Browne’s Tennessee triumph airs June 6
Show covers FLW Tour qualifier on Fort Loudoun-Tellico lakes
MINNEAPOLIS – The third event of the 2010 FLW Tour season took place on the Fort Loudoun-Tellico lakes in Knoxville, Tenn. Early in the week, spawning smallmouths were the talk of the tournament as several pros registered hefty limits via sight-fishing. But brown bass are notorious for being unreliable. And as they dwindled, Glenn Browne stayed true to his shallow-water largemouth pattern and won the tournament with a four-day total of 59 pounds, 13 ounces. Complete coverage of the event will air June 6 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. ET on VERSUS as part of the weekly “FLW Outdoors” program.
Each day Browne ran up Fort Loudoun Lake to a pocket in the I.C. King Park area. There the Ocala, Fla., pro fished a combination of log lay-downs, docks and, most importantly, fallen bushy pine trees. Unlike other pockets, Browne’s was basically a shallow flat where largemouths funneled in to spawn. The area was only a couple feet deep, and the water was dirty – just the way Browne prefers it.
His key bait was a 4-inch Gambler flipping tube in black neon/chartreuse. On day one he caught a couple fish on a Gambler Big E-Z swimbait, and on day three he dialed into a little shad spawn with a white 3/8-ounce spinnerbait. On day four he caught only five keepers and they all came on the tube, which he matched with a 5/16-ounce weight and 20-pound-test fluorocarbon line. For his first tour-level win, Browne earned $125,000.
In second place was Goodwill pro Chad Grigsby, who finished with a total weight of 55-13. Considering his smallmouth program basically ran dry after day two, Grigsby did an admirable job staying near the top of the leaderboard. When smallmouth fishing, he mainly used a drop-shot with a Berkley Gulp minnow. When he was targeting largemouths, the Twin Cities resident went junk-fishing – throwing everything from shaky heads to swimbaits. Like he does so well down in Florida, he also spent considerable time flipping. His second-place finish earned him $37,197.
Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., took third and earned nearly $30,000 with a total weight of 55 pounds even. Like Grigsby, Thrift sight-fished for spawning smallmouths early in the week. His bait of a choice was a Texas-rigged Damiki Hydra. When he ran out of smallmouths, Thrift resorted to pitching a Spro frog under overhanging limbs.
VERSUS Country broadcasts “FLW Outdoors” in high-definition (HD) Sundays from 12:30-1:30 p.m. ET. FLWOutdoors.com also provides an online guide listing upcoming episodes of “FLW Outdoors.” In addition, each episode of “FLW Outdoors” will be available on demand in its entirety via FLW OnDemand.
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, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FantasyFishing.com.