FLW Championship preview: Brush with destiny
Wal-Mart FLW Tour Forrest L. Wood Championship, Lake Hamilton, July 13-16
When the Wal-Mart FLW Tour opens competition on the clear waters of Lake Hamilton this week, the tour’s top 48 anglers will need to focus on trying to block out the hype, pressure and prestige of fishing the Forrest L. Wood Championship and just concentrate on the fishing. Especially at this midsummer test of wills, the fishing must take top priority because it’s going to be relatively demanding.
“It’s tough,” pro Rob Kilby said Monday. “This lake is kind of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It’s a really great lake, but come July and August, it becomes a tough old lake to fish.”
Besides the pressure of fishing head-to-head for a half-million dollars, anglers are faced with the task of figuring out the bass bite – or, rather, lack of it – in the height of summer on Lake Hamilton. High temperatures and clear water tend to send the fish deeper, away from the easier shallow bait presentations of anglers.
For Kilby, a local pro from Hot Springs, Ark., touted as one to watch on his home waters this week, the summer pattern will mean some tricky fishing.
“In this clear water, they suspend a lot, which makes them harder to catch,” he said. “The brush piles are certainly going to play a big role. There are probably about 10,000 brush piles in there, along with thousands of docks, and it’s not hard to find them. We’re just going to have to catch them the old-fashioned way: fish as many of them as you can and hope you run into a few big ones.”
Angler of the Year Greg Hackney, who is now a resident of Gonzales, La., but cut his teeth in competitive angling fishing tournaments throughout Arkansas, agreed.
“The funny thing about it is that this lake is full of fish. It’s just a funny time right now,” he said, adding that 10- to 12-pound sacks a day will likely represent the top weights throughout the week. “For me, it’s tough. They’re suspended out deeper, just roaming around with the shad.”
Under the summer conditions, anglers will likely employ an arsenal of techniques to trick a few good bass into biting. Deepwater crankbaits and spinnerbaits should play crucial roles for competitors trying to dig some keepers out of the brush piles. Soft plastics around the multitude of docks will also yield tournament fish.
“The way this place is fishing, those boys with local knowledge are going to be hard to beat,” Hackney said. “But a lot of it depends on the weather and what happens with that hurricane.”
All eyes are on Hurricane Dennis as it brings rain in from the Gulf of Mexico and threatens to dampen FLW Championship competition. As of Monday, the system had lingered to the east, and it was still uncertain whether Dennis would impact central Arkansas as much as it could have. If that happens and the clouds come, look out for the pros fishing topwater baits.
“There are a lot of different ways of catching them here. There’s not any magic lure or fishing spot that will do it,” Kilby said. “Any clear lake in the summertime creates come problems on how to really key in on one style of fishing. They’re suspended fish, so it could be pretty tough. We’ll just have to track them down and catch them one at a time. But if we get some cloud cover or wind, we might bomb them with a topwater.”
Another issue facing anglers will be the summer recreational boat traffic. At roughly 7,200 acres, Lake Hamilton is relatively small compared to other fisheries visited by the FLW Tour, and, since it’s nestled among the scenic Ouachita Mountains and has a highly developed shoreline, it’s one of Arkansas’ top recreation destinations.
For Kilby, though, that just comes with the territory.
“The boat traffic doesn’t really play that big a part,” he said. “Everybody’s going to have a party barge cut between them and the bank at some point or another. It’s a fair tournament for everybody, and it’s going to be a good one with what’s at stake here.”
Lake facts
Lake Hamilton was created in 1932 when the Arkansas Power and Light Co. completed Carpenter Dam on the Ouachita River to generate electricity. Today, the 7,200-acre impoundment is one of Arkansas’s most popular recreational and residential lakes. Much of it is ringed with condominiums, resorts, motels, restaurants and private homes.
For bass-tournament purposes, the lake is home to both largemouth and spotted bass. It also hosts striped bass and is a popular crappie fishery, as well as a host of other species.
Catch the action
Anglers who qualified for the tour’s 10th anniversary championship following the six qualifying events are seeded according to their Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year rankings and No. 1 will compete against No. 48, No. 2 against No. 47, No. 3 against No. 46, etc. This unique format is sure to produce some exciting matches.
Following the two-day opening round, 24 pros advance to the semifinal round based on their two-day accumulated weight. Head-to-head competition continues in the one-day semifinal round, after which 12 pros advance to the final round. The 12 finalists start from zero and compete for one day to determine the winner of the sport’s top award – $500,000. The pro who finishes 48th earns $15,000 just for qualifying.
Forty-eight co-anglers, who are paired with the pros and fish from the back deck, will compete for two days, after which the top 24 anglers based on accumulated weight advance to the third and final day of co-angler competition. Weights are cleared for the co-angler final round, and the winner takes home $25,000.
Championship contenders will take off from Fish Hatchery Ramp, located at 350 Fish Hatchery Road in Hot Springs at 7 a.m. each day, and daily weigh-ins will be held at 5 p.m. in Summit Arena adjacent to the Hot Springs Convention Center.
The championship’s boat and outdoor show featuring more than 140 exhibits; fishing seminars by Hank Parker, Jimmy Houston, Guido Hibdon, Forrest L. Wood and other bass-fishing legends; and free daily giveaways runs 2 to 8 p.m. July 13 and 14, noon to 9 p.m. July 15, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. July 16.
One lucky fan attending the final weigh-in Saturday, July 16, will win a new Ranger Z20 Comanche bass boat powered by Yamaha courtesy of Allen Tillery Chevrolet. Two qualifiers will be drawn for the boat giveaway during each day’s 5 p.m. weigh-in, with the final two qualifiers and the eventual winner drawn Saturday, July 16. You must be present to qualify and win. Admission is free, and entry forms will be available at the outdoor show.
Coverage of the 2005 Forrest L. Wood Championship will be broadcast to 82 million FSN subscribers as part of the “Wal-Mart FLW Outdoors” television program Aug. 7 and 14. “Wal-Mart FLW Outdoors” airs Sundays at 11 a.m. Eastern time.
You can also catch all the weigh-in action at FLWOutdoors.com with FLW Live. The first weigh-in will be broadcast Wednesday, July 13, at 5 p.m. Central time and will continue throughout all four days’ weigh-ins.
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