BULL SHOALS, Ark. – The tough bite remained, but Pro Randall Hutson of Washburn, Mo., caught a five-bass limit weighing 12 pounds, 5 ounces Thursday to retain the lead in the $275,225 Stren Series Central Division tournament presented by Yamaha on Bull Shoals. With a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 28-3, he now holds a 1-pound, 7-ounce lead over second place pro Tim Fleetwood of Forsythe, Mo., who managed to haul in a total of 10 bass weighing 26-12 during the first two days of competition.
“It was tougher fishing today, with what seemed like hurricane-force winds,” said Hutson. “The way that the weather is changing and as fast as it’s changing, who knows what’s going to happen tomorrow. I may not even catch a fish tomorrow.”
The weather forecast for Friday calls for sunny skies with a high of 57 degrees and wind gusts of 20 to 30 miles per hour.
Hutson said he caught a nice Kentucky early in the morning and then went about two hours before he hooked one that came off at the boat. Hutson continued to fish shallow using a Smithwick Rogue, a crankbait and a finesse jig, and finished out his limit with four nice keepers.
“The fish I’m catching are pretty shallow, and I’m afraid the wind’s really going to affect me tomorrow,” Hutson said.
Rounding out the top five pros are Jerry Weisinger of Wyandotte, Okla. (10 bass, 22-11); Jim Byler of Mountain Home, Ark. (seven bass, 17-15); and Jeff Evans of Benton, Ky. (six bass, 17-15).
Mike Ellenstein of Newburgh, Ind., earned $250 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 5-pound, 3-ounce bass he caught.
Overall there were 205 bass weighing 428 pounds, 10 ounces caught by pros Thursday. Only 11 five-bass limits were caught Thursday.
Pros are competing for as much as $65,000, including a 519VX Ranger powered by Evinrude or Yamaha if contingency guidelines are met, and valuable points toward qualifying for the $1 million Stren Series Championship in Mobile, Ala., Nov. 8-11 for a shot at $140,000. After four qualifying events are complete in each of the circuit’s five divisions, the top 40 pros from each division will advance to the championship. The highest-finishing pro from each division at the championship will also earn a spot in the $2 million 2008 Forrest Wood Cup, where they will compete against top pros from the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series and TBF (The Bass Federation) for bass fishing’s biggest prize – $1 million.
Ed Shay of Chesterfield, Mo., leads the Co-angler Division in the chase for a top award of $35,000, including a 519VX Ranger if contingency guidelines are met. He caught four bass weighing 10-2 while fishing with pro Brent Maurer of Ledbetter, Ky., Wednesday and one bass weighing 2-12 while fishing with pro Bruce Dale of Jamestown, Ohio, Thursday for a total of five bass weighing 12-14.
“I did the same thing I did yesterday,” said Shay. “I jerked a Smithwick Rogue. I used the same tempo and fished the same type of structure as yesterday. The only difference is today it was very difficult to slow it down enough with the wind we had. And for me and my partner, the bites just weren’t there.
“I’m going to throw the jerkbait again tomorrow in clear water, but I’m going to go to a little more of a finesse technique to try to get a few more bites,” Shay added.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Michael Waltrip of Fayetteville, Ark. (four bass, 9-0); Tyrone Phillips of Little Rock, Ark. (two bass, 8-13); Charles Radford of Sullivan, Mo. (three bass, 8-11); and Lynn Jones of Hernando, Miss. (four bass, 8-6).
Phillips earned $131 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 5-pound bass he caught.
Overall there were 57 bass weighing 131 pounds, 5 ounces caught by co-anglers Thursday. The catch included no five-bass limits.
The top 40 co-anglers from each Stren Series division will also advance to the championship, where they will fish for as much as $70,000. The highest-finishing co-angler from each division at the championship will then advance to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.
Anglers will take off at 7 each morning from Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock located at Eastwold Cove in Bull Shoals, Ark. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 168 Walmart Dr. in Flippin, Ark., beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Stren Series tournaments are four-day events consisting of two rounds. The entire field competes Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. At the conclusion of Friday’s weigh-in, the field is cut to the top 10 pros and co-anglers based on the heaviest three-day accumulated weights. These anglers continue competition Saturday, with the winners determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.
FLW Outdoors historically maintains a 98 percent live release rate in all of its bass tournaments.
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, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, 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 of nearly $43 million through 238 events in 2007.
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.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.