CLEWISTON, Fla. – Team Pepcid pro Jason Knapp of Uniontown, Penn., caught a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds, 9 ounces Thursday to capture the lead in the $1 million Wal-Mart FLW Series BP Eastern Division tournament on Lake Okeechobee with a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 27-13.
An early cold front greeted anglers at takeoff and delivered wind gusts of up to 25 mph and temperatures in the 50s and changed the complexion of the tournament.
“I caught my biggest fish on a reaction strike on a topwater bait first thing this morning,” said Knapp, who improved from a 108th-place showing on the first day of competition after running his boat aground. “After the wind came up, I ran to an area I didn’t fish the first day and scratched out what I could. I caught the majority of my fish casting a Mizmo Quiver Stix.”
Local angler and National Guard team pro Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., said Thursday’s weather will have a profound effect on the tournament.
“We get a wind tide here on Okeechobee,” Martin said. “When the wind blows out of the north, the north end of the lake drops and it can literally raise the south end of the lake up to two feet. Right now, Okeechobee is basically a new lake from what it was yesterday.”
Martin said the most productive water in the lake right now is around two feet deep, but Thursday’s winds muddied the south end of the lake, making fishing tough for anglers. He predicts most of the remaining action will take place from the middle of the lake to the north end.
“Guys who had fish at the south end are going to struggle,” Martin said. “The south end is basically destroyed for the next couple of days.”
Knapp now holds a seven-ounce lead over second place pro Chris Elliott of Beaufort, N.C., who managed to haul in a total of 10 bass weighing 27-6 during the first two days of competition.
Rounding out the top five pros are Tim Farley of Lula, Ga. (nine bass, 27-2); Todd Auten of Lake Wylie, S.C. (10 bass, 26-11) and Snickers team pro Pat Fisher of Buckhead, Ga. (10 bass, 26-2).
Pro Robert Lane of Lakeland, Fla., earned the day’s $500 Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a nine-pound bass.
Pro Bud Pruitt of Spring, Texas, brought the day’s biggest sack to the scale, a good limit weighing more than 25 pounds, but Pruitt and his co-angler, Bruce Dale of Jamestown, Ohio, were disqualified for the day for being more than 15 minutes late to the weigh-in. Pruitt’s boat got stuck on a sand bar and didn’t get free until an air boat pulled him off late in the day. Had his weight counted, Pruitt would have posted more than 40 pounds after the second day of competition and had a 13-pound lead.
Overall there were 563 bass weighing 1,024 pounds, 15 ounces caught by 200 pros Thursday. The catch included 61 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing this week for a top award of $125,000 plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the BP East-National Guard West Fishoff and a shot at advancing to the $2 million, 2008 Forrest Wood Cup, where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award. The top 30 pros from both FLW Series divisions after four qualifying events are complete will advance to the East-West Fishoff, which will be held Jan. 17-19, 2008. The location for the fishoff has not yet been announced. Thirty winners from the fishoff will advance to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.
Gain pro Jess Caraballo of Danbury, Conn., leads the Co-angler Division with a two-day total of eight bass weighing 22-13 followed by Ron Fabiszak of South Bend, Ind., in second place with 10 bass weighing 22-6.
“I caught my fish today the same way I did the first day,” Caraballo said. “I was throwing a weightless watermelon fluke and just deadsticking it. I missed a monster near the end of the day. I threw a toad and it swiped at it but missed it.
“I’ve been fishing Okeechobee for four years now, and I can’t remember seeing this many giants weighed in,” Caraballo said. “I’m really having fun.”
Caraballo caught three bass Thursday weighing 9-5 while fishing with pro Farley.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Mark Phillips of Fayetteville, Ark. (nine bass, 21-13); Joe Partain of Farmington, Ark. (eight bass, 21-7) and James Richardson of Harrison, Ohio (10 bass, 21-1).
Brad Wiegmann of Springdale, Ark., earned $300 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 9-pound, 3-ounce bass he caught while fishing with pro David Cooke of Mooresville, N.C.
Overall there were 248 bass weighing 438 pounds, 1 ounce caught by 200 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included five five-bass limits.
Co-anglers are competing this week for a top award of $25,000. Like the pros, the top 30 co-anglers from both FLW Series divisions after four qualifying events are complete will advance to the East-West Fishoff for a shot at the $2 million, 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.
Anglers will take off at 7 each morning from Roland and Mary Ann Martin’s Marina and Resort located at 920 E. Del Monte Ave. in Clewiston, Fla. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 1005 W. Sugarland Highway in Clewiston, Fla., beginning at 4 p.m. Children will also be treated to a Family Fun Zone prior to Saturday’s weigh-in from noon to 4 p.m. at Wal-Mart. Activities in the Family Fun Zone include the Fujifilm trout pond, a Ranger boat simulator and assorted fishing-themed games. All activities are free and open to the public.
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. The entire field competes for the first three days, and co-angler competition concludes on day three with the winner determined 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.
FLW Outdoors historically maintains a 98 percent live release rate in all of its bass tournaments.
Coverage of the Lake Okeechobee FLW Series tournament will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing March 4. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to approximately 350 million households in Europe, Africa and Asia, making it the most widely distributed weekly fishing program 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, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, 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 of nearly $43 million through 238 events in 2007.
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 tournaments, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.