CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Jacob Powroznik of Prince George, Va., survived a tough first day of competition at the Walmart FLW Tour’s National Guard Open on Lake Norman and weighed five fish weighing 13 pounds, 12 ounces to end the day with a slim 1-ounce lead. The National Guard Open features anglers from all across the United States, Mexico, Canada and Japan.
“It was pretty tough,” said Powroznik, who has earned more than $490,000 in FLW Outdoors events. “At this time of the year, the fish have got to be shallow, so you can kind of narrow them down a little bit, but … I’m still kind of dumbfounded about what happened.
“I had like 27 on the bed, and I only caught two off of the bed today,” Powroznik added. “A lot of them got caught, but a lot of them just left. I started today going after two 3-pounders that were side by side, and I know I was the first boat there, but the fish were not there. I don’t know if it was because they dropped the water … I just don’t know.”
Powroznik said he sight fished until about 10 a.m. All he had in the livewell at that time were two bass, so he decided to change his tack. Powroznik said he fished boat docks and banks before he switched to fishing in pockets.
“When I’d pull into a pocket, I’d get a couple of bites right away,” Powroznik said. “Then I’d fish the rest of the pocket and never get another bite until I got back around to the mouth of it. So that keyed me into fishing just the mouths of the pockets. The water was dropping a bit and the fish were hanging near docks and stumps near the mouth of the pockets.”
Powroznik said he is going to fish the second day of competition similar to how he fished the first.
“I’m just going to put the trolling motor down and go fishing,” Powroznik said. “I think I can get enough bites to do pretty good. And if I see one on the bed that looks pretty good, I’ll stop and try to catch it.”
Rounding out the top five places are Dale Evans of Summerville, S.C. (five bass, 13-11); Team Febreze pro Michael Bennett of Lincoln, Calif. (five bass, 13-10); Team Land O’Lakes pro Keith Williams of Conway, Ark. (five bass, 13-3); and Team National Guard pro Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla. (five bass, 13-1).
Team National Guard pro Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif., earned the day’s $1,000 Folgers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 4-pound, 10-ounce bass.
Overall there were 683 bass weighing 1,245 pounds, 3 ounces caught by 153 pros Thursday. The catch included 114 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing for a top award of $200,000 this week plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by Castrol and BP, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pa., where they could win as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award.
David Hudson of Jasper, Ala., leads the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 12-0 followed by Jerry Hayden of Charlotte, N.C., in second place with five bass weighing 10-9.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Jason Ober of Johnstown, Pa. (five bass, 9-5); Dearel Rodgers of Camden, S.C. (five bass, 9-0) and Grant McPeters of Marion, N.C. (five bass, 8-11).
Hayden earned the day’s $500 Folgers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 4-pound, 13-ounce bass.
Overall there were 320 bass weighing 514 pounds, 13 ounces caught by 127 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included 19 five-bass limits.
Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $40,000 this week.
Anglers will take off at 7 a.m. each day from Blythe Landing located at 15901 North Carolina Hwy. 73 in Huntersville, N.C. Friday’s weigh-ins will also be held at Blythe Landing beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Cabarrus Arena & Events Center located at 4751 Hwy. 49 North in Concord, N.C., beginning at 4 p.m.
In conjunction with the weigh-ins Saturday and Sunday, FLW Outdoors will host a free Family Fun Zone and outdoor show at the Cabarrus Arena & Events Center from noon to 4 p.m. each day. The Family Fun Zone offers fans a chance to meet their Fantasy Fishing team anglers face-to-face and review the latest products from Berkley, Lowrance, Ranger, Evinrude, Yamaha and other sponsors while children are treated to giveaways, fishing themed games and rides like the Ranger Boat simulator. Children 14 and under visiting the Family Fun Zone on Sunday will receive a free rod and reel combo while supplies last. One lucky member of the audience will even win a new Ranger boat during the final 4 p.m. weigh-in Sunday, April 26. Admission is free, and you must be present to win.
In FLW Tour competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers. The full field competes in the two-day opening round for one of 10 slots in Saturday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Saturday’s weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Sunday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.
The total purse for the National Guard Open event at Lake Norman is more than $1.1 million, including $11,000 through 50th place in the Pro Division.
Coverage of the tournament, hosted by the Charlotte Sports Commission, Visit Lake Norman, Visit Charlotte and Cabarrus County Convention & Visitors Bureau, will be broadcast on Versus, the network which brings anglers the best fishing programming on television featuring the most-trusted authorities on the water. The Emmy-nominated “FLW Outdoors,” will air May 31 from 12:30 to 1:30 ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is also broadcast internationally through agreements with WFN (World Fishing Network) and Matchroom Sport to more than 429 million households in such countries as Canada, Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world.
The FLW Tour will award more than $8 million cash to the world’s top bass anglers in 2009. Regular season competition includes three qualifiers and three opens. Each event takes anglers a step closer to the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by Castrol, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pa. The prestigious championship and outdoor show hosted by Visit Pittsburgh will feature 77 pros, 77 co-anglers and bass fishing’s largest cash award – a potential $1 million first-place prize for the winning pro.
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, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.