ZAPATA, Texas – Pro Jeremy Guidry of Opelousas, La., caught a five-bass limit weighing 31 pounds, 9 ounces Thursday to capture the lead in the Stren Series Texas Division tournament on Falcon Lake. With a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 56-06, he now holds an 1-pound, 4-ounce lead over second place pro Charles Haralson of Laredo, Texas, who managed to haul in a total of 10 bass weighing 55-02 during the first two days of competition.
“Today I fished a completely different area than I fished yesterday,” Guidry said. “I had three main spots that I went to in practice but decided to try a new area. We didn’t catch a lot of fish but the quality was good.”
Guidry caught his limit flipping Reaction Innovations baits.
“Yesterday, I caught my bigger fish flipping later in the day, but the wind started to pick up and that hurt the bite. I plan on sticking with the same pattern tomorrow,” Guidry said. “I have a lot of other boats in the area, but there are a lot of good fish in there.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Bob Ramsdell of Sour Lake, Texas (10 bass, 54-12); Nicky McNeely of Natchitoches, La. (10 bass, 54-09); and Thomas Redington of Royse City, Texas (10 bass, 53-06).
Nicholas Albus of Trinity, Texas, earned $243 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to an 11-pound, 3-ounce bass.
Overall there were 686 bass weighing 2,721 pounds, 15 ounces caught by 151 pros Thursday. The catch included 123 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing for as much as $65,000, including a 198VX Ranger powered by Evinrude or Yamaha if contingency guidelines are met, and valuable points toward qualifying for the $1 million Stren Series Championship in Branson, Mo., Nov. 5-8 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 2009 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® and TBF (The Bass Federation) for bass fishing’s biggest prize – $1 million.
Tournament pros aren’t the only ones winning big this season. With the introduction of FLW Fantasy Fishing™ (www.FantasyFishing.com), FLW Outdoors® will be awarding the largest fantasy sports payout in history. Players can become a virtual pro angler by signing up for Players Advantage and having exclusive insider information that could guide them to a $100,000 victory at every Wal-Mart FLW Tour stop and the Forrest Wood Cup. Players Advantage even offers the chance for a $1 million cash grand prize that will be awarded to the FLW Fantasy Fishing cumulative points winner. Those who visit FantasyFishing.com today can sign up for Players Advantage and FLW Outdoors will include a $15 Wal-Mart gift card.
Robert Arnold of Little Rock, Ark., leads the Co-angler Division in the chase for a top award of $35,000, including a 198VX Ranger if contingency guidelines are met. He caught five bass weighing 26-01 while fishing with pro Robert McFarlane of San Antonio, Texas, Wednesday and five bass weighing 27-06 while fishing with pro Michael Wohl of Burleson, Texas, Thursday for a total of 10 bass weighing 53-07.
“I realized today that we had overcast skies, so I started using a spinnerbait,” Arnold said. “When you have overcast skies with a little wind that usually means it’s a spinnerbait bite. Other anglers kept flipping bushes and not getting good bites. Later in the day, the sun came out and then that bite went away. But I had already caught the big fish. Tomorrow, I bet that I will go back to flipping, using worms and jigs.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Bill Rogers of Jasper, Texas (10 bass, 48-04); Mannie Lackey of Kerrville, Texas (10 bass, 47-00); Mark Oakley of Davis, Okla. (10 bass, 46-00); and Ray Peace of Arlington, Texas (10 bass, 45-11).
Jerry Lee of Kiefer, Okla., earned $128 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 11-pound, 3-ounce bass.
Overall there were 545 bass weighing 1,936 pounds, 12 ounces caught by 150 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included 75 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 2009 Forrest Wood Cup.
Anglers will take off at 7 each morning from Beacon Lodge located just off Farm Road 3074 in Zapata. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Zapata County Community Center located on Highway 83 in Zapata 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.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2008 alone the organization is offering more than 90,000 anglers the chance to win over $40 million through 230 tournaments in 10 circuits targeting bass, walleye, redfish, kingfish and striped bass. FLW Outdoors is also taking fishing mainstream with the largest cash awards in the history of fantasy sports, $1.7 million.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Players Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.