Pulling out the stops
FLW finals under way at Atchafalaya
MORGAN CITY, La. – Competition is tight heading into the second half of final-round action at the Wal-Mart FLW Tour on the Atchafalaya Basin. The top three pros are within a pound of each other, and the rest of the finalists are still within striking distance of the $100,000 prize.
Chris Baumgardner leads with a weight of 13 pounds, 4 ounces, but Sam Swett (12-14) and Tom Monsoor (12-6) have less than a pound to make up to catch him.
Given the basin’s feast-or-famine personality this week, Steve Tosh (8 pounds, 6 ounces), Randy Blaukat (7-12) and Dean Rojas (7-5) also have reasonable shots at victory if they can find one of those elusive hot spots.
Mike Surman (6 pounds, 4 ounces), Cody Bird (5-7), Bill McDonald (4-0) and Mark Rose (1-11) have a larger hill to climb than the rest, but keep in mind that this fishery has produced a stringer weighing more than 17 pounds this week.
Conditions – surprise – haven’t changed much for the final day. It’s still rainy and cool with a bit of a north wind, so the fishing shouldn’t be any different from the first three days. Pros will look for clear flipping holes holding the staging, prespawn bass.
Saturday’s final weigh-in begins at 3 p.m. CST at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located at 973 Highway 90 East in Bayou Vista, La. The FLW Tour’s Family Fun Zone – featuring product giveaways, interactive displays and games for fishing fans of all ages – opens in the Wal-Mart parking lot at 11 a.m.
For bass-fishing fans unable to attend the festivities in person, you can catch all the weigh-in action live at FLWOutdoors.com with FLW Live. Show time starts at 3 p.m. Eastern.
Saturday’s conditions
Sunrise: 6:45 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 45 degrees
Expected high temperature: 51 degrees
Water temperature at the ramp: 52 degrees
Wind: from the north at 12 mph
Relative humidity: 90 percent
Day’s outlook: rain/thunder
Day-four links: