa. The current overall points leader, with 22,673 total points, is Terry Moberly, of Berea, Ky., who won $100,000 for the first 2009 FLW Fantasy Fishing tournament.
$1 Million Grand Prize to be Awarded in Pittsburgh, Aug. 1
FLW Fantasy Fishing, conducted by FLW Outdoors, brings the world’s richest bass fishing tournament, the Forrest Wood Cup, to Pittsburgh this summer from July 30-Aug. 2. The Forrest Wood Cup is the final event in the Walmart FLW Tour. Just like fantasy football and fantasy baseball, you can follow the leading money winners on the Walmart FLW Tour all season long at FLWOutdoors.com as well as on the “FLW Outdoors” television program, which is broadcast in high definition (HD) on VERSUS, the network that brings anglers the best fishing programming on television featuring the most trusted authorities on the water. The Emmy-nominated “FLW Outdoors” airs each Sunday from 12:30 to 1:30 ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide, including internationally through agreements with WFN (World Fishing Network) and Matchroom Sport to such countries as Canada, Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Hungary, and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world.
In addition to the $1 million grand prize, and six $100,000 cash tournament prizes, FLW Fantasy Fishing players are eligible to win more than 1,800 prizes including a Ranger boat valued at $54,000, a brand new Chevy vehicle valued at $27,000, and personal watercrafts and ATVs valued at $8,000 each, and much more. Fantasy Fishing also offers $3 million exact bonus game for the player who correctly ranks the top five finishers in the Forrest Wood Cup, and a $5 million exacta bonus game for the player who correctly ranks the top seven finishers in any of the six regular season tournaments.
FLW Fantasy Fishing players can increase their chances of winning the $1 million grand prize by entering all FLW Fantasy Fishing tournaments throughout the season and accumulating a greater amount of points leading up to the Forrest Wood Cup. The next tournaments in the Walmart FLW Tour professional bass circuit include:
Tournament 4: Beaver Lake, Rogers, Ark., May 14-17, 2009 (Walmart Open)
Tournament 5: Kentucky/Barkley Lake, Benton, Ky., June 11-14, 2009
Tournament 6: Lake Champlain, Plattsburgh, N.Y., July 9-12, 2009
$1 Million Grand Prize Announcement: Forrest Wood Cup, Pittsburgh, Pa., Aug. 1, 2009
The Richest Fantasy Sports Game
In its first season, FLW Fantasy Fishing took the fantasy sports world by surprise offering the first $1 million guaranteed grand prize for a fantasy sports game. And with that announcement, FLW Fantasy Fishing soared to the top of the fantasy sports world, gaining fans from 123 countries attracted to the game’s $7.3 million in overall cash and prizes, the highest payout of any fantasy sports game in the world.
In 2009, FLW Fantasy Fishing once again set a new standard, offering a $1 million grand prize again along with 1,800 other prizes for a total of $10 million in overall cash and prizes.
http://www.fantasyfishing.com/
Source: FLW Outdoors
Blaylock, 21, Becomes Youngest Angler To Win FLW Tour Event
Arkansas fisherman wins $200,000 in National Guard Open at Lake Norman
Team Berkley pro Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., caught a final-round total of 10 bass weighing 23 pounds, 15 ounces to win $200,000 in the $1.1 million Walmart FLW Tour National Guard Open on Lake Norman. Blaylock topped his closest rival, Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., by one pound to earn the win and 200 points toward qualifying for the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by Castrol and BP, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pa., where they could win as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award.
“This feels really good,” said Blaylock, who became the youngest angler to win a FLW Tour event. “But I really don’t know how it feels yet. When I stop and look at the list of guys who fished this tournament, then I’ll realize how big it really was.
“This year I expected to have a mediocre year and cash a couple of top-50 checks,” Blaylock added. “And top-50 checks are good. But this is unbelievable. It’s … I don’t know … I don’t know how to explain it.”
Blaylock said he fished mid-lake below the Hwy. 150 bridge in the Mountain Creek area and caught eight or nine keepers during the final day of competition, including seven on Blaylock’s homemade 5/16-ounce jig with a Texas Craw skirt that Blaylock describes as similar to a perch. The jig was tipped with a 3-inch green pumpkin soft plastic craw trailer. The other fish he caught came on a green pumpkin Berkley Slim Shaky worm.
“I got nervous when I lost my big fish,” Blaylock said. “They got that on camera and I thought they were going to play that on stage, but they didn’t.”
Blaylock’s ‘big fish’ was accompanied by a smaller male that fell for the bait. Blaylock then turned his attention to the female who took position on the bed. He tried, but was unsuccessful and decided to leave the fish for later in the day. Blaylock returned at 11:30, but the fish still was slow to respond to his presentations. Finally the fish bit, Blaylock set the hook and the fish jumped twice and came loose five feet from the net.
“I thought right then, ‘That fish is the $200,000 fish,’” Blaylock said. “I knew that. So I went on down the bank and got to thinking, ‘That fish is worth spending my remaining hour and a half on.’ So I went back to her and she was swimming around, and I pitched my bait back in the bed and she came right over and sat on the bed. I could not believe it. It took me about 30 more minutes to catch her.”
Blaylock opened the tournament Thursday in 21st place with five bass weighing 10-15. He moved to fourth place Friday on the strength of a five-bass catch weighing 13 pounds, 8 ounces to advance into the final round of 10 pros with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 24 pounds, 7 ounces. On Saturday, weights were cleared, and Blaylock caught five bass weighing 11-2 to advance to the final day of competition in second place. Blaylock added another five bass weighing 12-13 to his final-round total Sunday.
Morgan caught a final-round total of 10 bass weighing 22-15 to claim second place and $55,000.
“I started off pretty good,” said Morgan, who surpassed the $1 million mark at $1,043,976 in FLW Outdoors events and holds the record of most top-10 finishes in FLW Outdoors events with 42. “I caught a couple of pretty good keepers this morning, you know, 16-inch fish. I caught a 3 1/2-pounder a few minutes later and then it slowed down a little bit. And that was 9:30.”
Morgan said he was fishing down weed edges but relocated to a place he had been saving and caught a quick 2-pounder and another after that. Morgan said at 10:30 he had his limit.
“I buckled down in that area and fished another 20 minutes,” Morgan said. “There was a little bottleneck in the area with current coming through it. I pitched up there and caught a 3-pounder. I knew I needed one good bite and I told myself I was staying in the river. I’d be done with 13 or 14 pounds and I thought that would do it, which it turns out, would have.”
Morgan said he lost a 4-pounder at the boat, but focused his efforts on the remaining four bushes on the point he was fishing. A 3 1/2-pounder bit and got hung in a bush, and Morgan moved the boat toward the fish.
“It’s in the bush, and it’s twisting a flopping just like a catfish in a trotline,” Morgan said. “It just fell off and that was at 11:36. I threw down my rod and stepped on my hat a few times. And that was it. I never caught anything of any substance.”
Morgan targeted the upper end of the lake and said key baits for him during the course of the week were a Zoom Super Hog, Zoom Trick Worm, Sumo Frog, Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper and Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver.
Rounding out the top 10 pros were Team Iams pro Koby Kreiger of Okeechobee, Fla. (10 bass, 21-11, $45,000); Team Snickers/M&Ms pro Greg Pugh of Cullman, Ala. (10 bass, 19-4, $35,000); Sean Hoernke of The Woodlands, Texas (10 bass, 17-14, $30,000); Team BP pro Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn. (nine bass, 16-12, $28,000); Jacob Powroznik of Prince George, Va. (10 bass, 16-3, $26,000); Eric Ambort of Mabelvale, Ark. (nine bass, 13-10, $24,000); Dale Evans of Summerville, S.C. (nine bass, 12-6, $22,000) and Keith Williams of Conway, Ark. (six bass, 10-9, $20,000).
Overall there were 44 bass weighing 82 pounds, 2 ounces caught in the Pro Division Sunday. The catch included seven five-bass limits.
Jason Ober of Johnstown, Pa., won the Co-angler Division and $40,000 Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 7 pounds, 11 ounces followed by Jeff Freeman of Max Meadows, Va., in second place with three bass weighing 6-2 worth $15,000.
Ober opened the tournament in third place Thursday with five bass weighing 9-5 while fishing with Danny Pierce of Greenbrier, Ark. On Friday he slipped to fourth place with a five-bass catch weighing 6-9 while fishing with Kim Stricker of Howell, Mich. He wrapped up his win while fishing with Blaylock.
“It doesn’t matter what you’re fishing, whether it’s a club tournament, a team tournament or fishing the Tour, it’s awesome to win,” said Ober, who has won more than $150,000 in FLW Outdoors events. “I’m overwhelmed with emotion and I thank the Lord for the opportunity to be here today.”
Ober, who fishes Stren Series events as a pro, said he plans to spend three seasons fishing the FLW Tour as a co-angler before attempting to move to the front of the boat. Ober said his experience as a pro in the Stren Series helps him as a co-angler, but said the co-angler competition is more challenging because co-anglers fish behind the best pros in the world and must be able to successfully adapt to any situation.
Ober said he caught his fish Saturday on a 4-inch green pumpkin soft-plastic stickbait around docks. Ober said he targeted the front posts and last few feet of the docks, spots his pro anglers avoided all week. Ober said he caught 14 fish throughout the course of the day, including six keepers. Ober fished 10-pound PowerPro braid with a 10-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Flourocarbon leader so he could make long casts.
“When you’re fishing as a co-angler, one of the most important things you can do is be very cognizant of your surroundings,” Ober said. “I’m always looking around to find a stump as far away as I can find it. I throw to the other side of the pocket, because if you fish the same way as your partner, you’re wasting your time. C’mon, these guys are vacuum cleaners.”
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers are Team PTSI co-angler Spencer Shuffield of Bismarck, Ark. (four bass, 5-12, $7,500); David Hudson of Jasper, Ala. (three bass, 5-9, $5,000); Dearal Rodgers of Camden, S.C. (three bass, 5-6, $4,000); Shane Lehew of Charlotte, N.C. (three bass, 4-6, $3,500); David Lauer of South Bend, Ind. (three bass, 4-5, $3,000); Bob Bjorkland of Centennial, Colo. (two bass, 3-7, $2,500); Fred Martin of North Little Rock, Ark. (two bass, 2-10, $2,000) and Grant McPeters of Marion, N.C. (two bass, 2-8, $1,750).
The total purse for the National Guard Open event at Lake Norman was more than $1.1 million, including $10,000 through 50th place in the Pro Division.
Coverage of the tournament, hosted by the Charlotte Sports Commission, Visit Lake Norman, Visit Charlotte and Cabarrus County Convention & Visitors Bureau, will be broadcast on Versus, the network which brings anglers the best fishing programming on television featuring the most-trusted authorities on the water. The Emmy-nominated “FLW Outdoors,” will air May 31 from 12:30 to 1:30 ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is also broadcast internationally through agreements with WFN (World Fishing Network) and Matchroom Sport to more than 429 million households in such countries as Canada, Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world.
The FLW Tour will award more than $8 million cash to the world’s top bass anglers in 2009. Regular season competition includes three qualifiers and three opens. Each event takes anglers a step closer to the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by Castrol, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pa. The prestigious championship and outdoor show hosted by Visit Pittsburgh will feature 77 pros, 77 co-anglers and bass fishing’s largest cash award – a potential $1 million first-place prize for the winning pro.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.
FLWOutdoors.com
WFN: World Fishing Network Goes Green From April 20-26 to Reinforce the Three Rs of Environmentalism
In conjunction with Earth Day 2009, WFN: World Fishing Network North America’s only 24-hour fishing lifestyle network will reinforce the three “R’s” of environmental stewardship — React-Replenish-Release as it dedicates the week to the environment, even turning its logo and graphics online and on-air green from April 20-26.
Hosted by Emmanuel Belliveau, previously the host of World’s Greenest Homes on Discovery Channel, the campaign focuses upon such critical issues as: fish population; species in peril; green organizations; success stories; green gear; emerging technologies. WFN hosts, professional anglers, celebrities and environmentalists present the network’s best episodes and features that highlight conservation and environmental practices. The network has also produced numerous “Green Tips” and customized environmental brand spots to run all week.
To complement the on-air programming, the network is also providing extensive content online at www.wfn.tv/green including: additional videos, green tips, a forum for viewers to share stories, contests and educational information to let viewers know how they can make a difference. WFN will ask viewers and website visitors “what are you doing to be more green?” The responses will be posted online and will award one entry from the USA and one from Canada a $1000 shopping spree at their local fishing retailer.
Available 24-hours a day, seven days a week, WFN is the only 24/7 network dedicated to all segments of fishing with programming that covers instruction, tips, tournaments, travel, food, boating, outdoor lifestyle and more. WFN’s coverage includes a selection of the best international series and the most diverse species coverage of any outdoor network. The network offers viewers insight from a variety of professional anglers including: Babe Winkelman, Bill Dance, Al Lindner, Scott Martin, George Poveromo, Bob Izumi and more. WFN also includes a variety of lifestyle shows including Charlie Moore TV, Hookin’ Up with Mariko Izumi and WFN’s Reel Road Trip.
WFN: World Fishing Network was originally launched in December 2005 as North America’s first channel dedicated to covering every aspect of the angling and sport fishing industry. Today, WFN and WFN HD are available in more than 20 million households through North American cable, satellite, and telecommunications distributors including Dish Network, Verizon FiOS, Charter, GVTC and more. For more information, visit www.wfn.tv.
Source: World Fishing Network
Gagliardi Wins Walmart FLW Tour on Table Rock Lake
Chevy pro Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C., caught a final-round total of 10 bass weighing 28 pounds, 14 ounces to win $125,000 in the Walmart FLW Tour on Table Rock Lake. Gagliardi outlasted one of the best final field of top-10 anglers in FLW Outdoors history, who have a combined career earnings of more than $7.8 million which included four Land O’ Lakes Angler’s of the Year, three Forrest Wood Cup champions and the 2008 Rookie of the Year. With nearly a four-day total of 15,000 people in attendance, the final day of the FLW Tour qualifying event in Branson was the largest in FLW Outdoors’ history.
Gagliardi topped his closest rival, Scott Suggs of Bryant, Ark., by 10 ounces to earn the win and 200 points toward qualifying for the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by Castrol and BP, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pa., where they could win as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award.
“I was ready to go out and fish today,” said Gagliardi, who notched his third FLW Tour victory. “I haven’t won an event since 2006 [on the FLW Tour] and that was the only cut I made since 2005 so this feels really good.”
Gagliardi caught most of his fish in the White River fishing one creek that he had four or five spots on. He also spent time on the James River this week. “It wasn’t really my plan to run to both of these rivers,” he said. “I don’t like to do a lot of running. I had to run down one and back up the other and that was wasting a lot of time. I was hoping that I was able to figure something out so I would only have to go to one river but that never materialized.
“This week I caught my fish on a Lucky Craft Pointer,” he said. “The first two days I fished shallow because the fish were positioned up close to the bank. The second day I struggled but I did the same thing-fishing the bank with a jerkbait.
“I tried to keep moving out deeper as the days went on and at the end of the second day I caught two big fish in 15 to 30 feet of water.”
Gagliardi opened the tournament Thursday in 41st place with five bass weighing 15-4. He jumped to eighth place Friday with a five-bass catch weighing 17 pounds, 15 ounces to advance into the final round of 10 pros with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 33 pounds, 3 ounces. On Saturday, weights were cleared, and Gagliardi caught five bass weighing 14-6 to advance to the final day of competition in third place. Gagliardi added another five bass weighing 14-8 to his final-round total Sunday.
“I haven’t fished Table Rock before but it’s the same type of water and pattern that I am familiar with and the type of lakes that I fish back home,” he said. “I always have enjoyed fishing clear water and fishing a jerkbait is something that I like. This is actually the first time that I have been able to put together a jerkbait bite in a tournament.”
Suggs caught a final-round total of 10 bass weighing 28-4 to claim second place and $50,000.
“This is a tough loss,” said Suggs, who is the 2007 Forrest Wood Cup champion. “Coming this close and knowing that I lost by ounces is hard.”
Suggs caught all of his fish this week on a Berkley Hollow Belly. “Today, I caught all of my fish in 70 to 80 feet of water,” he said. “I was able to catch a limit before 9 a.m. all this week but today it seemed that the fish were just slapping at the bait.”
Rounding out the top 10 pros were Scott Canterbury of Springville, Ala. (eight bass, 26-3, $40,000); Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky. (10 bass, 24-2, $30,000); BP pro David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn. (nine bass, 23-1, $20,000); National Guard pro Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif. (six bass, 14-5, $19,000); Febreeze pro Michael Bennett of Lincoln, Calif. (three bass, 6-11, $18,000); Pop Tarts pro Greg Bohannan of Rogers, Ark. (three bass, 5-11, $17,000); Chad Morgenthaler of Coulterville, Ill. (two bass, 4-5, $16,000) and BP pro Shinichi Fukae of Mineola, Texas (zero bass, $15,000).
“BP pro Shinichi Fukae was disqualified for fishing in an area where power boats were not allowed,” said FLW Outdoors CEO and President Charlie Evans. “There may have been a misunderstanding due to the language barrier, but because of the rule violation, his weights for the final round were zeroed out.”
Overall there were 26 bass weighing 69 pounds, 12 ounces caught in the Pro Division Sunday. The catch included three five-bass limits.
Patrick Majors of Rogers, Ark., won the Co-angler Division and $20,000 Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 3 ounces followed by Fred Martin of North Little Rock, Ark., in second place with five bass weighing 13-13 worth $10,000.
Majors opened the tournament in 23rd place Thursday with two bass weighing 8-12 while fishing with Lendell Martin Jr. of Nacogdoches, Texas. On Friday he jumped into seventh place on the strength of two bass catch weighing 8-11 while fishing with Kyle Mabrey of McCalla, Ala. He wrapped up his win while fishing with Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky.
“All I do is fish for fun,” Majors said. “This really is a dream come true. I don’t know what else to say.”
Majors said that every fish except for one this week came off a purple with chartreuse suspended Rogue jerkbait. “What I would do is throw the Rogue out of the back of the boat and give it about 30 to 40 yards and starting jerking it,” Majors said. “While the pro is working the bank in the front I am strolling the jerkbait. I do this a lot at home on Beaver Lake.”
Majors said that his wife already has plans for the $20,000 that he won today. “My next step is to go to Beaver Lake and see if I can do it again,” he said.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers are Brandon Hunter of Benton, Ky. (four bass, 16-15, $7,500); James Watson of Waynesville, Mo.(three bass, 6-11, $5,000); Zac Cassill of Fairfax, Iowa (one bass, 5-7, $4,000); Frank Divis Sr. of Fayetteville, Ark. (one bass, 2-3, $3,500); Alex Posey of Roswell, Ga. (zero bass, $3,000); Teddy Bradley of Mishawaka, Ind. (zero bass, $2,500); Dearal Rodgers of Camden, S.C. (zero bass, $2,000) and David Lauer of South Bend, Ind. (zero bass, $1,500).
Overall there were 19 bass weighing 51 pounds, 10 ounces caught in the Co-angler Division Saturday. The catch included two five-bass limits.
In FLW Tour competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers. The full field competes in the two-day opening round for one of 10 slots in Saturday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Saturday’s weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Sunday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.
Coverage of the tournament, hosted by the Branson/Lakes Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, will be broadcast on VERSUS, the network which brings anglers the best fishing programming on television featuring the most-trusted authorities on the water. The Emmy-nominated “FLW Outdoors,” will air April 19 from 12:30 to 1:30 ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide, including internationally through agreements with WFN (World Fishing Network) and Matchroom Sport to such countries as Canada, Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world.
The FLW Tour will award more than $8 million in cash to the world’s top bass anglers in 2009. Regular season competition includes three qualifiers and three opens. Each event takes anglers a step closer to the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by BP and Castrol, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pa. The prestigious championship and outdoor show hosted by VisitPittsburgh will feature 77 pros, 77 co-anglers and bass fishing’s largest cash award – a potential $1 million first-place prize for the winning pro.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.
For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.
Last-Minute Entry Lands Kentucky Auto Parts Production Worker $100,000 Prize in Fantasy Fishing Game
FLW Fantasy Fishing Kicks Off Race for $1 Million Grand Prize with First Tournament of 2009 Season
To win FLW Fantasy Fishing, or any contest for that matter, you have to enter. And entering at the last minute counts just as much as if you entered days, weeks or even months before.
That’s what Terry Moberly, 45, a resident of Berea, Ky., a small town near Lexington, Ky. learned. Last Wednesday, Feb. 11, with less than four hours until the closing bell on FLW Fantasy Fishing picks for the first tournament, Moberly registered at fantasyfishing.com. Using Player’s Advantage, an online tool that provides “inside” information about FLW Tour bass pros, Moberly picked 10 bass pros from among a field of 157 that would be competing the very next morning in the first of six tournaments that make up the Walmart FLW Tour, professional bass fishing’s largest and most prestigious tournament circuit.
Moberly, an avid bass angler, was urged to enter FLW Fantasy Fishing by his two sons, Tyler, a student at Eastern Kentucky University, located in nearby Richmond, Ky., and his 19-year-old son, Brandon. Both sons are avid bass anglers, too, having competed in regional bass tournaments sponsored by FLW Outdoors.
The rest they say is history. Because today, Moberly is $100,000 richer, proving once again that old adage, “you need to enter to win.”
“This is fantastic,” said the even-keel Moberly, a production worker at the Tokico USA, a manufacturing plant in Berea that makes automobile shocks and suspensions. “I had never played any sort of fantasy sport before, but my sons said to me, ‘Dad, you just gotta try this,’ and with the additional resources Player’s Advantage offers, I was able to enhance my picks.”
Married for 24 years to his sweetheart, Debbie, Moberly says that fishing, along with other outdoors activities such as camping and hunting run deep in his family. Born and raised in Richmond, Ky., Moberly frequently fishes nearby lakes and reservoirs, including Cumberland Lake, from his Ranger bass boat. And while he’s fished a few tournaments himself, Moberly and his wife especially enjoy watching their sons compete in fishing tournaments. Son Tyler competes on a bass fishing team representing Eastern Kentucky University in the National Guard FLW College Fishing Tournament Circuit, and son Brandon has competed in the Walmart Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mountain Division Tournament Circuit.
“With the economy as it is, the extra money will allow us to shore up our finances and help us pay college tuition,” added Moberly. “And maybe I’ll treat myself to a new Ranger bass boat.”
Now Moberly is setting his sights on the $1 million grand prize that will be awarded to the FLW Fantasy Fishing player who accumulates the most points over six tournaments. Moberly, like many FLW Fantasy Fishing players, will continue to tap the powerful online tools of Player’s Advantage, available for only $10 for the entire season, to help give them the edge they need to enhance their fantasy team picks.
“I’m going to continue to rely on Player’s Advantage, a great resource for only $10, to give me an even greater edge in the race for that $1 million grand prize,” Moberly said. “I’m off to a great start and I want to be in the winner’s circle in Pittsburgh on Aug. 1 when FLW Fantasy Fishing announces the $1 million grand prize.”
The Winning Combination
To win the first FLW Fantasy Fishing tournament, Moberly earned 12,744 points based on the performance of the pro bass anglers who fished the Walmart FLW Tour’s first four-day tournament, the Chevy Open, on Lake Guntersville, near Huntsville, Ala. The first FLW Tour tournament was won by TUM’s bass pro David Fritts, a resident of Lexington, N.C. Starting in sixth place on the last day of the tournament, Fritts’ crankbait assault catapulted him into first place and the tournament’s $200,000 prize.
Moberly scored three exactas, earning him additional points on top of the points he accumulated based on the fishing performance of each of his individual fantasy team members. He picked Fritts to finish in first place, David Dudley, who finished in third, and Craig Dowling, who finished in 10th place. He also selected another angler, Scott Canterbury, who finished within the top 10 (8th place). Moberly’s bass pro picks, in the order he thought they would finish, included:
1. David Fritts
2. Randall Tharp
3. David Dudley
4. Andy Morgan
5. Greg Pugh
6. Dan Morehead
7. Jerry Green
8. J.T. Kenney
9. Scott Canterbury
10. Craig Dowling
“‘I’m not as familiar with all of the FLW bass pros as my sons are, but because of the insight Player’s Advantage offers, I deliberately picked Dave Fritts to win because I thought his style of fishing would work really well on Lake Guntersville,” said Moberly.
Race On for $1 Million Grand Prize
Established by Irwin Jacobs, the creator of FLW Outdoors and the Forrest Wood Cup, FLW Fantasy Fishing is rapidly growing in popularity. There is no entry fee to enter, but for an added edge, participants can purchase Player’s Advantage for only $10 to assist them in trying to win a $1 million payday, plus six $100,000 payouts, one for each qualifying tournament.
Fantasy Fishing is sponsored by FLW Outdoors, which brings the world’s richest bass fishing tournament, the Forrest Wood Cup, to Pittsburgh this summer from July 30-Aug. 2. The Forrest Wood Cup is the final event in the Walmart FLW Tour, and just like fantasy football and fantasy baseball, you can follow the leading money winners on the FLW Tour all season long and win America’s richest fantasy event when the Fantasy Fishing winners for 2009 are announced here in Pittsburgh on Aug. 1, 2009. Highlights from each Walmart FLW Tour are broadcast to more than 79 million households weekly on the FLW Outdoors television program, which will premiere on April 5, 2009 on VERSUS. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is also broadcast internationally through agreements with World Fishing Network (WFN) and Matchroom Sport to more than 500 million households in such countries as Canada, Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary, and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor sports television show in the world.
In addition to the $1 million grand prize, and the six $100,000 tournament prizes, FLW Fantasy Fishing players are eligible to win prizes such as a $54,000 Ranger boat, a brand new Chevy vehicle, a $25,000 gift card, or one of more than 1,800 additional prizes. Fantasy Fishing also offers $3 million and $5 million exacta bonus games by correctly ranking the top five finishers in the Forrest Wood Cup or the top seven finishers in a tournament.
FLW Fantasy Fishing players can increase their chances of winning the $1 million grand prize by entering all FLW Fantasy Fishing tournaments throughout the season and accumulating a greater amount of points leading up to the Forrest Wood Cup. The next tournaments in the Walmart FLW Tour professional bass circuit include:
Tournament 2: Table Rock Lake, Branson, Mo., March 12-15, 2009
Tournament 3: Lake Norman, Charlotte, N.C., April 23-26, 2009
Tournament 4: Beaver Lake, Rogers, Ark., May 14-17, 2009
Tournament 5: Kentucky/Barkley Lake, Benton, Ky., June 11-14, 2009
Tournament 6: Lake Champlain, Plattsburgh, N.Y., July 9-12, 2009
$1 Million Grand Prize Announcement: Forrest Wood Cup, Pittsburgh, Pa.,
Aug. 1, 2009
The Richest Fantasy Sports Game
In its first season, FLW Fantasy Fishing took the fantasy sports world by surprise by offering the first $1 million guaranteed grand prize for a fantasy sports game. And with that announcement, FLW Fantasy Fishing soared to the top of the fantasy sports world, gaining fans from 123 countries attracted to the game’s $7.3 million in overall cash and prizes, the highest payout of any fantasy sports game in the world. Last year’s million dollar winner was Michael Thompson, 34, of Minneapolis, a stay-at-home Dad.
This year, FLW Fantasy Fishing once again sets a new standard, offering a $1 million grand prize again along with 1,800 other prizes for a total of $10 million in overall cash and prizes, the highest payout of any fantasy sports game in the world.
First Tournament: Second and Third Places
Finishing behind Terry Moberly in second place, with 12,389 points, was Nate Rose, a resident of Addison, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, who won a $5,000 Walmart gift card. Rose is an avid angler and fantasy sports gamer, who learned about FLW Fantasy Fishing from a fishing buddy.
“Our basement was flooded last fall during a nine-inch rainstorm,” said Rose, “so this gift card will come in really handy in helping us re-decorate our basement.”
Clarence “Junior” Hillyard, a resident of Winchester, Va., a suburb of Washington D.C., came in third place, with 12,259 points, winning a $1,000 Walmart gift card. Hillyard, a technician with Rubbermaid, and his wife are the parents of a 15-day-old baby girl.
“This is great! I can’t tell you how useful that Walmart gift card will be for our new baby,” said Hillyard, a self-proclaimed fishing geek. “It’s going to make buying all of those diapers and formula a lot easier.”
International Winners
FLW Fantasy Fishing players representing four countries outside the United States earned prizes in the first FLW Fantasy Fishing tournament in 2009. Winners represented Australia, Canada, Japan and Mexico.
The highest placing player was William Martin, a player from Wingham, New South Wales, Australia, who came in 123rd place to win a $50 Walmart gift card.
In the first year of FLW Fantasy Fishing, participants from 123 countries played Fantasy Fishing with prizes awarded to players in the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, Estonia and a number of other countries.
FLW Outdoors
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world and is offering anglers the chance to win more than $33 million through 231 tournaments in 2009. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing http://www.fantasyfishing.com/, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com http://www.flwoutdoors.com/ or call (270) 252-1000.
Fritts Wins Walmart FLW Tour Chevy Open on Lake Guntersville
David Fritts of Lexington, N.C., caught a final-round total of eight bass weighing 38 pounds, 1 ounce to win $200,000 in the $1.1 million Walmart FLW Tour Chevy Open on Lake Guntersville.
Fritts topped his closest rival, Sam Newby of Pocola, Okla., by 1 pound, 1 ounce to earn the win and 200 points toward qualifying for the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by Castrol and BP, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pa., where they could win as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award.
“I just got in a zone today,” said Fritts, who notched his fifth FLW Tour victory on Lake Guntersville. “I was fishing and feeling good and I just caught a ton of fish. It was one of those things where I knew what I was going to have to do and I really kept my concentration and nothing interfered with me.”
Fritts said he caught every fish he weighed in on Sunday on Rapala DT-10 crankbaits in Hot Mustard and Shad colors with VMC Sure Set hooks.
“Those hooks saved my butt,” Fritts said. “Those things are wonderful.”
Fritts said he fished the North Sauty Creek area and caught about 20 keepers Sunday. Fritts said he fished the area every day during the tournament and was glad to see it hold up long enough for him to claim the $200,000 first-place cash prize.
“I’m going to buy me a new Chevy truck on the way home and give my wife a little of the money left over,” Fritts said.
Fritts opened the tournament Thursday in second place with five bass weighing 25-11. He slipped to third place Friday with a five-bass catch weighing 19 pounds, 7 ounces to advance into the final round of 10 pros with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 45 pounds, 2 ounces. On Saturday, weights were cleared, and Fritts caught three bass weighing 14-4 to advance to the final day of competition in sixth place. Fritts added another five bass weighing 23-13 to his final-round total Sunday.
Newby caught a final-round total of eight bass weighing 37-0 to claim second place and $55,000.
“It started out slow today,” said Newby, who has won more than $723,000 in FLW Outdoors events. “I lost a 4-pounder 20 minutes into the morning and then went a long spell without a fish. I had a few slap at it, but no good bites.
“Then the sun popped out and I caught the four I weighed in about 35 or 40 minutes and then lost a really big one,” Newby added.
Newby said he fished around the Seibold campground area the last day of competition, an area he fished throughout the tournament, and relied on a consistent afternoon bite. Newby said he caught the majority of his fish on a 3/4-ounce red lipless crankbait on 30-pound braid and a 17-pound-test fluorocarbon leader.
“The sun was part of that bite, and I didn’t get the sun yesterday, so I was really fortunate to catch what I caught out of it yesterday,” Newby said. “I had a place I could go catch a keeper real quick, but I knew if I caught one more at my primary spot, it was a done deal. The way (Scott) Canterbury had been catching them, I figured I needed 23 or 24 pounds because I was about 2-1/2 pounds behind him. I did what I thought I needed to do to win and it just didn’t work out.”
Rounding out the top 10 pros were Team Castrol High Mileage pro David Dudley of Lynchburg, Va. (seven bass, 34-11, $45,000); Team National Guard pro Ramie Colson Jr. of Cadiz, Ky. (10 bass, 34-3, $35,000); Tom Mann Jr. of Buford, Ga. (nine bass, 29-13, $30,000); Team BP pro David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn. (10 bass, 28-12, $28,000); John Tanner of Quitman, Texas. (nine bass, 27-12, $26,000); Scott Canterbury of Springville, Ala. (seven bass, 24-14, $24,000); Team Castrol pro Mike Surman of Boca Raton, Fla. (eight bass, 22-8, $22,000) and Craig Dowling of Grant, Ala. (six bass, 19-8, $20,000).
Overall there were 42 bass weighing 164 pounds, 7 ounces caught in the Pro Division Sunday. The catch included five five-bass limits.
Team BP co-angler Judy Israel of Wimauma, Fla., the only woman to ever win a Tour-level event, notched her second co-angler title Saturday in the Chevy Open. Israel won the Co-angler Division and $40,000 with a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 11 ounces followed by Team National Guard co-angler Justin Lucas of Folsom, Calif., in second place with five bass weighing 16-4 worth $15,000
“Three out of my four practice days I didn’t catch a fish,” Israel said. “I caught a total of three fish. I went into this tournament not knowing what I was going to do.”
Israel, 63, said she relied on two baits, a square-bill crankbait and a Berkley Frenzy Rattl’r during the tournament. Israel got a confidence boost from the baits Friday after a slow start.
“On Friday, at about 1 p.m. I had four fish,” said Israel, who became the first woman to win a Tour event at the 2004 Atchafalaya event. “I caught my big one on a lipless crankbait. When I caught it, I told Carl (Svebek) ‘It’s got to be eight pounds. It’s so big. It’s so big.’
“Afterward, I started thinking it was smaller than that,” Israel continued. “I thought it was only a 7-pounder. And then I put my fish on the scales and was shocked to know that I had over 26 pounds and the big one was over nine pounds. That turns out to be my largest sack and my largest fish I’ve ever weighed in an event. I’m ecstatic.”
Israel said Saturday she missed her first fish of the day, caught two fish and then didn’t get another bite for a “long time.”
“Then my pro (Tom Mann Jr.) went shallower and there was no grass there,” Israel said. “I kept feeling little tree stumps or something there. I caught three fish in six casts on a red lipless crankbait.”
Israel said her first victory on the FLW Tour was sweet, but Saturday’s win was more special.
“I have such a passion for this sport,” said Israel, who taught school in the Bronx in New York City before she retired. “I love it. My love for the sport goes back to my father who took me flounder fishing in Long Island Sound when I was 2 years old.”
Israel opened the tournament in 30th place Thursday with four bass weighing 11-1 while fishing with Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C. On Friday she jumped into first place on the strength of a five-bass catch weighing 26-8 while fishing with Team Castrol pro Carl Svebek of Siloam Springs, Ark. She wrapped up her win while fishing with Mann.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers are Bill Bade of Omaha, Neb. (three bass, 9-4, $7,500); Kevin Koone of Greenbrier, Ark. (two bass, 8-3, $5,000); Thomas Helton of Charleston, Tenn. (three bass, 7-9, $4,000); Greg Schultz of Wayzata, Minn. (two bass, 6-12, $3,500); Terry Chapman of Stanley, N.C. (two bass, 6-3, $3,000); Fred Martin of North Little Rock, Ark. (two bass, 5-12, $2,500); Scott Gibson of Wiggins, Miss. (one bass, 5-9, $2,000) and Sam Mitchiner of Garner, N.C. (one bass, 2-2, $1,750).
Overall there were 26 bass weighing 5 pounds, 5 ounces caught in the Co-angler Division Saturday. The catch included two five-bass limits.
The total purse for the Chevy Open event at Lake Guntersville was more than $1.1 million, including $10,000 through 50th place in the Pro Division.
Coverage of the tournament, hosted by the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau, will be broadcast on Versus, the network which brings anglers the best fishing programming on television featuring the most-trusted authorities on the water. The Emmy-nominated “FLW Outdoors,” will air April 5 from 12:30 to 1:30 ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is also broadcast internationally through agreements with WFN (World Fishing Network) and Matchroom Sport to more than 429 million households in such countries as Canada, Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world.
The FLW Tour will award more than $8 million cash to the world’s top bass anglers in 2009. Regular season competition includes three qualifiers and three opens. Each event takes anglers a step closer to the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by Castrol, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pa. The prestigious championship and outdoor show hosted by Visit Pittsburgh will feature 77 pros, 77 co-anglers and bass fishing’s largest cash award – a potential $1 million first-place prize for the winning pro.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.