CLEWISTON, Fla. – Pro Jimmy McMillan of Belle Glade, Fla., caught a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 9 ounces Friday to widen his lead in the Walmart FLW Series BP Eastern Division tournament on Lake Okeechobee. With a three-day catch of 15 bass weighing 57-06, he holds a 1-pound, 5-ounce lead over his closest competitor, Scott Lunsford of Calhoun, Ga., heading into the final day of competition.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” said McMillan, who has more than $108,000 in career earnings in FLW Outdoors competition. “With the weather today, I figured that I was just lucky to catch fish. Over the past few days I have had several boats around me but today since the fishing was slow most of them moved out.
“I caught two fish on the same bed today and I normally don’t sight-fish at all. I am hoping that the wind will muddy up my water so I can fish the way I want to fish, right now it is to clear for me. I would go back to casting plastics if this was the case.”
McMillan finished second last year in the FLW Series Lake Okeechobee event and is looking forward to another shot at $100,000.
“I made a lot of mistakes last year that cost me the win,” McMillan said. “I knew were several fish were and I didn’t follow through with my plan. With that being said I am looking forward to fishing tomorrow. I have plenty of areas to find fish.”
Lunsford caught a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 57-06 to advance to the final round as the No. 2 seed.
Rounding out the top five pros are Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla. (15 bass, 53-04); Carmen Patti of Davie, Fla. (15 bass, 52-12) and Koby Kreiger of Okeechobee, Fla. (15 bass, 51-04).
Also clearing the top 10 cut weight of 49 pounds, 14 ounces in the Pro Division are Tom Mann Jr. of Buford, Ga.; Shonn Goodwin of Moore, Okla.; Mike Surman of Boca Raton, Fla.; Shinichi Fukae of Mineola, Texas; and Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla.
Ron Figueroa of Evans, Ga., earned the day’s $500 Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 7-pound, 15-ounce bass.
Overall there were 505 bass weighing 1,264 pounds, 4 ounces caught by 154 pros Friday. The catch included 67 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing this week for a top award of $125,000 plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for a shot at the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup, where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award.
Larry Mullikin of Lauderhill, Fla., won the Co-angler Division and $20,000 Friday with a three-day total of 12 bass weighing 38 pounds, 8 ounces followed by Robert Wood of Jupiter, Fla., in second place with 12 bass weighing 35-11 worth $10,000.
Mullikin opened the tournament in fifth place Wednesday with five bass weighing 15-10 while fishing with pro Tommy Rewis of Odenville, Ala. On Thursday he jumped to second place on the strength of a five-bass catch weighing 14-06 while fishing with pro Keith Combs of Del Rio, Texas. He wrapped up the win Friday with a two-bass weighing 8-08 while fishing with pro David Carmichael of Lincolnton, Ga.
“I am speechless right now,” Mullikin said. “My dad has traveled with me to every FLW tournament for the past three years and this is the first one he missed. I wish he could be here to share this with me.”
Mullikin caught all of his fish this week on a Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper.
“I worked the bait on the top covering a lot of water,” Mullikin said. “Every once in a while I would drop it and the fish would follow it.
“I fished this bait in the open water and the thick grass. Most of my big fish came out of the grass.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are John Cochran of Springdale, Ark. (10 bass, 33-11, $7,500); Chip Brooks of Bradenton, Fla. (13 bass, 33-05, $5,000) and Tom Bowker of Terre Haute, Ind. (10 bass, 31-13, $4,000).
Mullikin earned $333 for the Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 5-pound, 14-ounce bass.
Overall there were 252 bass weighing 533 pounds, 2 ounces caught by 154 co-anglers Friday. The catch included 11 five-bass limits.
Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart store located at 1005 W. Sugarland Highway 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 Walmart. Activities in the Family Fun Zone include a trout pond, a Ranger boat simulator and assorted fishing-themed games. All activities are free and open to the public.
Coverage of the Lake Okeechobee FLW Series tournament will be broadcast as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program. “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. Check local listings for broadcast times in your area.
Total awards are based on a full field in every tournament.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.
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.