FLW Canada Sets Tournament Sites, Dates
FLW Canada, one of four partners in FLW’s International Division of the Costa FLW Series, recently released its 2016 tournament schedule. The season includes three two-day regular-season qualifying events and a three-day championship. Anglers fish as two-person teams.
The schedule:
- June 25-26 – Tri Lakes
- July 23-24 – Rice Lake
- Aug. 27-28 – Lake St. Francis
- Sept. 16-18 – Big Rideau Lake – Championship
Four FLW Canada anglers already qualified for the 2016 Costa FLW Series Championship via the 2016 Canadian championship event, and qualification for the 2017 Costa FLW Series Championship will follow the same format. The two anglers on the winning team at the Canadian championship will fish independently as boaters at the FLW Series Championship. The anglers on the team that catches the biggest bass at the Canadian championship will go to the FLW Series Championship to fish as co-anglers. The top-finishing International Division angler from the four participating countries – Canada, Mexico, China and South Korea – at the 2016 Costa FLW Series Championship earns a spot at the 2017 Forrest Wood Cup.
Championships aside, Cory Banford, director of operations for FLW Canada, has much bigger plans for the new Canadian circuit.
“We want to make it grow, to have something professional back in Canada,” Banford says. “It’s been almost 20 years since guys have had something to be excited about. It would be nice to have something, ultimately, like FLW across the board in Canada, with the Tour and the stepping-stones – high school, college and up. We don’t have a lot of youth participation. So I’m focusing on how to do that, and I’m hoping that having the name FLW will help get some high school and college kids excited and get them to start.”
For additional information, visit FLWCanada.com.