FLW anglers battle bitter temps at Beaver
ROGERS, Ark. – Temperatures plunged below freezing Wednesday morning as 175 tournament boats took off onto Arkansas’ Beaver Lake to begin the 2003 Wal-Mart Open. Under normal circumstances, most sane fishermen would keep the boat in the garage and go to work in a nice, climate-controlled office building on a day where temperatures dropped into the 20s.
But with a million dollars on the line, these are anything but normal circumstances. The pro winner will take home $200,000 and the co-angler winner $40,000.
Tour stop No. 4 on the Wal-Mart FLW Tour should promise some nice bags of bass despite the temperature. Several pros reported a good prespawn bite in practice even as the cold front moved in. Competitors are hoping a warming trend promised for the weekend will really get the fish moving as the week wears on.
Of course, it’s a crucial week for anglers jockeying for position in the standings as they try to qualify for the year-end Jacobs Cup and its $1.5 million purse. Currently, Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky., leads the pros with 569 points. The co-anglers are led by Frank Meyer of Marianna, Fla., with 543 points. The top 48 pros and co-anglers at the end of the six-event regular season will compete in the Jacobs Cup.
Wednesday’s 3 p.m. weigh-in will be held at Prairie Creek Marina in Rogers.
Wednesday’s conditions
Sunrise: 6:51 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 29 degrees
Expected high temperature: 52 degrees
Water temperature at the ramp: 49 degrees
Wind: from the north at 12 mph
Relative humidity: 63 percent
Day’s outlook: partly cloudy
Day-one links: