GALLATIN, Tenn. – Ranger pro Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla., caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 33 pounds, 2 ounces to lead the 10 pros who advanced to Friday’s competition in the four-day, $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour event on Old Hickory Lake. The original field of 200 pros and 200 co-anglers was whittled to 10 in each division after Thursday’s conclusion of the opening round, and Browne sits at the top of the leaderboard thanks to a five-bass catch Thursday that weighed 13 pounds, 5 ounces. The tournament, which is presented by Snickers and hosted by the Forward Sumner Economic Council and Sumner County Tourism, will award the winning pro $100,000 cash Saturday afternoon.
Although Thursday morning’s takeoff was considerably warmer than Wednesday’s chilly launch, overall air temperatures decreased slightly Thursday as the sun retreated and the wind picked up. As a result, the fishing conditions changed and befuddled many anglers who performed well Wednesday. Others, such as Yamaha pro Greg Hackney, found Thursday’s conditions to be even more favorable, as Hackney vaulted from 122nd place to sixth thanks to his limit of five bass that weighed a whopping 26 pounds, 8 ounces. Browne, however, came into Thursday’s competition in third and remained steady, earning his first top-10 berth in the FLW Tour.
“I was shocked at what I caught,” said Browne, a former Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League Gator Division points winner who is also making his mark in the EverStart Series Eastern Division. “I really didn’t fish that good today; I broke off three fish. Yesterday I had my limit by a quarter after 11; today it took me until 2:15. We didn’t have sun, and the sun had the fish up shallower yesterday. The conditions are changing because of a combination of the water dropping and the cloudy weather.”
Browne barely missed the top-10 cut at the FLW Tour season opener on Okeechobee, finishing 11th, but he rose to the top on Old Hickory with a Gambler Ninja Jig, a Gambler BB Cricket and a Gambler 4-inch tube. “It’s a big area,” he said, describing his primary fishing spot. “Yesterday I had it to myself, but today there was a boat in there. I wanted to get into the top 10. I’m going to swing for the fences.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Tracy Adams of Wilkesboro, N.C. (10 bass, 32 pounds, 9 ounces); Marcel Veenstra of Brighton, Mich. (nine bass, 31 pounds, 3 ounces); John Murray of Phoenix (10 bass, 31 pounds, 1 ounce); and Dave Lefebre of Erie, Pa. (nine bass, 30 pounds, 1 ounce).
Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year points leader Dean Rojas of Grand Saline, Texas, enjoyed a productive opening day but stumbled a bit Thursday, hauling in only one bass for 2 pounds, 4 ounces. The Yamaha pro finished the tournament in 30th place with a two-day total of six bass weighing 18 pounds.
Keith Pace of Monticello, Ark., leads the co-anglers into their final day of competition thanks to a two-day total of five bass weighing 15 pounds, 1 ounce. Pace, co-angler winner of the 2002 FLW Tour Championship, caught only one bass Wednesday to enter Thursday’s competition in 85th place but rebounded to lead thanks to a Rat-L-Trap and a jig.
“I was fishing in the grass today,” said Pace, who is currently ranked fifth in co-angler points standings. “The fish came up and started biting, and I was lucky to get a couple of good ones.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Quint Bourgeois of Knoxville (five bass, 14 pounds, 13 ounces); Larry Dix of Bella Vista, Ark. (six bass, 14 pounds, 13 ounces); Alex Ormand of Bessemer City, N.C. (four bass, 14 pounds, 9 ounces); and Billy Yelverton of Baton Rouge, La. (four bass, 12 pounds, 13 ounces).
Stanley Mitchell of Fitzgerald, Ga., earned $750 as the Pro Division’s Snickers Big Bass winner Thursday thanks to a 7-pound, 11-ounce bass. Mitchell also earned $1,000 from Snickers for catching the heaviest bass of the tournament. Co-angler Snickers Big Bass honors went to Pace and Larry Herron of Joplin, Mo. Both caught a 6-pound, 4-ounce bass that earned each angler $250. Snickers will award an additional $5,000 at the end of the year to the angler who catches the heaviest bass during the regular season. Currently that mark belongs to Rojas, who caught a 10-pound largemouth on Lake Okeechobee in January.
Bull Creek Ramp in Gallatin hosts Friday and Saturday’s takeoffs at 8 a.m. and 7 a.m., respectively. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 1112 Nashville Pike in Gallatin beginning at 5 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.
The community is encouraged to attend the Family Fun Zone Friday and Saturday outside the weigh-in tent in the Wal-Mart parking lot. The Family Fun Zone features interactive displays, product samples and games for the entire family to enjoy. The Fun Zone will open Friday at 3 p.m. and Saturday at 11 a.m.
Weights are cleared after the conclusion of the opening round, and co-angler competition concludes Friday based on their one-day weight. The winning co-angler will receive $15,000 cash. Pros continue competition Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest two-day weight.
Anglers are also competing this week for valuable points that determine Land O’ Lakes Angler of the Year standings and the field for the 2004 FLW Tour Championship, set for Aug. 11-14 in Birmingham, Ala., on Logan Martin Lake. The $1.5 million championship presented by Castrol awards the winning pro $500,000 cash, the sport’s largest prize. Surrounding the championship is a world-class outdoor show in which fishing fans are treated to hundreds of displays featuring special offers on everything from crankbaits to bass boats.
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. Two hundred points are awarded to tournament winners, with 199 for second, 198 for third, and so on. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points.
Coverage of the Old Hickory Lake tournament will be broadcast to 65 million Outdoor Life Network subscribers on the “FLW Outdoors” television program. A tournament preview featuring bass-fishing legend Hank Parker will air March 28 at 1 p.m. Eastern time and April 1 at 5 p.m. Eastern time. Fishing fans can watch the tournament weigh-in with hosts Carlton Wing, Taylor Carr and Charlie Evans April 4 at 1 p.m. and April 8 at 5 p.m. Eastern time. Tournament veteran Larry Nixon will host a tournament wrap-up April 11 at 1 p.m. Eastern time and April 15 at 5 p.m. Eastern time.
The winner of the FLW Tour stop on Old Hickory Lake will also be featured on “FLW Outdoors Presented by Wal-Mart” on Sunday from 9-11 a.m. Eastern time. The cutting-edge radio program hosted by Keith Lebowitz and Tony Casillas is broadcast live on the World Wide Web at FLWOutdoors.com. The show is also broadcast throughout Texas and parts of Oklahoma on Fox Sports 1190 AM KFXR in Dallas. Listeners who would like to ask a question of any show guest can e-mail the question to [email protected].
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, the Wal-Mart FLW Tour is administered by FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing. Other FLW Outdoors-sanctioned tournament trails are the EverStart Series, the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour, the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye League and the Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its six tournament trails. Wal-Mart has been the title sponsor of FLW Outdoors since 1997.
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