Yelas leads Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake

$1.5 million bass tournament richest ever held in Arkansas

ROGERS, Ark. – Yamaha pro Jay Yelas of Tyler, Texas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 12 pounds, 15 ounces Friday to capture the lead in the Wal-Mart FLW Tour’s $1.5 million Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake with a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 23-10. He now holds a 2-pound, 8-ounce lead in the tournament featuring 200 pros and 200 co-anglers representing 37 states, Australia and Japan.

“The morning went very well for me,” said Yelas, who is making his third consecutive top-10 appearance of the season. “I was culling fish by 7:15.”

Yelas said he and Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C., fished a dock in the back of a creek that they had shared on the first day of competition. On Thursday, Montgomery started the day on the right side of the dock and Yelas took the left side. Montgomery’s side proved to be the more protective one. On Friday, the tables turned and the largemouth were on Yelas’ side of the dock.

“It will be interesting tomorrow morning,” Yelas said of his strategy involving sharing the dock with Montgomery, who also made the top-10 cut. “There’s schooling fish there, and they’re coming up and busting shad. It’s wide open there for a little while, and then it’s over with by about 7:30.”

Yelas said he caught only two keepers after the dock pattern died down. He said the dock fish fell for standard schooling-fish baits such as shad-colored swimbaits and topwater lures.

“That’s just typical post-spawn behavior,” Yelas said. “The first hour of the day is worth way more than the whole rest of the day.”

Fishing for Team Duracell, Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., advanced to the final round of 10 pros in the No. 2 spot with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 21-2.

Rounding out the top five pros who will continue competition Saturday and Sunday are Montgomery (nine bass, 20-13); Team Berkley pro Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla. (10 bass, 19-15); and J.R. Beehler of Bella Vista, Ark. (10 bass, 19-15).

Also clearing the top-10 cut weight of 18 pounds, 13 ounces and adding to this already power-packed top-10 field are pros Dwayne Horton of Knoxville, Tenn.; BP pro Ray Scheide of Russellville, Ark.; Bounty pro Jacob Powroznik of Prince George, Va.; BP pro Alfred Williams of Jackson, Miss.; and Chad Morgenthaler of Coulterville, Ill.

Jeffrey Thomas of Broadway, N.C., earned the day’s $1,000 Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 4-pound, 4-ounce bass.

Overall there were 732 bass weighing 1,053 pounds, 12 ounces caught by 190 pros Friday. The catch included 91 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 three $1 million qualifiers and three $1.5 million opens will advance to the Forrest Wood Cup.

Chris Koester of Rogers, Ark., leads the Co-angler Division with an opening-round total of 10 bass weighing 15 pounds, 11 ounces, followed by J.R. Grubb of Hamburg, Ark., in second place with 10 bass weighing 14-14.

“We caught topwater fish early,” said Koester, who has one top-10 finish as a co-angler on the FLW Tour. “I talked to my partner early this morning, and he said he wasn’t on any schooling fish. I knew we might be in trouble, so I asked him if he wanted to go to some schooling fish I had found in practice. We did, and the fish were there, and I caught five decent ones.”

Koester said he had his limit before 9 a.m. both days of competition and then the bite died as the days progressed. He said the majority of his fish were spotted bass that fell for a topwater presentation.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Andrew Lemle of Perrysburg, Ohio (10 bass, 13-9); Dino Caporuscio of Coto de Caza, Calif. (nine bass, 13-6) and Spencer Shuffield of Bismarck, Ark. (seven bass, 13-5). A five-bass limit weighing 11 pounds, 4 ounces helped Shuffield jump up from 128th place after the first day of competition.

Also clearing the top-10 cut weight of 12 pounds in the Co-angler Division were Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark.; Sammy Orr of Maryville, Tenn.; James Green of Lincoln, Ala.; Arch Cornett of Huntsville, Ala.; and Mark Myers of Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Steven Meador of Bella Vista, Ark., earned $500 for the day’s Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 5-pound bass he caught while fishing with Tylenol pro Sean Minderman of Spokane, Wash. The fish also earned Meador the tournament’s overall big bass award of $1,000 for a total of $1,500.

Overall there were 396 bass weighing 531 pounds, 10 ounces caught by 153 co-anglers Friday. The catch included 21 five-bass limits.

Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $40,000 this week.

Anglers will take off at 6:30 Saturday and Sunday morning from Prairie Creek Marina located at 1 Prairie Creek Marina Drive in Rogers, Ark., followed by 4 p.m. weigh-ins at the John Q. Hammons Center located at 3303 Pinnacle Hills Pkwy. in Rogers.

Prior to the weigh-ins, 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.

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. The full field competes Thursday and Friday for 10 slots in Saturday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared Saturday, and co-angler competition concludes following Saturday’s weigh-in with the winner determined by the day’s heaviest catch. The top 10 pros continue competition Sunday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from Saturday and Sunday.

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.