Bonus round
FLW Series anglers get another chance Friday at Lanier
GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Anglers in the Wal-Mart FLW Series tournament at Lake Lanier will have one more chance to prove their mettle today.
Thanks to the FLW Series format, new for FLW Outdoors bass events, anglers now have three days to qualify for the top-10 cut. Friday could be considered a kind of bonus round.
Chris Baumgardner of Gastonia, N.C., who sits in 11th, likes the idea of a bonus round this morning. After bringing day two’s biggest stringer – 17 pounds, 9 ounces – to the scales Thursday, he stopped just 3 ounces shy of the top 10. With momentum on his side, the pro now has another eight-hour fishing day to crack the top 10.
On the other hand, Japan’s Shin Fukae is not liking the pressures of an additional, third day too much. He currently sits in 10th, and had the cut been made yesterday, like it is in Wal-Mart FLW Tour events, Fukae could have slept a little easier Thursday night.
“No sleep last night,” he said in broken English this morning. “First day, fishing good. Yesterday, not so good. Today, I don’t know.”
Interestingly, some of the anglers targeting largemouths yesterday made big moves, including Baumgardner, Darrel Robertson of Jay, Okla., Curt Lytle of Zuni, Va., and Jay Yelas of Tyler, Texas.
Some pros, like Pat Fisher of Buckhead, Ga., in 58th, are going to use their bonus
round to try to tap the largemouth bite today for a big move.
Other pros, like Koby Kreiger of Okeechobee, Fla., in 34th, are going to keep pecking away at spotted bass to secure a place in the lucrative top 50, which guarantees a $10,000 check.
The day-three weigh-in will begin at 3 p.m. Eastern time at Little Hall Landing on Lake Lanier. For those who cannot be at the weigh-in in person, FLWOutdoors.com offers FLW Live, its cutting-edge Web application that brings viewers audio, video, results and more in real time.
Friday’s conditions
Sunrise: 6:55 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 53 degrees
Expected high temperature: 73 degrees
Water temperature: 52-55 degrees
Forecasted winds: SSW at 5 to 10 mph
Day’s outlook: small chance of rain