Wooley leads Stren Series event on Lake of the Ozarks

Leo Reiter of Goshen, Ind., leads the Co-angler Division

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. – Pro Michael Wooley of Collierville, Tenn., caught a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 2 ounces Wednesday to lead opening day of the Stren Series Central Division tournament on Lake of the Ozarks.

“I started out slow this morning,” said Wooley, who is fishing in his third year of Stren Series competition. “I didn’t even get a limit until 11:30. I tweaked my pattern, and after that it was pretty easy. I was catching them pretty solid.”

Wooley said he caught all of his fish on a jig, and it wasn’t the bait he changed when he decided to alter his attack. Instead, he changed his location and targeted deeper water.

Wooley said he caught 25 fish during the course of the day, including 15 keepers and the Snickers Big Bass in the Pro Division, a 6-pound, 11-ounce bass that earned Wooley $225.

“I caught that big fish at 1:15,” Wooley said. “It wasn’t 15 minutes before that I lost a 5-pounder and a 4-pounder. It was a 20-minute period that I caught all of those big fish.”

Wooley said he plans to start the second day of competition where he ended the first day and continue to throw the jig.

“I’ve been on them good all through practice, so I figure I’ll stick with it,” Wooley said.

Rounding out the top five pros are Wes Endicott of Joplin, Mo. (five bass, 16-06); Zack Bull of Lakeland, Tenn. (four bass, 16-01); Harmon Davis of Marlow, Okla. (five bass, 16-01); and Rick Fishback of Fair Grove, Mo. (four bass, 14-04).

Overall there were 431 bass weighing 923 pounds, 15 ounces caught by pros Wednesday. The catch included 53 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 Branson, Mo., Nov. 5-8 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 2009 Forrest Wood Cup, where they will compete against top pros from the Walmart FLW Tour®, Walmart FLW Series®, Walmart Bass Fishing League® and TBF (The Bass Federation) for bass fishing’s biggest prize – $1 million.

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Leo Reiter of Goshen, Ind., 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 19-14 while fishing with pro Joel Baker of Talala, Okla., who is currently in 32nd place.

“Right off the bat I caught one that was about four pounds on a shaky-head rig,” said Reiter, who has seven top-10 finishes in FLW Outdoors events. “It was my first fish of the day, and it came in the first 30 minutes. I kind of knew then that it was going to be a special day, because four-pounders are hard to come by.”

Reiter said he fished for another hour before he caught his second and third keeper fish. Reiter said he fished the shaky-head rig and used a swimming jig to target docks.

“About 10 a.m. I caught my first big one by swimming that jig out in front of a dock,” Reiter said. “I knew I was going to have a really good day then.

“The rest of the day I just kind of relaxed and finished my limit and culled out one little one,” Reiter added. “Then around 2:30, I flipped way up under a dock and felt a hit, set the hook and hung a big fish up on a pole. Just by luck, she jumped over the pole and came straight out to the boat. After that I sat there and watched my pro fish.”

The 5-pound, 10-ounce fish that came from under the dock earned Reiter the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division and $119.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Robert Prebeck of Norwood, Mo. (five bass, 10-13); Teddy Bradley of Mishawaka, Ind. (five bass, 10-00); Phil Shafer of Lake Ozark, Mo. (five bass, 9-09); and Juan Steenkamp of the Republic of South Africa (two bass, 9-06).

Overall there were 172 bass weighing 363 pounds, 2 ounces caught by co-anglers Wednesday. The catch included five 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 2009 Forrest Wood Cup.

Anglers will take off at 7 each morning from Grand Glaize Recreation Area Public Beach No. 2 Boat Launch located at 711 Public Beach Rd. in Osage Beach. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Walmart store located at 4252 Hwy. 54 in Osage Beach 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.

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For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.