BENTON, Ky. – Two hundred of the world’s best professional anglers competing in the $900,000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour event presented by Pedigree on Kentucky Lake endured heavy rain and braved rough waters Wednesday in search of five bass that would bring them one step closer to the tournament’s top award of $100,000. The man leading the charge at the end of the day was Yamaha pro Curt Lytle of Zuni, Va., who caught an impressive five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 9 ounces.
Lytle, an FLW Outdoors veteran of 12 years, fished shallow, stained water to bag his tournament-leading limit.
“I had a good day fishing,” said Lytle, who has five wins and 12 top-10 finishes in FLW Outdoors competition. “I don’t know why the big fished moved in, but I’m glad they did.”
Lytle wouldn’t reveal his pattern or fishing location this early in the tournament, but he did drop a hint.
“I love coming to this lake because it reminds me of Buggs Island,” he said referring to Kerr Reservoir. “The seasonal patterns are nearly identical and they fish alike.”
Kerr Reservoir, located on the border of North Carolina and Virginia, is known for big limits of bass being caught from flooded buckbrush during the spring. Large jigs are the most popular lure of choice followed by tubes and Texas-rigged worms.
Ranger pro Toshinari Namiki of Mineloa, Texas, finished in a close second with five bass weighing 20 pounds, 1 ounce.
“It was a very good day for me,” said Namiki, who had four top-five finishes last year on the FLW Tour. “The weather really helped make the fish more active.”
Namiki fished two areas having both deep and shallow water. He fished shallow in the morning with a jig and later switched to a crankbait for the deeper water. He believes that enough fish are in the two areas to last the entire tournament.
Rounding out the top five pros are Gary Yamamoto of Mineloa, Texas (five bass 20 pounds); Team National Guard angler Jonathan Newton of Rogersville, Ala. (five bass 19 pounds, 14 ounces) and Team Tylenol angler Gabe Bolivar of Ramona, Calif. (five bass 19 pounds, 12 ounces).
The Snickers Big Bass of the day was landed by pro Ralph Laster of Lees Summit, Mo., who earned $750 for his 7-pound, 5-ounce fish.
James Christian of Dickson, Tenn., leads the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 16 pounds, 6 ounces.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Terry Chapman of Prosperity, S.C. (five bass 16 pounds, 4 ounces); Team Wal-Mart angler Trevor Jancasz of White Pigeon, Mich. (five bass 15 pounds, 5 ounces); Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C. (five bass 15 pounds) and Bill Guillory of Jasper, Texas (five bass 13 pounds, 13 ounces).
Guillory earned $375 and Snickers Big Bass honors in the Co-angler Division with a 5-pound, 15-ounce bass.
Overall, 1,254 bass weighing 3,080 pounds, 1 ounce were caught Wednesday, including 146 five-bass limits.
Anglers will take off at 6:30 each morning from Kentucky Dam Marina. Thursday’s weigh-in will also be held at the Marina beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 310 West Fifth Street in Benton 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. The total purse for the Kentucky Lake tournament is $900,000, including $10,000 through 50th place in the Pro Division. In addition to this purse, Tyson has released three tagged “Power Bass” worth $5,000 each into Kentucky Lake. Any pro or co-angler competing in the tournament is eligible to catch these “Power Bass” and claim the cash award.
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 Kentucky Lake tournament will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on June 25 and July 2 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 350 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.
Kellogg’s will present the sixth and final stop of the FLW Tour’s regular season 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 presented by Abu Garcia, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $37.9 million through 249 events in 2006.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, visit 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.