FLORENCE, Ala. (June 5, 2008) – Pro Randy Haynes of Counce, Tenn., caught a five-bass limit weighing 16 pounds, 15 ounces Thursday to retain the lead in the Stren Series Southeast Division tournament on Pickwick Lake. With a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 36-08, he now holds an 1-pound, 2-ounce lead over second place pro Ryan Rigsby of Hixson, Tenn., who managed to haul in a total of 10 bass weighing 35-05 during the first two days of competition.
“This is the kind of fishing that I love to do,” said Haynes, who has been fishing Pickwick for nearly 12 years. “I love fishing deep ledges this time of year and this is just the place to do that.
“I think that as a local guy we have an advantage. We know the really good spots and the exact baits to get the fish biting. The best part of doing this is locating the fish and using all the technology to find to them.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Curt McGuire of Lawrenceburg, Tenn. (10 bass, 35-01); William Davis of Russellville, Ala. (10 bass, 33-00); and Todd Rasberry of Florence, Ala. (10 bass, 32-01).
McGuire earned $256 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 5-pound bass.
Overall there were 776 bass weighing 1,506 pounds, 3 ounces caught by 161 pros Thursday. The catch included 124 five-bass limits.
“I caught my 5-pounder on a cluster of isolated stumps on the river ledge that is overlooked by anglers,” Mcguire said. “It’s not a place where I would go to catch a lot of fish. If you get one bite you know it is going to be a good one.”
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.
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Greg Hamblin of New Albany, Miss., 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 11-10 while fishing with pro Derek Hicks of Rocky Face, Ga., Wednesday and five bass weighing 16-12 while fishing with pro Craig Grubbs of Tishomingo, Miss., Thursday for a total of 10 bass weighing 28-06.
“I caught my 6-pounder on my first cast,” Hamblin said. “I knew it was going to be a good day after I caught that big bass.”
Hamblin caught his kicker bass at 6:50 this morning only 9 miles from the marina.
“Today, the main difference from yesterday was that we stayed on Pickwick,” Hamblin said. “On the first day of competition my boater wanted to go to Wilson and I didn’t do as good there. I practiced on Pickwick and I had key areas to show my boater today.
“I talked with my boater for tomorrow and he lives on Pickwick. I think that it will be a great day with someone who has so much knowledge of the lake.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Mike Morris of White, Ga. (10 bass, 24-01); Daniel Costley of Memphis, Tenn. (10 bass, 23-12); Aaron Fahnestock of Enterprise, Ala. (10 bass, 23-02); and Joel Ross of Brandon, Miss. (10 bass, 22-14).
Hamblin earned $134 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 6-pound, 7-ounce bass.
Overall there were 688 bass weighing 1,122 pounds, 14 ounces caught by 158 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included 112 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 6:30 each morning from McFarland Park located at 200 James M. Spain Drive in Florence. 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 3100 Hough Road in Florence, 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, $7.3 million.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.