DECATUR, Ala. (June 6, 2009) – Pro Lloyd Pickett Jr. of Bartlett, Tenn., caught a five-bass limit weighing 12 pounds, 7 ounces Saturday to win the Stren Series Southeast Division tournament on Wheeler Lake with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 51 pounds, 3 ounces. For his victory, Pickett earned $21,336 cash and a fully rigged Ranger boat.
“The first thing I did when I got to my spot was I got down on my knees and said a prayer and then got up and went to work,” said Pickett, who has won more than $200,000 in FLW Outdoors events. “I was expecting current where I had been catching all my big fish, and it wasn’t present. The bite was slow. I took me an hour to catch three small keepers, and I knew I was going to have to have 12-plus pounds to win this.”
Pickett said he relocated and tried to wait for current and noticed large shad on a flat pushing bass and ended up catching a limit soon thereafter. Pickett estimated he caught 25 to 30 keepers and said he caught every one of his fish the final day of competition on a Carolina rig tipped with either a Berkley Power Hawg or a Zoom Brush Hog.
“I’ve led about five Stren Series events and managed to blow it on the last day and end up a bridesmaid, so this is sweet,” Pickett said. Pickett led every day of the event with five bass weighing 22-12 on Thursday, five bass weighing 16-0 Friday to make the crucial top-10 cut in first place, and then managed to catch the “12-plus” pounds he thought he would need to hold on for the win.
Rounding out the top five pros were James Johnson of Hartselle, Ala. (15 bass, 45-8, $8,535); Jay Kendrick of Grant, Ala. (15 bass, 39-10, $6,828); Scott Canterbury of Springville, Ala. (15 bass, 38-3, $5,974); and Ronnie Watts of Florence, S.C. (15 bass, 36-10, $5,121).
Kendrick caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Thursday – a 6-pound, 2-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s Folgers Big Bass award of $357.
Robert Wood of Jupiter, Fla., won the Co-angler Division and a 177TR Ranger boat and trailer, with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 32-4.
Wood said he caught most of his fish on a Carolina rig and a jig flipped around docks and shoreline cover. Wood said he caught 10 or 11 keepers and many more short fish on the final day of competition.
Wood caught five bass weighing 10-13 Thursday while fishing with pro Jerry Lawler of Athens, Ala., to open the tournament in seventh place. On Friday he added five more bass weighing 8-6 to make the top-10 cut in fifth place while fishing with pro Harry Smith of Decatur, Ala. Finally, on Saturday, he sealed the win with five bass weighing 13-1 while fishing with Canterbury.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Brian Tims of Vincent, Ala. (13 bass, 30-12, $3,504); John Skipper of Dothan, Ala. (15 bass, 28-3, $2,628); Michael Emberton of Tompkinsville, Ky. (15 bass, 27-2, $2,190); and Tony Prince of Pulaski, Tenn. (15 bass, 26-1, $1,971).
Tims caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday – a 5-pound bass – that earned him the day’s Folgers Big Bass award of $179.
After four qualifying events are complete in each Stren Series division – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western – the top 40 pros and 40 co-anglers based on the points standings from each division advance to the Stren Series Championship on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala., Nov. 5-7 for a shot at $150,000 in the Pro Division and $60,000 in the Co-angler Division. The top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers from each division will also qualify for the 2010 Walmart FLW Tour® and Walmart FLW Series®, bass fishing’s top professional circuits. The highest-finishing pro and co-angler from each division at the Stren Series Championship also qualify for the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup, where anglers will compete for the $1 million grand prize – the most lucrative award in bass fishing
In Stren Series competition, pros supply the boats, fish from the front deck against other pros and control boat movement. Co-anglers fish from the back deck and compete against other co-anglers. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points that determine angler standings. Two hundred points are awarded to the winner, 199 points for second, 198 points for third, and so on. The full field competes on days one and two, with the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers advancing to day three based on their two-day accumulated weight. Winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all three days.
Total awards are based on a 200-boat field in every tournament.
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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.