Yelas maintains lead at Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake

J.R. Grubb wins co-angler title, $30,000

ROGERS, Ark. – Pro Jay Yelas of Tyler, Texas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 11 pounds, 13 ounces Saturday to capture the lead in a top-10 field that includes some of the nation’s best anglers. Yelas now holds a 2-pound, 7-ounce edge over his closest competitor, Team Duracell pro Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., heading into the final day of competition in the FLW Tour’s $1.5 million Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake. If he holds on for the win, Yelas will pocket $150,000.

“Today was very similar to the first two days,” said Yelas, who posted a record third consecutive FLW Tour top-10 finish at Beaver Lake. “I have a spot that I start on that produced another limit for me. That’s the third day in a row that I’ve started there, and me and my partner pulled nine fish off of that spot, so I guess that’s pretty good. You would think there’d be another five in there tomorrow, but you never know.”

Yelas said he caught his limit by 8 a.m. using a 6-inch swimbait and spent the rest of the day fishing dead stickups with shad-imitating baits.

“I think I have a good shot of catching another 10 to 12 pounds of fish,” Yelas said. “I caught maybe eight or nine keepers today. The fish are around – I just have to get them to bite.”

Morgan, who has won more than $604,000 in FLW Outdoors events without an FLW Tour victory, caught five fish weighing 9 pounds, 6 ounces to advance to the final day of competition as the No. 2 seed.

“It was a terrible day for me,” Morgan said. “I lost pretty much every good one I had on, including two that jumped off in the last 30 minutes.

“My schoolers never really showed up this morning,” Morgan added. “I just had to grind it out. It was just pretty uneventful.”

Morgan said he caught his keepers on a 1/8-ounce War Eagle Shakey Head jighead with a watermelon candy Zoom finesse worm. Morgan also employed a Cotton Cordell Red Fin-type bait for topwater schooling fish.

“Tomorrow I’m going to one area I’m really catching them in, and I’m just going to milk it,” Morgan said. “If they’re schooling in the morning, I’ll have a real good shot to beat Jay. If his don’t school, he’ll have a hard time beating me.”

Rounding out the top 10 pros are Chad Morgenthaler of Coulterville, Ill. (five bass, 7-3); Bounty pro Jacob Powroznik of Prince George, Va. (five bass, 6-0); Berkley pro Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla. (four bass, 5-15); J.R. Beehler of Bella Vista, Ark. (four bass, 5-10); Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C. (four bass, 4-13); BP pro Ray Scheide of Russellville, Ark. (four bass, 4-13); Dwayne Horton of Knoxville, Tenn. (four bass, 4-5) and BP pro Alfred Williams of Jackson, Miss. (zero bass, 0-0).

Overall there were 40 bass weighing 59 pounds, 14 ounces caught in the Pro Division Saturday. The catch included four five-bass limits.

J.R. Grubb of Hamburg, Ark., won the Co-angler Division and $30,000 Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 11 pounds, 13 ounces followed by Chris Koester of Rogers, Ark., in second place with five bass weighing 11-11 worth $10,000.

Grubb opened the tournament in 26th place Thursday with five bass weighing 5-10 while fishing with Team Tylenol pro Gabe Bolivar of Ramona, Calif. On Friday he jumped into second place on the strength of a five-bass catch weighing 9-4 while fishing with Jimmy Milsaps of Canton, Ga. He wrapped up his win while fishing with Morgan.

“I’m satisfied with what I had,” said Grubb, who is fishing his second season as a co-angler on the FLW Tour. “I had my limit by 10 a.m. and I backed off to let Andy get his fifth fish.”

Grubb said he caught his fish using two topwater baits, a white Zara Spook Jr. and a Bomber Long A, which he swam back to the boat.

“I also caught fish on a silver rainbow Fluke, and that’s just what it was – a fluke,” Grubb said. “I hadn’t thrown a Fluke all week, but I had one tied on and I tried it. I had it rigged on 8-pound test line with a 1/8-ounce weighted hook. I’d just dead-stick it by letting it die and then just popping it up.”

Koester led co-anglers into the final day of competition, but came up 2 ounces short of the win.

“I’m a little bit sick,” said Koester, who caught all of his fish on a swimbait. “There were a lot of ups and downs today. I caught four fish in the first hour, and I thought I was off to the races. Then the bite died. We spent the rest of the day trying to get bit, and I could not catch another keeper.”

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers are Arch Cornett of Huntsville, Ala. (five bass, 6-13, $9,000); Dino Caporuscio of Coto de Caza, Calif. (three bass, 5-8, $8,000); Sammy Orr of Maryville, Tenn. (five bass, 5-7, $7,000); Mark Myers of Cedar Falls, Iowa (five bass, 4-15, $6,000); Spencer Shuffield of Bismarck, Ark. (two bass, 3-8, $5,000); James Green of Lincoln, Ala. (two bass, 3-4, $4,000); Andrew Lemle of Perrysburg, Ohio (two bass, 2-8, $3,000) and Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark. (two bass, 2-7, $2,000).

Overall there were 36 bass weighing 57 pounds, 14 ounces caught in the Co-angler Division Saturday. The catch included five five-bass limits.

In addition to all the fishing excitement Saturday, Major General Raymond Carpenter presided over enlistment ceremonies for two Arkansans during pretournament festivities at the John Q. Hammons Center. Alicia Goodin, 23, of Fort Smith and Matthew Freeman, 24, of Pea Ridge were sworn in to the Arkansas Army National Guard in front of an appreciative crowd that numbered into the thousands. The soldiers received a standing ovation for their commitment.

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

Prior to the final day weigh-in, FLW Outdoors will host a free Family Fun Zone and outdoor show at the John Q. Hammons Center from noon to 4 p.m. 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 Sunday 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, 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.