KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Pro Chad Grigsby of Maple Grove, Minn., drew cheers from an appreciative crowd Thursday when he crossed the stage with a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds, 6 ounces to lead day one of the $1 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour event presented by BP on Fort Loudoun-Tellico lakes. Fishing for Team BF Goodrich, Grigsby now holds a slim 12-ounce lead in the tournament featuring 200 pros and 200 co-anglers from 36 states, Australia and Japan.
“I like it when they are shallow,” said Grigsby, who has seven top-10 finishes and has amassed $282,465 in career earnings with FLW Outdoors. “I haven’t caught a smallmouth all week until today. There are a lot of fish in the area I am fishing and I don’t think I hurt them to bad today. I had my limit by 10:30 this morning and then I just went looking for new stuff following the same pattern I am on now. I’m looking for certain banks with similar structure. Once I find that, I back off the bank and slow way down and just fish where I think they should be.”
“My plan for tomorrow is to just go back out, get a limit and look for new water.”
Grigsby was pitching banks with Berkley soft-plastics in bedding areas targeting the bass that are beginning to spawn.
Thanh Le of Las Vegas, Nev., trails Grigsby in the No. 2 spot with five bass weighing 18-10.
Rounding out the top five pros are Harmon Davis of Marlow, Okla. (five bass, 18-5); Snickers pro John Sappington of Willard, Mo. (five bass, 17-13) and Frank Meyer of Marianna, Fla. (five bass, 17-4).
Tommy Martin of Hemphill, Texas, also earned the day’s $750 Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 6-pound, 1-ounce bass.
Overall there were 714 bass weighing 1,554 pounds caught by 192 pros Thursday. The catch included 96 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing for a top award of $125,000 this week plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by Castrol in Hot Springs, Ark., Aug. 2-5, where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award. The top 40 pros after six qualifying events will advance to the Forrest Wood Cup.
Land O’Lakes Co-angler, Aaron McManaway of Altamont, Ill., leads the Co-angler Division with four bass weighing 13-8 followed by Chad Hicks of Rockville, Va., in second place with five bass weighing 9-10.
“I had a really good day today,” said McManaway, who has amassed a total of $78,960 in career earnings with FLW Outdoors. His winnings came from 12 top-10 finishes and three first place victories including the Co-angler title of the 2005 BFL All-American. “I fished with Rob Kilby and he was an excellent partner. He kept me around fish all day. I really had no key bait that worked the best. I nearly caught one on everything in my tackle bag. I was just trying to follow in behind Rob and throw something different than he was.”
McManaway caught his bass using a an array of hard baits and soft-plastics while fishing with pro Rob Kilby of Hot Springs, Ark., who is currently in 21st place with five bass weighing 13-10.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Thomas Helton of Charleston, Tenn. (five bass, 9-9); Beecher Strunk of Somerset, Ky. (three bass, 9-8) and J.B. Young of Deer Park, Texas (four bass, 9-00).
Charles Ward of Greer, S.C., also earned $500 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to an impressive 5-pound, 9-ounce bass. If the bass holds up Friday as the biggest of the two-day opening round, Ward will earn an additional $1,000.
Overall there were 275 bass weighing 498 pounds, 7 ounces caught by 137 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included five five-bass limits.
Paul Teutul Jr. from the hit reality television show, “American Choppers” is competing in this event as a co-angler. Today he was paired with the Slim Jim pro Michael Murphy of Gilbert, S.C. The pair faired well placing Teutul in 82nd place with two fish weighing, 2-pounds, 11-ounces. With a good catch tomorrow, Teutul could make a move up the standings and possibly make a run for top-10 cut at the conclusion of Fridays weigh-in.
Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $25,000 this week.
Anglers will take off at 7 each morning from the Tellico Recreational Area Ramp in Lenoir City at the junction of highways 321 and 444. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at the Tellico Recreational Area Ramp beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Knoxville Convention Center located at 701 Henley Street in Knoxville beginning at 4 p.m.
Prior to the weigh-ins Saturday and Sunday, FLW Outdoors will host a free Family Fun Zone and outdoor show at the Knoxville Convention Center from noon to 4 p.m. each day. The Family Fun Zone is a chance for fishing fans to meet their favorite anglers and review the latest products from Berkley, Lowrance, Ranger, Evinrude, Yamaha and other manufacturers while children are treated to fishing themed games and rides like the Ranger Boat simulator. The first 300 children 14 and under visiting the Family Fun Zone Saturday will also receive a free FLW Outdoors hat from WNML “The Sports Animal” AM 990 and FM 99.1 On Sunday, WIVK-FM 107.7 will give the first 300 children 14 and under visiting the Family Fun Zone a free rod and reel combo. One lucky person attending the final weigh-in Sunday will even win a trip for two to the Forrest Wood Cup in Hot Springs, Ark., courtesy of the Knoxville News Sentinel, where they could ultimately win a $53,000 Ranger Z20 powered by Yamaha.
The full field competes in the two-day opening round for 10 slots in Saturday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Saturday’s weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Sunday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.
In FLW Tour 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 tournament will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on April 29 and May 6 as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to 429 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed 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 exceeding $43 million through 241 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.