OSAGE BEACH, Mo. – Pro Jason Christie of Park Hill, Okla., caught a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 9 ounces Friday to widen his lead in the $275,225 Stren Series Central Division tournament on Lake of the Ozarks. With a three-day catch of 15 bass weighing 55-03, he holds a 3-pound, 15-ounce lead over his closest competitor heading into the final day of competition.
“I’ve been getting pretty lucky,” said Christie, who has $39,126 in career earnings with FLW Outdoors. “I just hope I can catch them again tomorrow. I think I will have to catch around 20 pounds tomorrow to hold everyone off. It’s been getting a little stressful. My bites haven’t been coming until the afternoon. I just have to go fish for five bites.
“The last couple of days I have been starting out deep with a crankbait getting a limit really quick. Then I would go looking for the bigger ones up shallow. Tomorrow, I’m going out with guns blazing and go shallow all day targeting the big bites.”
Christie also said that the baitfish were key to the patterns he has been employing. “It’s not so much certain structures I am targeting. If it has an abundance of shad in the area, I’m going to fish there,” he added.
Rounding out the top five pros are Brian Maloney of Osage Beach, Mo. (15 bass, 51-04); Kellogg’s pro Sam Newby of Pocola, Okla. (15 bass, 45-02); Roger Fitzpatrick of Eldon, Mo. (14 bass, 44-04); and Randall Hutson of Washburn, Mo. (15 bass, 40-04).
Also clearing the top 10 cut weight of 37 pounds, 8 ounces in the Pro Division are Jeremy Lawyer of Sarcoxie, Mo.; Steve Ruff of Wentzville, Mo.; Rick McCaughey of Osage Beach, Mo.; Jackie Davis of Willard, Mo.; and Jimmy David Jr. of Willard, Mo.
Brett Bell of O’Fallon, Mo., earned $277 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 6-pound, 7-ounce bass.
Overall there were 434 bass weighing 1012 pounds, 12 ounces caught by 145 pros Friday. The catch included 55 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing for as much as $65,000, including a 519VX Ranger powered by Evinrude or Yamaha if contingency guidelines are met, and valuable points toward qualifying for the $1 million Stren Series Championship in Mobile, Ala., Nov. 8-11 for a shot at $140,000. After four qualifying events are complete in each of the circuit’s five divisions, the top 40 pros from each division will advance to the championship. The highest-finishing pro from each division at the championship will also earn a spot in the $2 million 2008 Forrest Wood Cup, where they will compete against top pros from the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series and TBF (The Bass Federation) for bass fishing’s biggest prize – $1 million.
Joe Waggoner of Carthage, Mo., leads the Co-angler Division in the chase for a top award of $35,000, including a 519VX Ranger if contingency guidelines are met, thanks to a three-day total of 13 bass weighing 28-5.
“Today went pretty good,” said Waggoner, who has amassed $8,273 in career earnings with FLW Outdoors. “I only had four bites today. I also had a great partner that showed me a lot. Overall it was a very fun day and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I am paired with the leading pro, Jason Christie and he has really been catching them.”
Waggoner has been fishing around shallow cover changing up baits between jigs and finesse worms to catch his bass.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Tony Lain of Greentop, Mo. (10 bass, 24-05); Eugene Robinett of Springfield, Mo. (10 bass, 23-00); Ron Abbot of Lafayette, Ind. (12 bass, 22-11); and Tommy Lowery of O’Fallon, Mo. (nine bass, 22-01).
Also clearing the top 10 cut weight of 20 pounds, 08 ounces in the Co-angler Division are Tony Spinks of Springfield, Mo.; Chuck Loerzel of Yorkville, Ill.; Matt Scheipeter of St. Louis, Mo.; Anthony Lowrance of Dora, Ala.; and Brian Branum of Longview, Texas.
Lain also earned $125 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 6-pound, 6-ounce bass.
Overall there were 196 bass weighing 442 pounds, 15 ounces caught by 136 co-anglers Friday. The catch included 21 five-bass limits.
The top 40 co-anglers from each Stren Series division will also advance to the championship, where they will fish for as much as $70,000. The highest-finishing co-angler from each division at the championship will then advance to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.
Anglers will take off at 6:30 Saturday morning from Grand Glaize Recreational Area located in Kaizer, Mo. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 4252 Highway 54 in Osage Beach, Mo, beginning at 4 p.m. The takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.
Stren Series tournaments are four-day events consisting of two rounds. The entire field competes Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. At the conclusion of Friday’s weigh-in, the field is cut to the top 10 pros and co-anglers based on the heaviest three-day accumulated weights. These anglers continue competition Saturday, with the winners 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.
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, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.