CLEWISTON, Fla. (Jan. 24, 2008) – Team BP pro J.T. Kenney of Port Charlotte, Fla., caught a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 2 ounces Thursday to capture the lead in the $1 million Wal-Mart FLW Series® BP Eastern Division tournament on Lake Okeechobee with a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 40-5.
“There’s four or five places on the lake where there’s a major concentration of fish,” said Kenney, who has won more than $482,000 in FLW Outdoors events. “I spent a day and a half on the trolling motor in the area I caught those fish today to find three waypoints.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with technique or anything,” Kenney added. “I have four or five areas on the lake that I know giant schools of fish live on within four or five miles of the areas. You just pick two of them and spend two days in each one. It’s been like that ever since I started coming down here in 1997.”
Kenney remained tight-lipped about the exact technique he used to land his solid stringer, but did say that both he and his co-angler, Carl Norris Jr. of Hodgenville, Ky., each caught about 50 keepers from one area. Together, Kenney and Norris pulled 46 pounds, 10 ounces from their area on the second day of competition.
“I don’t know if we just found the sweet spot on the area, or what, but we caught a bass on every cast for 50 minutes,” Kenney said.
Kenney now holds a 6-pound, 7-ounce lead over second place pro Russ Lane of Prattville, Ala., who managed to haul in a total of 10 bass weighing 33-14 during the first two days of competition.
“I had to catch them cranking today,” said Lane, who caught his three biggest fish on the first day of competition on a spinnerbait. “I was looking for the big schools again today, and it sounds like J.T. found one of those schools. He’s going to be hard to beat.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Team Prilosec pro Chad Grigsby of Maple Grove, Minn. (10 bass, 32-15); Chad Brauer of Osage Beach, Mo. (10 bass, 32-10) and Tommy Biffle of Wagoner, Okla. (10 bass, 31-5).
Chris Daves of Hopewell, Va., earned the day’s $500 Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to an 8-pound, 8-ounce bass he caught.
Overall there were 845 bass weighing 1,820 pounds even caught by 196 pros Thursday. The catch included 137 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing this week for a top award of $125,000 plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the BP East-National Guard West Fish-Off and a shot at advancing to the $2 million, 2009 Forrest Wood Cup, where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award.
Tournament pros aren’t the only ones winning big this season. With the introduction of FLW Fantasy Fishing™, FLW Outdoors® will be awarding the largest fantasy sports payout in history. Players can become a virtual pro angler by signing up for Player’s Advantage, providing them with exclusive insider information that could guide them to a $100,000 victory at every Wal-Mart FLW Tour® stop and the Forrest Wood Cup. Player’s Advantage will give them an edge over the competition and increase their shot for a $1 million cash grand prize that will be awarded to the FLW Fantasy Fishing cumulative points winner. Those who visit FantasyFishing.com today can sign up for Player’s Advantage and FLW Outdoors will include a $15 Wal-Mart gift card.
Robert Wood of Jupiter, Fla., leads the Co-angler Division with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 25-14 followed by Norris, in second place with six bass weighing 25-13.
“I caught five keepers today, but that was enough,” Wood said. “I caught my smaller fish on a shaky-head worm, but I switched to the Carolina rig and started catching some good ones.”
Wood caught five bass weighing 13-15 while fishing with pro Mary Divincinti of Clinton, La., Wednesday and five bass weighing 11-15 while fishing with pro Steve Wilson of Lufkin, Texas, Thursday.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Jason Sherwood of Damascus, Md. (nine bass, 25-7); Mark Heatwole of Harrisonburg, Va. (10 bass, 25-0) and Derrick Snavely of Rogersville, Tenn. (10 bass, 24-7).
Chris Weber of Fort Myers, Fla., earned $300 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to an 8-pound, 15-ounce bass he caught while fishing with pro Gary Riffle of Bogata, Texas.
Overall there were 597 bass weighing 1,203 pounds, 7 ounces caught by 185 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included 58 five-bass limits.
Co-anglers are competing this week for a top award of $25,000. Like the pros, the top 30 co-anglers from both FLW Series divisions after four qualifying events are complete will advance to the East-West Fish-Off for a shot at qualifying for the Forrest Wood Cup.
Anglers will take off at 7 each morning from Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina & Resort located at 920 E. Del Monte Ave. in Clewiston. 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 1005 W. Sugarland Hwy. in Clewiston beginning at 4 p.m. Children will also be treated to a Family Fun Zone prior to Saturday’s weigh-in from noon to 4 p.m. at Wal-Mart. Activities in the Family Fun Zone include the Kellogg’s trout pond, a Ranger boat simulator and assorted fishing-themed games. All activities are free and open to the public.
In FLW Series competition, the entire field competes for the first three days, and co-angler competition concludes on day three with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated three-day weight. The top 10 professionals continue competition on day four, and the winner is determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.
Coverage of the Lake Okeechobee FLW Series tournament will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing March 9. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast in Canada on WFN (World Fishing Network) and to more than 429 million households in the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East through a distribution agreement with Matchroom Sport, making it the most widely distributed fishing program in the world. The program airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time in most markets. Check local listings for times in your area.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2008 alone the organization is offering more than 90,000 anglers the chance to win over $40 million through 230 tournaments in 10 circuits targeting bass, walleye, redfish, kingfish and striped bass. FLW Outdoors is also taking fishing mainstream with the largest cash awards in the history of fantasy sports, $7.3 million.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.