$7.6 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour to visit Pickwick Lake

FLORENCE, Ala. – The $7.6 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour will stop in Florence, Ala., March 1-4 for its third regular-season event, presented by A&W Root Beer on Pickwick Lake. Hosted by Florence/Lauderdale Tourism, the tournament features 400 anglers from 37 states, Japan, Canada and Australia, with 200 of the world’s best bass pros fishing for a top award of $100,000 cash. Two hundred co-anglers will compete for a top award of $20,000 cash.

Pickwick Lake is famous for its trophy-class smallmouths, which may give anglers phenomenal fishing one day and nary a bite the next. The Tennessee River impoundment is also capable of producing healthy limits of largemouths, making top weights and winning patterns unpredictable to say the least.

Kellogg’s pro Sam Newby of Pocola, Okla., who won the 2005 Stren Series Championship on Pickwick, said a few anglers will bust a big sack of bass. “Someone will figure them out,” Newby said. “The best chance for a big bag will be the smallies.” Newby called for catch weights of around 16 pounds per day to be competitive.

Pro Matt Herren of Trussville, Ala., agreed, although he pointed out the current factor as being very important at the event. “If we get a warming trend with some rain, there will be some current, and it will be a good event. That’ll also bring the largemouths up for a good bite. But if it stays cold, anglers will have to depend on the smallmouths.”

Anglers will take off at 7 each morning from McFarland Park. Wednesday and Thursday’s weigh-ins will also be held at McFarland Park beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 3100 Hough Road in Florence beginning at 4 p.m.

The community is invited to attend the free Family Fun Zone Friday and Saturday outside the weigh-in tent in the Wal-Mart parking lot. The Family Fun Zone, which opens at 2 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday, features interactive displays, product samples and games for the entire family to enjoy.

The full field competes in the two-day opening round for one of 10 slots in Friday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Friday’s weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.

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.

This is the most lucrative FLW Tour season to date with a $7.6 million purse, including four $900,000 events and two $1.25 million open events during the regular season. Each event leads up to the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship and Outdoor Show presented by Castrol, which will be held Aug. 2-5 on Logan Martin Lake in Birmingham, Ala. The prestigious championship hosted by Birmingham, Pell City and St. Clair County features 48 pros, 48 co-anglers and bass fishing’s largest guaranteed cash award – a $500,000 first-place prize for the winning pro. Held in conjunction with the tournament is a world-class outdoor show featuring more than 140 exhibits.

Coverage of the Pickwick Lake tournament will be broadcast to 78 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on April 2 and April 9 as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to more than 300 million households in such countries as 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. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.

The fourth regular-season tour event will be the Wal-Mart Open powered by Tyson on Beaver Lake in Rogers, Ark., April 5-8. Kentucky Lake in Benton, Ky., will host the fifth tour stop, presented by Pedigree, May 10-13 followed by a stop presented by Kellogg’s on Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh, N.Y., June 21-24.

Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.

Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.