FLW Outdoors announces Striper Series details
New $1 million striped bass tournament circuit kicks off June 3
BENTON, Ky. – FLW Outdoors – the organization responsible for bringing bass, walleye, redfish and kingfish anglers the most lucrative tournaments in history – recently announced the impending launch of a new striped bass circuit that would comprise the world’s largest, most prestigious and highest-paying striper tournaments. Today, details on the new circuit – named the Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series – were made public for the first time, and they lived up to the promise.
The new $1 million FLW Striper Series will feature seven $125,000 qualifying tournaments that will be held on Saturdays plus a no-entry-fee $150,000 championship. As many as 200 teams, ranging in size from two to four anglers, will compete for a guaranteed top award of $20,000 cash in each qualifier and as much as $50,000 cash based on boat and engine bonuses from Hydra-Sports, Seaswirl, Wellcraft, Evinrude and Yamaha. The top 25 teams from each qualifier will then advance to a three-day, no-entry-fee championship where they will compete for a share of $150,000, including a top award of $50,000, on international television.
“We knew there was incredible demand for high-paying, high-profile professional striped bass tournaments to serve anglers in the Northeast,” said FLW Outdoors Chairman Irwin L. Jacobs. “But even we were surprised by the flood of calls we received from anglers when we announced our intention to launch a striped bass circuit. The phones rang off the hook for days. Now we are proud to announce all of the details about our new Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series, and we think that the angling community will agree that we’ve delivered on our promises.”
In FLW Striper Series qualifying tournaments, each team will be allowed to weigh in two stripers ranging in size from 28 to 34 inches (unless local regulations dictate otherwise). The fish must be kept alive in new keep-alive boxes developed by FLW Outdoors that will be available for purchase or rent during registration. The innovative boxes, based on proven live-release techniques, will allow all FLW Outdoors striper tournaments to be catch-and-release events – thus helping to protect the nation’s striped bass population and ensure a vibrant fishery for generations to come. Teams will be charged a 2-pound penalty for any fish that is not weighed in alive.
“At FLW Outdoors we pride ourselves on maintaining annual live-release rates in excess of 98 percent in all of our black bass, walleye and redfish tournaments,” said FLW Striper Series Tournament Director Bill Carson. “We are confident that we can achieve similar results with striped bass tournaments and help establish a catch-and-release ethic in the striped bass community as a whole.”
During competition teams may have no more than four lines in the water at any time, and only artificial lures are permitted. Trolling is allowed, but umbrella rigs, or arrays of baits, are limited to one bait with hooks.
In the Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series Championship, each team may weigh two stripers per day. The full field will compete the first two days and then be cut to the top five teams for the final day. The winner will be determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all three days.
The championship will be televised as part of “FLW Outdoors” on FSN (Fox Sports Net), which reaches 81 million subscribers in the United States. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to more than 350 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
Registration for the new FLW Striper Series opens May 16 for Hydra-Sports, Seaswirl, Triumph and Wellcraft boat owners. Registration for all other teams opens May 18. Entries will be accepted online at FLWOutdoors.com or by calling (270) 252-1000 beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern time on the dates indicated. Entry fees are $450 per team for all entries received prior to the day of registration for each tournament. The entry fee for entries received on registration day for a tournament or on-site during tournament registration will be $500 per team.
Complete FLW Striper Series details, including a comprehensive schedule, rules and tournament purses (available by clicking on any event in the online schedule), are available at FLWOutdoors.com. Printed brochures will also be distributed soon.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $37.9 million through 249 events in 2006.
Aside from promoting catch-and-release, FLW Outdoors has directly donated more than $285,000 and helped generate more than $1.7 million for conservation projects through its partnership with the FishAmerica Foundation. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.
Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series 2006 schedule
Click here for dynamic schedule with links to details
June 3 – Oceanside, N.Y.
June 24 – Westbrook, Conn.
Aug. 19 – Quincy, Mass.
Sept. 16 – West Dennis, Mass.
Sept. 30 – Jersey City, N.J.
Oct. 28 – Slaughter Beach, Del.
Nov. 4 – Cambridge, Md.
Championship
Dec. 7-9 – Virginia Beach, Va.
2006 FLW Striper Series schedule (click on an event for details including payouts)
Striper Series entry fees, official rules and events formats