Smith-Ellis win Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail event on Santee Cooper lakes

The team of Todd Smith of Summerton, S.C., and Ken Ellis of Bowman, S.C., won the Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail event on Santee Cooper Lakes near Manning, S.C. The anglers earned $4,225. Anglers: Todd Smith, Ken Ellis.

April 16, 2006 • MLF • Archives

MANNING, S.C. – The Team of Todd Smith of Summerton, S.C., and Ken Ellis of Bowman, S.C., won the Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail event on Santee Cooper Lakes near Manning, S.C. The anglers earned $4,225.

Smith and Ellis’ two-day winning catch of 10 bass weighed 40 pounds, 12 ounces. The anglers caught their bass on green pumpkin Senko’s and lizards in 3 to 4 feet of water around cypress tree stumps.

Rounding out the top five teams were Chris Daves of Columbia, S.C. and Nelson Walker of Manning, S.C. (10 bass, 34 pounds, 2 ounces, $2,115); Cecil Wolfe III and Eddie Cox both of Goose Creek, S.C. (10 bass, 31 pounds, 11 ounces, $1,690); Eddie Melton of Charleston, S.C., and Kent Ware of Wadmalaw Island, S.C. (6 bass, 31 pounds, 3 ounces, $1,268) and Ricky Shumpert of Lexington, S.C., and Brent Long of Catawba, N.C. (10 bass, 27 pounds, 7 ounces, $839).

Bryan Cook and Steve Harmon both of Summerville, S.C., earned the big bass award on day two with a 9-pound largemouth.

The next Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail regional event will be held April 21-22 on the California Delta in Stockton, Calif., followed by an event on the Bay of Quinte in Belleville, Ontario, July 22 and 23. The final regional event will be held August 4-5 on Lake Erie near Brownstown, Mich.

The top 35 teams from the Lake Seminole, Lake Ouachita, Santee Cooper Lakes and Lake Erie regionals as well as the top 20 teams from the California Delta and the top 10 teams from the Bay of Quinte regional will be invited to the 2006 Stratos Owners’ Championship held Oct. 6-7 on Old Hickory Lake in Gallatin, Tenn. The winning team from each of the stateside regionals will also advance to the 2007 $2 million, no-entry-fee Forrest Wood Cup where they will compete in the Co-angler Division.

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 Texas Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, 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.

Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as title sponsor of the FLW Tour in 1997 and today is the title sponsor of all FLW Outdoors events. For more information on Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.