Back to reality

West Point Lake promises challenge for Stren Series anglers

LAGRANGE, Ga. – Wal-Mart FLW Tour anglers who left last week’s bass bonanza at Lake Murray in South Carolina and drove to West Point Lake in Georgia to compete in the Stren Series Southeast Division event this week are being jolted back into reality.

Simply put: Lake Murray was a dream bass-fishing vacation, and West Point Lake is the Monday morning, back to work.

And as the old saying goes, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all, which might explain why many pros were rather quiet Wednesday morning when asked about the fishing on West Point.

“After Murray, this is work,” commented Greg Pugh of Cullman, Ala. “You would think that patterns similar to what worked at Murray would work here, but they’re not working for me.”

Like Murray, West Point Lake water levels are considerably low, down some 7 to 8 feet. Also like Murray, the water temperatures are very cold, running anywhere from 44 to 52 degrees.

“But the big difference is the mud,” Pugh added. “West Point is really muddy right now – cold and muddy – and that’s not good.”

After his tremendous tournament last week, Lake Murray FLW Tour winner Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C., had about six hours of practice on West Point Tuesday.

When asked about West Point’s conditions, Gagliardi simply laughed and shook his head.

Like Pugh, Gagliardi hoped that some semblance of a Lake Murray pattern might exist at West Point.

“I got out there and idled around a little bit, looking for the same kind of stuff I fished at Murray, but the problem here is that there is a lot of standing timber in these deep guts and bays for the fish to suspend in,” Gagliardi said. “We don’t have a lot of standing timber in Murray, and the fish are forced to relate to the deep breaks. Plus, the muddy water here doesn’t help.”

The silver lining to West Point’s muddy waters this week will be the weather. After a brutal cold front put the South in a deep freeze the last couple nights, temperatures are moderating quickly. Today’s highs will be about 65 and Thursday’s highs are supposed to soar to 75 degrees. Such a warming trend should help bring more fish to the bank and into the livewells of the Stren Series competitors.

Payouts and contingencies

West Point Lake is the second event of the Stren Series Southeast Division. This week anglers competing in the Pro Division will fish for a top award worth as much as $60,000, including a fully rigged Ranger 519VX powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard, Minn Kota trolling motor, Lowrance electronics and EverStart batteries plus $10,000 cash. Pros will have the chance to earn an additional $10,000 bonus award from Ranger if contingency guidelines are met. Ranger will award another $3,000 to the winner if he or she is a participant in the Ranger Cup program, or $1,500 to the highest-finishing Ranger Cup participant. Yamaha will match 50 percent of Ranger Cup earnings if the participant meets “Powered by Yamaha” guidelines.

Co-angler competitors cast for a top award worth as much as $35,000, including a Ranger boat and trailer if contingency guidelines are met. Competitors will also be vying for valuable points that could earn them a berth into the $1 million Stren Series Championship in Decatur, Ala., for a shot at $140,000 in the Pro Division and $70,000 in the Co-angler Division. The highest finishing pro and the highest finishing co-angler from each division at the championship will qualify for the 2007 $2 million Forrest Wood Cup, where the winning pro will have a shot at bass fishing’s first $1 million prize.

Logistics

Anglers will take off from Highland Marina Resort at 7:30 Eastern each morning. Wednesday and Thursday’s weigh-ins will also be held at the marina, which is located at 1000 Seminole Road in LaGrange, beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 1513 Lafayette Parkway in LaGrange beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

Two-hundred pros and 200 co-anglers will compete for two days to determine the top 20 pros and top 20 co-anglers who advance to Friday’s semifinal round, based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for the semifinal round and anglers compete for 10 spots in each division in the final round. Winners on day four are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.

In Stren Series competition, pros supply the boats, fish from the front deck against other pros and control boat movement. Co-anglers fish from the back deck and compete against other co-anglers. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points that determine angler standings. Two hundred points are awarded to the winner, 199 points for second, 198 points for third, and so on. The top 40 pros and top 40 co-anglers from each of the Stren Series’ five divisions – Central, Northeast, Midwest, Southeast and Western – will advance to the $1 million Stren Series Championship on Wheeler Lake Nov. 1-4. The top 10 pros and top 10 co-anglers from each division also qualify for the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the world’s most lucrative tournament series, where they can compete for a share of $7.6 million in 2007.

Wednesday’s conditions

Sunrise: 7:24 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 40 degrees

Expected high temperature: 65 degrees

Water temperature: 45-52 degrees

Forecasted winds: SSE at 5-10 mph

Day’s outlook: partly cloudy and warmer