SOMERSET, Ky. – Pro Sean Hoernke of Magnolia, Texas, caught three bass Friday weighing 9 pounds, 6 ounces to give him a three-day total of 11 bass weighing 34 pounds, 12 ounces to lead day three of the Wal-Mart FLW Series event on Lake Cumberland near Somerset, Ky. The top 10 pros advance to Saturday’s final day of competition where the winner receives $100,000 cash based on the four-day accumulated weight.
“The whole key this week is fishing secondary points in small pockets in the lower third of the lake,” Hoernke said. “In highland lakes like Cumberland, the most mature smallmouths and spots live in the lower third of the lake, and they are main-lake fish by nature. They don’t like to go five miles to spawn, so they hit the first pockets on the main lake. The whole deal for me was studying the map before the tournament.
“I’m finesse fishing, but I’m using 10-pound-test line so I can really drive the hook in. I have caught nearly every fish that bit this week. A lot of guys are using lighter line and missing a lot of fish because they’re not getting a good hook-set. But I practiced with 10-pound line and lighter line, and it didn’t make a difference. I’m using a 1/8-ounce Shakey Head.”
Mike Hawkes of Sabinal, Texas, is in second with 13 bass weighing 34-8.
“At 12:30 p.m. I didn’t have a fish and completely changed everything,” Hawkes said. “The clouds came in, and it started raining, so I went shallower. I threw a reaction bait and covered a lot of water. I had 100 spotted bass come up to look at the bait but only a few would hit.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Steve Wright of Oskaloosa, Iowa (14 bass, 31 pounds, 13 ounces); Jay Yelas of Tyler, Texas (12 bass, 31 pounds, 12 ounces); and Kellogg’s pro Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas (11 bass, 29 pounds, 9 ounces).
Local angler David Lawson of Richmond, Ky., earned $20,000 as the winner of the Co-angler Division. He caught six bass over three days weighing 20 pounds, 15 ounces, winning by more than 6 pounds.
“I was throwing a brown 3/8-ounce round-head jig on 12-pound line,” Lawson said. “That’s what I do 90 percent of the time. We were fishing 8 to 20 feet deep.
“I fished with Terry Baksay today, and he was fishing exactly where I practiced for two days. The fish were there all week, and I knew it. I didn’t tell him anything. He fished exactly where I wanted to.”
Baksay, who finished second at the season’s first event on Lake Lanier, weighed in 14-3 Friday, but finished in 72nd place.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are J.B. King of Byrdstown, Tenn. (six bass, 14 pounds, 10 ounces, $10,000); Jacques Fleischmann of Valencia, Calif. (four bass, 14 pounds, 5 ounces, $9,000); Kevin Koone of Greenbrier, Ark., who won the season’s opening even in the Co-angler Division (four bass, 14 pounds, 1 ounce, $8,000); and Craig Johnson of Martinez, Ga. (four bass, 14 pounds, $7,000).
The new $6.5 million FLW Series features five $900,000 qualifying tournaments, each with a top award of $100,000, that advance anglers to the $2 million, 2007 Forrest Wood Cup in Hot Springs, Ark., where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million cash.
Anglers fishing the FLW Series tournament on Lake Cumberland will take off at 7 Saturday morning from General Burnside Island State Park. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 177 Washington Drive in Somerset beginning at 4 p.m. Children will be treated to the Fujifilm trout pond and rides in the Kellogg’s Ranger boat simulator beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday prior to the final weigh-in at Wal-Mart. All events are free and open to the public.
The entire field competes for the first three days of FLW Series events. Co-angler winners are determined on day three by the heaviest accumulated three-day weight. The top 10 professionals continue competition on day four, and the winner is determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.
In FLW Series competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers.
Coverage of the Lake Cumberland FLW Series tournament will be broadcast to 80 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing June 4. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to approximately 350 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely viewed 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.
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, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006. FLW Outdoors also recently announced the addition of a striped bass circuit, which will debut in May.