Fleisher and crew lead Striper Series Championship

Top five teams advance to Saturday's Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series finals in Virginia Beach

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – With one day of competition remaining, Team Keephers, captained by Matthew Fleisher of Niantic, Conn., leads the inaugural Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series Championship in Virginia Beach with a two-day total of three striped bass weighing 41 pounds. The team carries a 6-pound, 2-ounce lead into the final day of competition Saturday, where five finalists are competing for a top award worth as much as $50,000.

“We are very excited,” said Fleisher, whose team caught two striped bass weighing 27-7 Thursday and one striped bass weighing 13-9 Friday. “To give you an idea about how committed we are to the FLW Striper Series, I heard about the circuit starting up on a Friday, and I bought a Hydra-Sports powered by twin Evinrude E-Tecs on Monday. We’ve fished every qualifier, and our hard work is paying off. If we can hang on for the win, it would be a great reward for the crew’s dedication.”

Team Keephers, which consists of Fleisher and his wife, Amy, plus Mark and Amy Brett of Old Lyme, Conn., has previously cracked the top 10 three times this season, finishing ninth at the West Dennis, Mass., tournament in September, fourth at the Quincy, Mass., tournament in August, and second at the Westbrook, Conn., tournament in June.

Fleisher and his crew fished parachute rigs and umbrella rigs in 50 feet of water on opening day of the championship Thursday. Gale warnings delayed the start of competition until noon Friday, however, and the team was forced to fish unfamiliar waters because of the shortened day. Team Keephers connected with a single striper suspended over 80 feet of water, though, to jump from seventh place into the lead.

Rounding out the top five finalists are Team Right Hook captained by Samuel Fisher of Heathsville, Va. (two fish, 35-2); Team Atlantic Outboard captained by Dan Wood of Waterford, Conn. (two fish, 32-15); Team Hydra-Sports captained by Phillip Gootee of Church Creek, Md. (two fish, 32-15); and Team Power Play captained by Kenneth Zwirko of Union, N.J. (two fish, 30-13)

Team Right Hook is the only Virginia-based team to make the cut. The next highest-placing team from Virginia was Team Castrol captained by David Dudley of Lynchburg in 13th place with two fish weighing 22 pounds. Dudley is well known in bass-fishing circles for his accomplishments on the Wal-Mart FLW Tour. In 2002, at the age of 26, he became the youngest angler in history to surpass $1 million in tournament winnings. Earlier this year, at the age of 30, he became the youngest angler in history to surpass $2 million in tournament winnings. His passion, however, has always been fishing for striped bass.

Team Amazing Grace captained by Jamie Judy of Middletown and Team Dialed In captained by Jonathan Dehart of Virginia Beach round out the home-state contingent. Both teams zeroed, however.

The winning team will be determined Saturday based on the heaviest accumulated weight from all three days of competition.

To qualify for the FLW Striper Series Championship hosted by the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau, teams competed in six FLW Striper Series events held in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Maryland this season.

Only artificial lures are allowed in FLW Striper Series competition, and each team may weigh in only two striped bass ranging in size from 28 to 34 inches per day. In order to avoid a 2-pound penalty, the fish must be kept alive in new keep-alive boxes developed by FLW Outdoors and KeepAlive Systems. These innovative boxes, based on proven live-release techniques, allow all FLW Outdoors striper tournaments to be catch-and-release events – thus helping to protect the nation’s striped bass population and ensure a vibrant fishery for generations to come.

Teams will take off from Lynnhaven Marine located at 2150 Great Neck Road in Virginia Beach at 7 Saturday morning. The final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 1149 Nimmo Parkway in Virginia Beach beginning at 5 p.m. Both the takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.

Coverage of the FLW Striper Series Championship will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing Jan. 28, 2007. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to approximately 350 million households in Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary, the United Kingdom, among other others, 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.

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.