Brown wins American Fishing Series event on Lake Okeechobee

Steadham wins co-angler title

CLEWISTON, Fla. – Pro Marty Brown of Dalton, Ga., caught a five-bass limit weighing 10 pounds, 14 ounces Saturday to win the FLW American Fishing Series Southeast tournament on Lake Okeechobee with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 52 pounds, 1 ounce. For his victory, Brown earned $24,680.

“I was lucky enough to find a transition area where the fish were moving in and out,” Brown said. “I was here during the FLW Eastern Series event a few weeks ago and I knew there was a spawn then, with the full moon coming again I knew another spawn was coming. I just basically fished the same location all week long which was the east wall area knowing that I would have to work it, work it, work it, until I caught my fish. It was loaded; the challenge was being able to come up with the kickers which were few and far between due to the cold front.

“I had my limit today by about 10 and was able to cull a few times, but I never really did find that one big kicker today. I caught all my fish flipping a Black Zoom 6” Lizard on a Castaway Flipping Stick.

Rounding out the top-10 pros were:

2nd: Jeff McMillan, Belle Glade, Fla., 15 bass, 46-6, $8,391

3rd: Don Demott, Boca Raton, Fla., 15 bass, 46-5, $5,923

4th: Jeff Fitts, Keystone Heights, Fla., 15 bass, 45-14, $4,936

5th: Dwayne Horton, Knoxville, Tenn., 15 bass, 45-8, $4,442

6th: Koby Kreiger, Okeechobee, Fla., 15 bass, 44-11, $3,949

7th: Kevin Long, Clewiston, Fla., 15 bass, 42-15, $3,455

8th: Roger Gonzalez, Hialeah Gardens, Fla., 11 bass, 40-7, $2,962

9th: Aymon Wilcox, Lauderdale Lakes, Fla., 15 bass, 38-13, $2,468

10th: Ronnie Watts, Florence, S.C., 13 bass, 36-15, $1,974

Jesse Steadham of Florence, Miss., won the Co-angler Division and $9,882 cash, with a three-day total of 15-bass weighing 33 pounds, 4 ounces.

“I am still shaking all over,” said Steadham who is fishing with FLW for his second year. “I caught all my fish using skinny dippers in grass fields about 4 – 5 feet deep. The bite was not as good today and the fish were definitely smaller, I thought I was going to finish in third place.

“Fishing was definitely a lot more difficult today. I had a 4 – 5-pounder that broke my line early in the day and then I didn’t get my kicker until the last 20 minutes of the tournament; that 4 1/2 pound fish was the one that definitely won it for me.”

Steadham caught five bass weighing 14-12 Thursday while fishing with pro Dale Walker of Miami, Fla., to open the tournament in sixth place. On Friday he added five more bass weighing 9 to make the top-10 cut in fifth place while fishing with pro Rick Marsh of High Point, N.C. Finally, on Saturday, he sealed the win with five bass weighing 9-8 while fishing with Aymon Wilcox of Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers were:

2nd: Kevin Thomas, Miramar, Fla., 15 bass, 32-15, $3,953

3rd: Bucky Helms, Dallas, N.C., 11 bass, 30-11, $1,976

4th: Brent Houlihan, Naples, Fla., 15 bass, 30-11, $1,729

5th: Robert Wood, Jupiter, Fla., 11 bass, 30-4, $1,482

6th: Danny Shelton, Davie, Fla., 13 bass, 30-2, $1,235

7th: Mitch Reynolds, Petal, Miss., 9 bass, 27-14, $988

8th: Darren Jeter, Marshall, N.C., 12 bass, 27-3, $889

9th: Ron Buck, Port St. Lucie, Fla., 14 bass, 25-14, $791

10th: George Kapiton, Inverness, Fla., 15 bass, 25-12, $692

At the end of the regular season, the pro and co-angler points champion from each division – Central, Northern, Southeast and Texas – will qualify for the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup. The top 50 pros and co-anglers from each division also qualify for the American Fishing Series Invitation on Wheeler Lake in Decatur, Ala., Nov. 4-6 for a second chance at advancing to the Forrest Wood Cup. The pro and co-angler winners at the Invitational will receive automatic qualification into the Forrest Wood Cup.

About FLW Outdoors

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 189 tournaments in 2010. FLW Outdoors has also taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing awarding the largest prizes in the history of fantasy sports. FLW Outdoors memberships are available featuring numerous benefits including Player’s Advantage. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FantasyFishing.com.