MINNEAPOLIS – Tune in Sunday to “FLW Outdoors” on FSN for the no-entry-fee $1 million Stren Series Championship on Wheeler Lake in Decatur, Ala. Only the top 40 anglers based on points standings from each of the Stren Series’ five divisions qualified for the season-ending tournament. The show concludes with the final weigh-in and crowning of the pro champion, who will take home a prize of $125,000.
Pro Ricky D. Scott has been switching his angling methods each day to align with the changing conditions. He finished day one in fourth place with five bass that weighed 14 pounds, 5 ounces. He focused his opening-day efforts around barge pilings, where runoff from the rain was pouring soybean dust into the lake. His bait of choice was a homemade 3/8-ounce spinnerbait with white blades and a white skirt.
After a cold front swept through the region that night, bringing bluebird skies and brisk winds to Wheeler Lake, Scott’s runoff dried up, so he targeted wood cover in less than a foot of water below Flint Creek on day two. He stuck with his spinnerbait, though, and the spot paid off with five bass weighing 8-14 to boost his opening-round total to 23-3 – good enough to advance to the final round of 10 pros as the No. 3 seed.
On day three, Scott arrived at his fishing hole only to find his wood cover high and dry. Overnight the lake dropped almost 2 feet, so the Van Buren, Ark., pro was forced to change locations once again. This time he found an area of stained water adjacent to a shallow mud flat and proceeded to catch the third heaviest limit of the tournament on his trusty homemade spinnerbait. The 16-pound, 2-ounce catch gave him a 6-pound, 2-ounce lead heading into the final day of competition.
FSN also follows pro J.T. Kenney of Daytona Beach, Fla., who has been grinding out respectable limits the last three days by finesse fishing Shaky Worms in the mouths of small creeks along the main river. On day three, he caught five bass that weighed an even 10 pounds to finish the day in second place. Kenney reported catching lots of fish, but many are small and he’s itching to “swing on some big ones.” That’s a scary proposition for Scott, as Kenney is known around bass fishing circles as the flipping king. Tune in to see if Kenney brings out the big stick in an attempt to lure a few monsters from the Decatur flats.
FSN broadcasts “FLW Outdoors” Sundays from 11 a.m. to noon Eastern time. Check local listings for show times and channels in your area. FLWOutdoors.com also provides an online show guide listing what events are coming up on “FLW Outdoors.”
FSN is available in more than 81 million homes through its network of 20 regional sports channels. Established in 1996, FSN is the only cable network that supplies national, regional and local sports programming. FSN serves as the cable TV home to 62 of the 82 MLB, NHL and NBA teams based in the United States, and produces over 4,500 live events each year. FSN has an extensive catalog of original national programs, including “Best Damn Sports Show Period” and “Beyond the Glory” documentary series, along with national packages of collegiate sports. Based in Los Angeles, FSN is part of the vast FOX Sports television family. For the latest up-to-the-minute sports news and opinions, visit the FOX Sports/FSN Web site at www.FoxSports.com.
“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 service men and women 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.
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.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, browse FLWOutdoors.com.