Hawk wins Stren Series event on Lake Roosevelt

Au wins co-angler title

PAYSON, Ariz. – Pro Roy Hawk of Salt Lake City, Utah, caught a five-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 14 ounces Saturday to win the Stren Series Western Division tournament on Lake Roosevelt with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 42-6. For his victory, Hawk earned $20,423 cash and a fully rigged Ranger boat.

“This is a dream come true to be able to stand up here and do this,” said Hawk, who now has won back-to-back Stren Series Western Division events after the season opener last month at Clear Lake. “And to be competing in this top 10 with so many great friends. Clifford (Pirch) is a personal friend, a great friend of mine and I said a blessing that he would have an opportunity to win this today. I would have been stoked if he would have won it as well.”

Hawk said he used a variety of baits to catch his bass throughout the tournament, but his go-to bait was a 1-ounce Pepper Custom Baits spinnerbait that he slow-rolled over deep ledges. Hawk said the spinnerbait accounted for 80 percent of his bass, while a green pumpkin Pepper Jig with a Yamamoto trailer was responsible for the rest. Hawk said he caught his fish in 10 to 17 feet of water.

With 400 points already under his belt for the Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year points race, Hawk said he isn’t going to waste his time looking ahead to future events.

“It would be great to win the title, but I’m not going to worry about that,” Hawk said. “I’m just going to go fishing.”

“Glory be to God for sure,” Hawk added. “He gives me the peace and comfort to not worry about the small issues. I just get to go out there and go fishing.”

Hawk opened the tournament in third place Thursday with five bass weighing 14-12. He then caught five bass weighing 13-12 Friday to make the crucial top-10 cut in first place.

Rounding out the top five pros are Team National Guard pro Clifford Pirch of Payson, Ariz. (14 bass, 38-3, $8,169); Cody Meyer of Redding, Calif. (15 bass, 34-1, $6,536); David Stachowski of Tucson, Ariz. (14 bass, 33-12, $5,719); and Justin Kerr of Simi Valley, Calif. (15 bass, 33-4, $4,902).

David Valdivia of Norwalk, Calif., caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Thursday – a 7-pound, 14-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s big bass award of $333.

Vu Au of Tucson, Ariz., won the Co-angler Division and a 177TR Ranger boat and trailer, with a three-day total of eight bass weighing 23-10.

Au caught five bass weighing 16-5 Thursday while fishing with pro Don McBride of Phoenix, Ariz., to open the tournament in first place. On Friday he added two more bass weighing 5-13 to make the top 10 cut in first place while fishing with pro Ronald Hammett of Alpine, Calif. Finally, on Saturday, he sealed the win with one bass weighing 1-8 while fishing with pro Roy Hawk.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Roy Desmangles Jr. of Lincoln, Calif. (10 bass, 22-11, $3,391); George Thiel of Banning, Calif. (11 bass, 21-11, $2,543); Keith Adams of McKinleyville, Calif. (nine bass, 20-11, $2,120); and Michael Tafoya of La Plata, N.M. (nine bass, 19-5, $1,908).

Derrek Stewart of Venice, Calif., and Joe Jensen of Queen Creek, Ariz., shared the big bass of the tournament award in the Co-angler Division with a pair of 4-pound, 9-ounce bass they caught that earned them each $166.

The next Stren Series Western Division event, hosted by the City of Oroville and the Oroville Area Chamber of Commerce, will be held May 14-16 on Lake Oroville in Oroville, Calif. Boats will launch from Bidwell Canyon Marina in Oroville, and the final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart located at 355 Oro Dam Boulevard East in Oroville.

After four qualifying events are complete in each Stren Series division – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western – the top 40 pros and 40 co-anglers based on the points standings from each division will advance to the Stren Series Championship on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala., Nov. 5-7 for a shot at $150,000 in the Pro Division and $60,000 in the Co-angler Division. The top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers from each division will also qualify for the 2010 Walmart FLW Tour® and Walmart FLW Series®, bass fishing’s top professional circuits. The highest-finishing pro and co-angler from each division at the Stren Series Championship will also qualify for the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup, where anglers will compete for the $1 million grand prize – the most lucrative award in bass fishing

In Stren Series competition, pros supply the boats, fish from the front deck against other pros and control boat movement. Co-anglers fish from the back deck and compete against other co-anglers. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points that determine angler standings. Two hundred points are awarded to the winner, 199 points for second, 198 points for third, and so on. The full field competes on days one, two and three, with the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers advancing to day four based on their three-day accumulated weight. Winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.

Total awards are based on a full field of 150 boats in every tournament.

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