GALLATIN, Tenn. – Pro Michael Brown of Rocky Face, Ga., caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 26 pounds, 11 ounces to lead day two of the Wal-Mart FLW Series event on Old Hickory Lake near Gallatin, Tenn. Brown, along with a full field of 200 professional anglers, is competing for his shot at a $100,000 first-place check.
The bite has varied for many anglers fishing Old Hickory this week. Some have been catching their bass from submerged, offshore cover, while others have been beating the banks. Brown has been concentrating on throwing a shallow-running crankbait.
“I’m just throwing it around any cover I can see and some that I can’t see and making 1,000 casts,” Brown said. “I never could find a good offshore school of bass during practice, so I’ve just been fishing shallow.”
Brown has been targeting his shallow-water bass in several small creeks. He echoed the words of many pros coming through the weigh-in line on day two, saying that the fishing had gotten significantly tougher.
“I caught three limits yesterday,” Brown said. “But I only caught six keepers today.”
Local anglers continue to fare well in this event. Gary Clouse of La Vergne, Tenn., sits in third place with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 26 pounds, 2 ounces. “Each day is a new day,” Clouse said. “Anyone is subject to come out here and zero.
“The bite was much tougher today,” Clouse continued. “I probably caught 10 keepers yesterday, but I only had six keeper bites today and I caught five of them.”
Also in the top five is day one leader Sam Lashlee of Camden, Tenn. Lashlee followed up his day-one limit with three more bass on day two, bringing his two-day total weight to 25 pounds, 6 ounces.
In second place is Matt Herren of Trussville, Ala. Herren caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 26 pounds, 6 ounces. Woo Daves of Spring Grove, Va., is sitting in fourth place with a two-day total of nine bass weighing 25 pounds, 9 ounces.
Pro Chris Baumgardner caught the heaviest bass of the tournament thus far – a 6-pound, 8-ounce lunker that is in the lead for the Snicker’s Big Bass Award in the Pro Division.
Matt Arey of Shelby, N.C., leads the Co-angler Division with nine bass weighing 18 pounds, 3 ounces.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Aaron Fahnestock of Enterprise, Ala. (nine bass, 17 pounds, 13 ounces); Pat Hatcliff of Murfreesboro, Tenn. (eight bass, 17 pounds, 4 ounces); Gregory Jones of Mount Juliet, Tenn. (seven bass, 16 pounds, 15 ounces) and Ben Broughton of Day, Fla. (eight bass, 16 pounds, 11 ounces).
James Key of Troy, Ala., holds the biggest bass in the Co-angler Division, caught on day one, which weighed 5 pounds, 10 ounces.
The new $6.5 million FLW Series features five $900,000 qualifying tournaments, each with a top award of $100,000, that advance anglers to the $2 million, 2007 Forrest Wood Cup in Hot Springs, Ark., where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million cash.
Anglers fishing the FLW Series tournament on Old Hickory Lake will take off each morning at 6 from Bull Creek Marina in Gallatin. Friday’s weigh-in will also be held at the marina beginning at 2:30 p.m.
Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 1112 Nashville Pike in Gallatin beginning at 4 p.m. Children will be treated to the Fujifilm trout pond and rides in the Kellogg’s Ranger boat simulator beginning at noon Saturday prior to the final weigh-in at Wal-Mart. All events are free and open to the public.
The entire field competes for the first three days of FLW Series events. Co-angler winners are determined on day three by the heaviest accumulated three-day weight. The top 10 professionals continue competition on day four, and the winner is determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.
In FLW Series 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.
Coverage of the Old Hickory Lake FLW Series tournament will be broadcast to 80 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing July 16. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to approximately 350 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely viewed 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.
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, 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.