Birmingham Bound

In 2004, the Wal-Mart FLW Tour is Birmingham bound as the world’s most lucrative bass-fishing series winds its way through six qualifying events en route to the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship and Outdoor Show held on Logan Martin Lake near Birmingham, Ala., Aug. 11-14.

In 1997, the FLW Tour was the first professional fishing tour to pay back nearly half the field, with anglers through 75th place earning a check. Then there were the enormous cash prizes to the winner. Lawry’s pro Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., won the first $200,000 cash prize awarded by the Wal-Mart FLW Tour by taking first at the 1997 Forrest Wood Open on Lake Minnetonka. In 1998, Davy Hite of Prosperity, S.C., was the first to win $250,000 in a fishing tournament when he won the FLW Tour Championship. Last September, Castrol pro David Dudley of Manteo, N.C., was the last man standing on the Road to Richmond and pocketed a record $500,000 cash for winning the FLW Tour Championship.

FLW Outdoors is without a doubt the undisputed leader in bringing larger and deeper payouts to tournament bass fishing. Over the last eight years, the winners have gone home wealthy, and anglers just squeaking into 75th place were glad to get their entry fee back. But pros expressed concern about the “middle of the pack” payback and told FLW Outdoors that places 30th through 50th needed some beefing up.

FLW Outdoors listened and responded in a big way. An astounding $6.8 million will be up for grabs during the 2004 Wal-Mart FLW Tour. Along the way, 200 pros and 200 co-anglers will fish for unprecedented purses.

In four events this season, the payout increase is going to the middle of the pack – 50th place will earn $10,000. At the FLW Tour Championship, the winner will again receive $500,000, and the last-place angler will take home $15,000 – a guaranteed refund in entry fees for the entire season.

Over the last three years, it has taken an average of 785 points to go to the FLW Tour Championship. According to the math, an angler must average 69th place all year to earn a chance at $500,000.

Easy money, right? Not exactly. Making the FLW Tour Championship will be tougher than ever this year. With 200 pros gunning for the top 48 positions over a very diverse fishing schedule, staying Birmingham Bound will be a challenge.

Pros will have to incorporate both offense and defense to stay on track. Three of the lakes on the 2004 schedule are virtual bass factories – Okeechobee, Kentucky Lake and Lake Champlain. If a pro stumbles in just one of these tournaments and fails to bring in a limit, they will miss the cut and sink like an anchor in the standings. But at Atchafalaya, Old Hickory and Beaver Lake, pros might have to take a more conservative approach and play defense to hold their position in the standings.

From the bayous of Louisiana in the winter to the natural lakes of the Northeast in the summer, here is a look at the 2004 Wal-Mart FLW Tour.

Lake Okeechobee Presented by EverStart Batteries, Jan. 21-24

The Wal-Mart FLW Tour likes to spreads its wealth to a variety of new fisheries each year as it bounces around the country. But one thing that has become a mainstay for the Tour is Lake Okeechobee in January.

For the sixth year in a row (eighth time total), the Wal-Mart FLW Tour will kick off in Clewiston, Fla., on the banks of Lake Okeechobee. The lake is huge, but the town is small. When 400 anglers and the FLW Outdoors staff arrive in Clewiston in January, it’s like a big bassing family reunion.

Pro Scott Martin and his mother Mary Ann are always gracious hosts for the event at Roland Martin’s Marina.

“The lake has been high this fall, and it has been producing a lot of bass,” Martin said. “We have had fantastic spawning seasons here the last four years, and the lake is loaded with bass. The vegetation is still in really good shape all over the lake. It used to be that Lake Okeechobee really consisted of two or three areas. Now there are 30 places all over the lake that give up big limits. Even the Rim Canal looks good. Thick hydrilla mats have grown up all around the canal.”

Since the lake is 2 or 3 feet high, Martin says open-water fishing over eelgrass and hydrilla will be productive for numbers of bass. But for the big bass, the flipping sticks and big 1-ounce weights punched into thick hyacinth mats will probably be the ticket.

Atchafalaya Basin Presented by Lays, Feb. 11-14

The FLW Tour made its maiden voyage to the Atchafalaya Basin last February and discovered green gold in the black-gold canals of the Basin. Nine- to 10-pound limits of bass were plentiful. But last February, the Atchafalaya Basin was experiencing an extreme dry period. The water levels in the Basin were 4 to 5 feet lower than normal, and that concentrated the bass for FLW Tour anglers.

“What we had here last year was really rare,” said Yamaha pro Greg Hackney of Gonzalez, La. “The water was incredibly low. The Atchafalaya River, which has a normal water level of 4 to 8 feet, was running at about 1.2 feet when the FLW Tour was here. Those were ideal conditions for bass fishing. Every canal was a dead-end canal, and the fish were trapped.”

Hackney predicts the Atchafalaya might not be such easy pickings this year.

“When the water level is normal here, many of those canals that were dead-end canals last year are going to be running cold, muddy water,” he said. “I think a lot of guys that came here last year and thought this was a great place to fish might be in for a little surprise this year.”

Hackney says fish will still be caught, but it will not be as prolific as last year.

“Last year, the best fishing was in the Basin,” he said. “Guys were running only 10 to 15 minutes and catching decent limits. There was no need to run far. I think there will be a lot more running involved this time. Some guys will go to Bayou Black, and others will go to Lake Verret. It all depends on what the Mississippi River does.”

The Mississippi River is the kingpin of the Atchafalaya system. If water levels in the Mississippi are normal or above, the Army Corps of Engineers will divert water into the Basin, and water levels will be higher than last year.

Old Hickory Lake Presented by Snickers, March 10-13

Old Hickory Lake, a 22,000-acre impoundment on the Cumberland River near Gallatin, Tenn., is the smallest venue on the schedule this year. Although 22,000 acres does not sound like much for 200 tournament boats, Old Hickory is over 60 miles long and fishes big for its size due to the amount of cover and structure in the lake.

“Old Hickory is one of those lakes where everything looks good,” said Stratos pro Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn. “It’s got shallow flats, stumps, creek channels, riprap, docks, seawalls, laydowns – you name it, it’s got it. And the fish use it all.”

This will be the FLW Tour’s second visit to the pleasant city of Gallatin, Tenn. The last time the FLW Tour stopped here was in May 2002. Fish were postspawn and moving toward a summer pattern.

In 2002, the top-10 cut after two days was 23 pounds, 1 ounce, roughly 11 1/2 pounds per day. But this place can give up big limits, too. In 2002, Rob Kilby of Hot Springs Ark., caught the five-bass limit that weighed 23 pounds, 1 ounce.

“Last time, the fish were postspawn and spread out,” Morgan said. “You could blitz down the lake, hit 50 spots, and chances are you would run across a few. It’s going to be a lot colder in March, and I think the fish are going to be grouped up. There will be more of that milking-one-area type of fishing rather than that run-and-gun fishing.”

Morgan says that Old Hickory is one of the tournaments he’s going to slow down and play defense on this year.

Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake Presented by Tyson, Mar. 31-Apr. 3

If the Wal-Mart FLW Tour has such a thing as a home lake, it would be Beaver Lake in Rogers, Ark.

The Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake has been stop No. 4 on the FLW Tour for six years in a row. This year, the FLW Tour will make its earliest appearance ever on the scenic Ozark Mountain impoundment.

The first week in April can still be winter in the Ozarks. Past Wal-Mart Opens that were dominated by sight-fishing will be but a warm memory this year.

Kellogg’s pro Clark Wendlandt of Cedar Park, Texas, who has won two Wal-Mart Opens by sight-fishing, believes this year’s Wal-Mart Open will be similar to last year’s event.

“The Wal-Mart Open will be held way before the spawn this year,” he said. “The water will be cold like it was last year, and the same patterns will work again.”

Judging from last year’s weights, Beaver Lake actually fishes better with colder water temperatures. In years past, a five-bass limit weighing 9 pounds was a showstopper, but last year, 9 pounds would hardly make tournament emcee Charlie Evans break stride.

In fact, last year there were 22 catches over 12 pounds weighed in when usually 12 pounds would be the heaviest limit of the event.

The weather and water may still be cold at the Wal-Mart Open this year, but the fishing should be good.

Kentucky Lake Presented by Pedigree May 12-15

This will be the FLW Tour’s fifth trip to Kentucky Lake near FLW Outdoors’ hometown of Benton, Ky. With FLW Outdoors’ new headquarters in Benton and some of the nation’s best bass fishing at their back door, FLW Tour anglers might be seeing a lot more of Kentucky Lake in the future.

Over 200,000 acres of fantastic fishing on Kentucky and Barkley lakes leaves little room for complaint. In May, Kentucky Lake is usually a classic clash of shallow vs. deep patterns. In the shallow end are the bank runners, bush flippers and top-water enthusiasts. In the deep end are the deep crankers, Carolina riggers and worm draggers.

Despite a sudden 8-foot influx of water during the Kentucky Lake event last year, the crankers, riggers and draggers dominated the event. This year, the masters of “the long pole with a short string” will be looking for redemption.

Forrest Wood Open on Lake Champlain Presented by Kellogg’s, June 23-26

According to many professional touring pros who sample bass lakes for a living, Lake Champlain is the best bass fishery in the world. When asked to describe Champlain, more than a couple of anglers have said to imagine a million hungry bass that have never seen a lure.

The last time the FLW Tour visited Champlain in June 2002, the anglers left kicking and screaming – because they didn’t want to leave. Here is why: 82 percent of the entire field caught five-fish limits for two days. That makes you wonder if it is safe to stick your toes in the water.

The only drawback to scenic Champlain is the wind. A breath of wind down the Adirondack Mountain valley can turn the monstrous 300,000-acre lake into something more reminiscent of the Pacific Ocean.

As long as Champlain is somewhat fishable, the limits are going to come in by the droves. The object is not just to get on fish but to get on big fish. Catching bass in the 2-pound class can be an exercise in futility. In 2002, it took 27 pounds, or 13 1/2 pounds per day, to get the 75th-place check.

Champlain contains a healthy mix of smallmouths and largemouths. A good school of 3-pound smallmouths will probably get an angler a decent check, but the winners at Champlain are usually dedicated to largemouths.

In 2002, Michigan pro Chad Grigsby led the Forrest Wood Open for two days with all largemouths before wind blew out his spot. Kellogg’s pro Sam Newby of Pocola, Okla., ended up winning the event with largemouths.

Largemouth or smallmouth, one thing is for sure, most pros and co-anglers will travel to Champlain a few days earlier than usual to get their line stretched for a couple of extra days.

Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship on Logan Martin Lake Presented by Castrol, Aug. 11-14

The top 48 pros and co-anglers bound for Birmingham from the 2004 FLW Tour will finally reach their destination.

The pros will go head-to-head in the championship’s unique bracket-style elimination format. The final 12 left standing will then compete in what is essentially a one-day tournament for $500,000. To see an angler win a half-million dollars for bringing in the heaviest five-bass limit is something that must be seen to believe.

This will be the FLW Tour’s first trip to Logan Martin. Tyson pro Todd Ary of Birmingham, Ala., says the date switch from September to August should make for better catches.

“By August, we’ve had a month of stable weather here,” he said. “The fishing patterns get more consistent and fish feeding times are more predictable, especially with those deep fish.”

Unlike the two previous bracket-style championships on Cross Lake and the James River, Ary believes there will be more separation in the matchup weights and that the winner will be easier to predict in Birmingham.

“At the James especially, there were a lot of guys who won their matchups by just a pound or two,” he said. “In Birmingham, I think there will be a lot more blowouts. One guy will have 23 pounds for two days, and his opponent will have 15 pounds. Last year, I had no idea who would win on the last day. This year, I think the winner will be easier to estimate based on his earlier-round weights.”

Ary says it is not uncommon for 20 to 24 pounds to win team tournaments on Logan Martin in August. He thinks that it will take a mixture of spots and largemouths to win the lucrative championship.

“I don’t think a guy is going to win the event with straight largemouths or straight spots,” he said. “On any given day, the winning combination on that lake is usually a big largemouth with four solid spotted bass. A lot of the 15- to 20-pound strings are four big spots that weigh 10 to 14 pounds and a 5- to 7-pound largemouth.”

With that in mind, Ary predicts the winner will have both a shallow largemouth pattern and a deep spotted-bass pattern working simultaneously.