BRACEY, Va. (Oct. 4, 2007) – Pro Ott Defoe of Knoxville, Tenn., caught a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 10 ounces Thursday to capture the lead in the $275,225 Stren Series Northern Division tournament on Lake Gaston. With a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 30-01, he now holds an 1-pound, 14-ounce lead over second place pro David Wright of Lexington, N.C., who managed to haul in a total of 10 bass weighing 28-04 during the first two days of competition.
“Today was a lot tougher,” said Defoe, who has amassed more than $121,000 in career earnings with FLW Outdoors. “The fog delay hurt my morning bite. I caught most of my fish yesterday on topwater because it was cloudy until noon. Today, as soon as the fog cleared it was bright and sunny. I had a few bites on topwater this morning but not nearly as many as yesterday. I was able to go back to the same areas I fished yesterday but the fish weren’t biting as good. I only had three keepers out of my main area today.”
Defoe changed his bait today and fished slower near brush piles.
“I just needed one more keeper for the day and I had 20 minutes until check-in,” said Defoe. “I threw over by a log sticking up out of the water. As soon as it hit the water, one hit. I set the hook and I couldn’t believe how big it was. It ended up being the Snickers Big Bass of the day.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Chris Baumgardner of Gastonia, N.C. (10 bass, 25-07); Jacob Powroznik of Prince George, Va. (10 bass, 23-10); and Dustin Wilks of Rocky Mount, N.C. (10 bass, 23-10).
Defoe earned $185 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 6-pound, 7-ounce bass.
Overall there were 229 bass weighing 513 pounds, 4 ounces caught by 88 pros Thursday. The catch included 15 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing for as much as $65,000, including a 198VX 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 on Lake Murray in Columbia, S.C., 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.
Kermit Crowder of Matoaca, Va., leads the Co-angler Division in the chase for a top award of $35,000, including a 198VX Ranger if contingency guidelines are met. He caught five bass weighing 9-7 while fishing with pro Joel Richardson of Kernersville, N.C., Wednesday and four bass weighing 12-14 while fishing with pro Bill Chapman of Salt Rock, W. Va., Thursday for a total of nine bass weighing 22-05.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are James Richardson Sr. of Harrison, Ohio (eight bass, 21-02); Gary Guilliams of Troutville, Va. (six bass, 17-15); Lynn Baciuska Jr. of Afton, N.Y. (six bass, 16-08); and John Shultz of Trucksville, Pa. (seven bass, 15-10).
Baciuska earned $105 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 6-pound, 2-ounce bass.
Overall there were 109 bass weighing 255 pounds, 1 ounce caught by 63 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included one 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 7 each morning from Americamps located at 9 Lakeside Lane in Bracey, Va. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 200 N. Cooper Road in Henderson, N.C., beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins 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, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.