BENTON, Ky. – Pro Sam Lashlee of Camden, Tenn., continued his amazing tournament-fishing run Friday when he caught a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 3 ounces to lead day three of the Stren Series Midwest Division event on Kentucky/Barkley lakes. Pros are competing for as much as $64,500 and valuable points that could qualify them for a trip to the $1 million Stren Series Championship for a shot at $140,000. The highest-finishing pro from each division at the Stren Series Championship will also earn a spot in the new $2 million 2007 Forrest Wood Cup where they will compete against top pros from the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Ranger owners’ tournaments and The Bass Federation for bass fishing’s first $1 million top award.
Lashlee, who led on day two with a two-day total of 41 pounds, 5 ounces fished against 19 other pros in the semifinal round. Fresh off a $100,000 win just last week on Old Hickory Lake at a Wal-Mart FLW Series event, Lashlee credits much of his success to confidence.
“I’m just on a roll,” Lashlee said. “I’m fishing with a lot of confidence right now. It’s like I just can’t do anything wrong.
“I’ve got one spot closer to the launch where I can pull up and catch a small limit. That helps my confidence to have a small limit in the boat before I go and try to cull. Today, we caught a couple there and then made a long run south. My spot down there has a little hydrilla on it, not a lot, but the fish are piled up in there. We pulled the boat up there today and loaded up.”
Lashlee has been starting his day by throwing a Strike King crankbait and changing to a football-head jig later in the day.
Rounding out the top five pros are Anton Silvester of Staunton, Ill. (five bass, 21 pounds, 11 ounces); Yancy Windham of Gordo, Ala. (five bass, 18 pounds, 4 ounces); Jim Tutt of Longview, Texas (five bass, 17 pounds, 10 ounces); and Bobby Kilzer of Paris, Tenn. (five bass, 17 pounds, 9 ounces).
All 20 pros competing on the final day caught limits, the smallest of which was still a respectable catch of 12 pounds, 8 ounces.
Ron Fabiszak of South Bend, Ind., leads the Co-angler Division in the chase for a top award worth as much as $35,000, including a 519VX Ranger if contingency guidelines are met. He caught five bass weighing 21 pounds on day three.
Fabiszak fished with Windham on day three to catch his big limit.
“I told him if he doesn’t lead it today, he can quit,” Windham said. “He had a great day.”
Like most of the anglers this week, Fabiszak and Windham targeted bass on deep ledges with jigs, crankbaits and large plastic worms.
“It wasn’t a bad day,” Fabiszak said. “It was an early bite, and I probably caught seven or eight keepers.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Chuck Rounds of Benton (five bass, 18 pounds, 13 ounces); Jeramiah Sifers of Sellersburg, Ind. (five bass, 17 pounds, 10 ounces); Brendan Murphy of Cape Girardeau, Mo. (five bass, 17 pounds, 4 ounces) and Jesse Wolfe of Nelson, Wis. (five bass, 15 pounds, 6 ounces).
Anglers take off each morning from Moors Resort and Marina in Gilbertsville, Ky., at 6 a.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart store located at 310 West 5th Street in Benton. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Stren Series tournaments are four-day events consisting of three rounds. The entire field competes Wednesday and Thursday, and the top 20 pros and co-anglers – based on two-day accumulated weights – advance to day three. Anglers start at zero Thursday and compete for 10 spots in each division in the final round. Winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.
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.