CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Mark Rose of Marion, Ark., caught a five-bass limit weighing 11 pounds, 8 ounces Saturday to win $44,778 in the season-ending FLW Series Eastern Division tournament on Lake Chickamauga with a four-day catch of 20 bass weighing 56-15. Rose also received $6,000 for being the Ranger Cup program winner.
The catch gave him the win by a 2-pound, 9-ounce margin over Goodwill pro Wesley Strader of Spring City, Tenn., who caught a total of 20 bass weighing 54-6 and earned $17,911.
“I’m no ledge legend by any stretch of the imagination,” said Rose, who picked up his third career FLW Outdoors win. “I’m just an old river rat who grew up on the delta of the banks of the Mississippi River.
“This will be my 11th full-time year and I got my brains beat out for the first four or five years out there on the ledges,” Rose added. “I just fished shallow. I just started learning and reading and I’ve got great friends that are ledge fishermen and I’ve got a great relationship with Lowrance. They make the best units in the world.”
Rose said he split the screens on his electronics to show map, sonar, down imaging and side imaging to target fish.
“Now I’m seeing all my fish,” Rose said. “Even a lot of them when I’m catching them. When I’m reeling my crankbait in I can see my crankbait underneath me because (the electronics) have such a wide scan.
“A couple of weeks ago at Champlain I saw my bait and I watched the fish come up and eat it,” Rose added.
Rose credited the Strike King Sexy Spoon, 20-pound-test Seaguar fluorocarbon line and a custom Kistler spoon-fishing rod for his success on Lake Chickamauga. Rose said he caught 14 of his 20 weigh fish on the spoon during the tournament. However, on the final day of competition Rose had to rely on a crankbait for his fish.
Earlier in the tournament Rose said his primary area was a “square hump” with a corner that featured stumps, a side composed of a shell bed and a “gut”. Rose said normally he likes to get fish “fired up” with a spoon or crankbait to trigger the bite, but he had to throw a ¾-ounce green pumpkin Strike King football-head jig with a Strike King Rage Craw trailer to get the fish to bite and get them excited. He then targeted the fish with a rootbeer-colored Strike King 6 XD crankbait or the spoon.
Rose opened the tournament in second place Wednesday with five bass weighing 16-7. On Thursday he added another five bass weighing 16-1 to capture the lead. He then caught five bass weighing 12-15 Friday to make the crucial top-5 cut in first place.
Rounding out the top 5 pros are:
3rd: Tom Mann Jr., Buford, Ga., 20 bass, 54-4, $13,433
4th: Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., 20 bass, 52-9, $8,956
5th: Pete Thliveros, Saint Augustine, Fla., 20 bass, 51-1, $8,060
A complete list of results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.
Overall there were 25 bass weighing 60 pounds, 5 ounces caught by five pros Saturday. The catch included five five-bass limits.
John Cox of Debary, Fla., won the FLW Series Eastern Division Angler of the Year title Saturday with a season total of 755 points, a mere three points over J.T. Kenney of Palm Bay, Fla. FLW Tour Angler of the Year and Damiki pro Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C. finished third with 749 points.
Patrick Roy of Syracuse, N.Y., won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger 177TR with a 90 horsepower Evinrude outboard motor Friday with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 29 pounds, 3 ounces followed by Aaron Combs of Jackson, Ky., in second place with 10 bass weighing 25-13 worth $4,215. Roy also received $1,500 for being the Ranger Cup program winner.
Randall Tharp of Gardendale, Ala., and Roy also won a $1,000 gift card as part of the Cabela’s Angler Cash program. Cabela’s offers pro and co-anglers the opportunity to register and win a $1000 gift card for being the highest qualified finisher in each division at all FLW Series events, making the stakes even higher in an already rich award package. Anglers can visit FLWOutdoors.com for a complete list of rules and to register.
Kapiton clinched the Co-Angler of the Year title Friday with a total of 778 points. Kapiton won the title by 54 points over Anthony Hunt of Tamarac, Fla. Kurtis Michaux of Clermont, Fla., placed third with 718 points.
The top 10 pro anglers from the FLW Series Eastern Division after the season ended qualified for the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Ouachita in Hot Springs, Ark. They are:
John Cox of Debary, Fla., J.T. Kenney of Palm Bay, Fla., Damiki pro Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., Koby Kreiger of Okeechobee, Fla., Scott Canterbury of Springville, Ala., Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C., Randall Tharp of Gardendale, Ala., National Guard pro Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., Mark Rose of Marion, Ark., and Darrin Schwenkbeck of Varysburg, N.Y.
Coverage of the Lake Chickamauga tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS. “FLW Outdoors”, will air Nov. 7 from 12:30 to 1:30 ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide.
ABOUT FLW OUTDOORS
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 189 tournaments in 2010. FLW Outdoors has also taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing awarding the largest prizes in the history of fantasy sports. FLW Outdoors memberships are available featuring numerous benefits including Player’s Advantage. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FantasyFishing.com.