Angling fans predict opening-round outcomes with votes
FLW Outdoors has been posting polls on the Wal-Mart FLW Tour page of its Web site since the beginning of July in preparation for the Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship to be held on Cross Lake in Shreveport, La., Sept. 11-14. Each poll has pit one angler against another in the same pairing in which they will compete during the opening round of the championship.
Results from the polls are in with votes still being registered in the currently posted matchup between No. 1 seed Jay Yelas and No. 48 seed Harmon Davis. Keep in mind that the polls are by no means scientific and for entertainment purposes only.
Voters indicated with their votes that the bracket’s most uneven matchup will be between No. 17 seed Gary Klein, with a 98-percent vote of confidence, and No. 32 seed Dale Teaney. However, voters couldn’t make up their minds when it came to No. 18 seed Chris Baumgardner’s matchup against No. 31 seed Roger Crafton. That poll ended in a tie.
Be sure to check FLWOutdoors.com for coverage of the championship and compare these predictions to the actual outcome of the opening round of competition. Here’s what FLWOutdoors.com readers predict will happen in the first round of action at Cross Lake, with polls listed in the order of greatest to least margin of separation between anglers:
– #17 Gary Klein (98 percent) over #32 Dale Teaney (3 percent)
– #4 Clark Wendlandt (94 percent) over #45 Alvin Shaw (7 percent)
– #35 Larry Nixon (89 percent) over #14 Tom Mann Jr. (12 percent)
– #1 Jay Yelas (89 percent) in the lead over #48 Harmon Davis (12 percent) as of 3 p.m. Sept. 6. This poll will remain active on the Web site until after the first round of championship fishing action.
– #2 Kevin VanDam (88 percent) over #47 Marty Stone (13 percent)
– #19 Dion Hibdon (83 percent) over #30 Keith Williams (18 percent)
– #43 Randy Blaukaut (82 percent) over #6 Mike Wurm (18 percent)
– #11 Rick Clunn (81 percent) over #38 Paul Elias (20 percent)
– #21 Tommy Biffle (75 percent) over #28 Tracy Adams (25 percent)
– #25 David Fritts (72 percent) over #24 John Sappington (29 percent)
– #3 Dean Rojas (72 percent) over #46 Takahiro Omori (29 percent)
– #26 Jim Tutt (70 percent) over #23 Kevin Vida (31 percent)
– #15 Wesley Strader (70 percent) over #34 Brent Chapman (30 percent)
– #16 Aaron Martens (66 percent) over #33 Rob Kilby (35 percent)
– #39 Kim Stricker (65 percent) over #10 Greg Hackney (36 percent)
– #5 Sam Newby (62 percent) over #44 Scott Martin (39 percent)
– #22 Guido Hibdon (59 percent) over #27 Chuck Economou (42 percent)
– #7 David Dudley (59 percent) over #42 Gerald Swindle (42 percent)
– #37 Stanley Mitchell (57 percent) over #12 Pat Fisher (44 percent)
– #8 Bernie Schultz (56 percent) over #41 Mark Pack (45 percent)
– #13 Alton Jones (55 percent) over #36 Craig Powers (46 percent)
– #29 Wes Thomas (52 percent) over #20 Joel Richardson (48 percent)
– #40 Bill Chapman (52 percent) over #9 Andre Moore (49 percent)
– #18 Chris Baumgardner (50 percent) tied with #31 Roger Crafton (50 percent)
Editor’s note: Poll percentage totals do not always equal 100.
Click here for details about the new head-to-head style of championship bracketing.