Ehrler, Mize Hooper added to National Guard angling team

2006 Forrest Wood Cup champion headlines new additions

MINNEAPOLIS – The National Guard announced today two new members of its angling team set to compete in FLW Outdoors tournaments in 2008. The additions are 2006 Forrest Wood Cup champion Brent Ehrler and Melinda Mize Hooper, who recently finished a tour of duty in Kuwait.

In the fall of 2005, the National Guard entered into a marketing partnership with FLW Outdoors. Since then, they have demonstrated unprecedented support for the sport of professional angling. In 2007, the National Guard became the title sponsor of the Western Division of the Wal-Mart FLW Series – a circuit that gave Western anglers professionally administered, big-money, televised events for the first time. At the season’s final qualifying event on Clear Lake, Team National Guard swept both divisions of competition in dramatic fashion. National Guard co-angler Justin Lucas claimed back-to-back victories and National Guard pro Tim Klinger caught an unthinkable 32-pound, 8-ounce limit on day four to complete an improbable comeback.

In 2008, the 13-member National Guard angling team will consist of bass-fishing pros Ehrler, Mize Hooper, Klinger, Scott Martin, Clifford Pirch, Jonathan Newton and Ramie Colson as well as co-anglers Lucas, Pam Wood, Diane DeLaGarza, Pat Lay, Adam Lock and Rachel Uribe.

In the summer of 2006, Ehrler etched his name in the annals of bass-fishing history when he won $500,000 at the Forrest Wood Cup on Logan Martin Lake. But the Redlands, Calif., native isn’t just a one-trick pony. Ehrler also won the 2004 Stren Series Championship on Lake Cumberland and finished second in the 2007 Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year race in the Western Division of the FLW Series. In 2008, Ehrler will compete on both the FLW Tour and in the FLW Series Western Division from a National Guard-wrapped Ranger Z250 powered by a two-stroke Yamaha V MAX. But before he looks forward to next season, he still has business to take care of at the FLW Series East-West Fish-Off Feb. 7-9 on Lake Amistad. There, he will compete head to head against No. 29-ranked BP Eastern Division pro Art Ferguson. The winner of that matchup will earn a berth into the no-entry-fee, $2 million 2008 Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Murray.

“Being on the National Guard, a real up-and-coming team, is exciting,” said Ehrler, a three-year FLW Tour veteran. “Next year, I really want to demonstrate consistency. I feel like I have a good chance at making one or two top-10s on the Western FLW Series. However, I’ve never top-10ed on the (FLW) Tour before, and I’d like to be one of those guys that make one or two cuts every year.”

Mize Hooper is returning to competitive fishing after 13 months of serving overseas as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2008, she will be one of only three women to compete full time on the FLW Tour as a professional. Mize Hooper also plans to fish the Women’s Bassmaster Tour with her mother, Lucy.

“I know it will be difficult, but I have high goals for myself,” she said of competing against the best anglers in the world. “I’d really like to make the Forrest Wood Cup. But either way, it’s a dream come true to get to represent the honorable men and women I served with.”

Col. Michael Jones with the National Guard said: “We are honored to have both Brett Ehrler and Melinda Mize Hooper joining our team this year. They are joining a very high-powered team and we are expecting great things from them as they represent the over 350,000 men and women serving their country in the Army National Guard.”

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 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 more than $40 million through 230 events in 2008.

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.