ROGERS, Ark. – Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C., weathered a tough bite and managed to cross the stage with a five-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 11 ounces to lead day one of the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Wal-Mart Open presented by Folgers on Beaver Lake. The bite was so tough, in fact, only the top 20 anglers managed to post weights of 10 pounds or more. Montgomery now holds a 12-ounce lead in the tournament featuring 200 pros and 200 co-anglers from 37 states, Australia and Japan.
“I had probably the worst practice of my life,” said Montgomery, who is fishing his first year as a professional on the FLW Tour. “I saw something this morning that kind of clued me in – something similar to the fish back home – and I managed to catch my limit early.”
Montgomery remained tight-lipped about the pattern he found, but claimed he had caught his limit within 20 minutes of making the discovery.
“I had a good limit by 9:30 and then went up the river and culled three fish flipping Shooter Lures jigs,” Montgomery said. “My plan was to go down the lake and fish for a limit of spots and maybe catch 6 or 7 pounds, but when I caught the good fish early it kind of relaxed me.”
Montgomery said he caught his fish on crawdad-colored jigs – a 3/8-ounce version that he swam and a 1/2-ounce model for probing the bottom in deeper applications.
Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., trails Montgomery in the No. 2 spot with five bass weighing 12-15.
Rounding out the top five pros are Dwayne Horton of Knoxville, Tenn. (five bass, 12-3); Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wis. (five bass, 11-12) and Alvin Shaw of State Road, N.C. (five bass, 11-11).
Morgan earned the day’s $1,000 Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 4-pound, 11-ounce bass. If that weight holds up Friday as the biggest of the two-day opening round, Morgan will earn an additional $1,000.
Overall there were 785 bass weighing 1,181 pounds, 6 ounces caught by 195 pros Thursday. The catch included 111 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing for a top award of $200,000 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.
Pete Bridges of Tallapoosa, Ga., leads the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 9-11 followed by Kelly Greer of Green Forest, Ark., in second place with five bass weighing 8-11.
“We found fish that seemed to be in deeper water,” said Bridges, who caught his fish on a 4-inch, green-pumpkin Gary Yamamoto Senko. “We found suspending fish that were around 30 feet deep, but we were sitting in about 40 feet of water.”
Bridges caught a total of eight keepers during the day, including seven smallmouth and one largemouth bass, while fishing with J.R. Beehler of Bella Vista, Ark., who is currently in 14th place with five bass weighing 10-6.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Brandon Sheeler of Warsaw, Minn. (five bass, 8-4); Rick Parnell of Casselberry, Fla. (five bass, 7-10) and Greg Fleming of Holly Ranch Lake, Texas (five bass, 7-6).
Robert Mulleins of Cumberland, Va., earned the day’s $500 Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 3-pound, 13-ounce bass.
Overall there were 448 bass weighing 597 pounds, 1 ounce caught by 166 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included 24 five-bass limits.
Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $40,000 this week.
Anglers will take off at 6:30 each morning from Prairie Creek Marina located at 1 Prairie Creek Marina Drive in Rogers, Ark. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at Prairie Creek Marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s weigh-ins will be held at the John Q. Hammons Center located at 3303 Pinnacle Hills Pkwy. in Rogers 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 John Q. Hammons 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. On Sunday, the first 300 children 14 and under visiting the Family Fun Zone will receive 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., where they could ultimately win a $53,000 Ranger Z20 powered by Yamaha. The drawing for a free vacation getaway to Hot Springs will be held immediately following Sunday’s 4 p.m. weigh-in. Participants must be present to win.
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 July 1 and 8 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 of nearly $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 Walmart.com.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.