DEL RIO, Texas – Pro Jim Milson of Odessa, Texas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 15 pounds, 11 ounces Saturday to win the Stren Series Texas Division tournament on Lake Amistad with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 52 pounds, 2 ounces. For his victory, Milson earned $23,865 cash. Russell Cecil of Willis, Texas, finished in second taking home an additional $7,500 as he was the highest Ranger Cup qualified finisher.
“I was so pumped up this morning that I broke off my first fish,” said Milson, who used a Texas Rig seven-inch Senko all tournament. “Then in the next hour I lost three fish and missed four more. I managed to start picking some up and I had limited by 8:30 in the morning and my co-angler had his limit by about 9:30.”
Milson said a couple locals parked on his spot all day forcing him to find new water. “I pulled off my best spot to go to my secondary spot and give my primary spot a rest. A couple of locals came in and parked on it and fished there all day. I was kind of lucky they did as we just worked around the area looking for some fish to finish off the day and that is when I picked up my good fish.”
Milson opened the tournament in fifth place Thursday with five bass weighing 18-11. He then caught five bass weighing 17-12 Friday to make the crucial top-10 cut in first place, holding a slim eight-ounce lead. Milson said he focused on deep water ranging from 35 foot deep on the first day to 14 feet on the final day.
Rounding out the top five pros were Cecil (15 bass, 49-13, $9,546); Stephen Johnston of Hemphill, Texas (15 bass, 46-12, $7,637); Kevin Lasyone of Dry Prong, La. (15 bass, 46-8, $6,682); and Ray Hanselman of Del Rio, Texas (15 bass, 45-4, $5,728).
Buz Craft of Vidalia, La., caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Thursday – a 7-pound, 14-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s Folgers Big Bass award of $420.
Chris Hults of Vancleave, Miss., won the Co-angler Division and a 177TR Ranger boat and trailer, along with $5,000 as the highest Ranger Cup finisher on the co-angler side, with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 44-3.
Hults caught five bass weighing 11-13 Thursday while fishing with pro Trent Huckaby of Fort Stockton, Texas, to open the tournament in 20th place. On Friday he added five more bass weighing 15-10 to make the top-10 cut in second place while fishing with pro Alton Wilhoit of Harrah, Okla.. Finally, on Saturday, he sealed the win with five bass weighing 16-12 while fishing with pro Cecil.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Sonny Kopech of Tyler, Texas (15 bass, 42-11, $3,847); Rich Dalbey of Greenville, Texas (15 bass, 41-15, $2,885); Debra Cunningham of Phoenix, Ariz. (15 bass, 41-05, $2,404); and Toby Wallace of Tolar, Texas (15 bass, 39-0, $2,164).
Hults caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Friday – a 9-pound, 10-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s Folgers Big Bass award of $210.
The next Stren Series Texas Division event, hosted by the Sabine Parish Tourism Commission and Sabine River Authority, will be held Oct. 15-17 on Toledo Bend in Many, La. Boats will launch from Cypress Bend Park in Many, and the final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart located at 155 San Antonio Dr. in Many.
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 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 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 and two, with the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers advancing to day three based on their two-day accumulated weight. Winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all three days.
Total awards are based on a 200-boat field in every tournament.
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