Local Rookie Strickland Wins Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at Harris Chain of Lakes presented by Bad Boy Mowers
TBF/FLW High School Fishing 2015 Florida State Champion Claims First Career Pro Victory, Wins $100,000
LEESBURG, Fla. – Pro Laramy Strickland of Bushnell, Florida, brought five bass to the scale weighing 15 pounds, 4 ounces, to win the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Harris Chain of Lakes presented by Bad Boy Mowers Sunday. Strickland’s three-day total of 15 bass totaling 61 pounds, 4 ounces gave him the win by a 4-pound, 6-ounce margin over second place angler Jimmy Washam of Covington, Tennessee. For his victory, Strickland took home a top prize of $100,000.
Link to photo of Winner Laramy Strickland
Link to HD Video of Strickland’s Winning Moment
The tournament, originally scheduled for four days, was shortened to three after strong winds forced a postponement of competition on Friday. The full field of 154 anglers competed on Thursday and Saturday and only the top 30 anglers advanced to Championship Sunday.
“This is unbelievable – just as awesome as I always dreamed it was going to be,” said Strickland, a former FLW/TBF High School Fishing Florida State Champion fishing in just his second event as a professional on the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit. “If I was going to win just one, ever, in my whole career, I would have wanted it to be right here. There was so much family and friends here, the crowd was humongous. This still doesn’t even feel real.”
Strickland caught his fish this week fishing an area in Lake Griffin called the marsh. He described the marsh as “a 500- to 600-acre duck marsh, with hydrilla everywhere and full of cattails and hyacinth mats.” As a local angler he knew that big fish had been in there for months, and when he went there during the official practice period the big fish were still there.
“I caught them this week flipping mats with a Reaction Innovations Spicy Beaver (Tramp Stamp), but also added two big ones on a (Reaction Innovations) Machete Worm,” Strickland said. “Those were the only two baits I used all week – just flipped and threw that worm. I caught 12 fish on the first day. On the second day, I caught 8. Today I caught around 8 as well – they were just the right bites.”
Strickland said he threw the Spicy Beaver on a 7-foot, 6-inch Fitzgerald Rods hydrilla rod with a Shimano reel and 70-pound-test Fitzgerald Vursa braided line. He threw the worm on a new all-purpose 7-foot, 6-inch medium-heavy Fitzgerald rod, with 17-pound-test Fitzgerald Vursa fluorocarbon line and pegged with a 1/16-ounce weight.
“I fished fairly clean all week. I lost a couple that I really thought were going to haunt me, but my fish held up,” Strickland said. “I just kind of stuck in that area and luckily I had it all to myself this week.
“Two years ago, when the Pro Circuit was here, the boat that I won out of today was sitting in the parking lot as the demo boat for Ranger,” Strickland went on to say. “I bought that boat and here we are two years later. I’m on the big stage, and I won. I don’t even know what else to say. This has been surreal.”
The top 10 pros on the Harris Chain of Lakes finished:
1st: Laramy Strickland of Bushnell, Fla., 15 bass, 61-4, $100,000
2nd: Jimmy Washam of Covington, Tenn., 15 bass, 56-14, $30,000
3rd: Hunter Freeman of Monroe, La., 13 bass, 54-6, $25,000
4th: Kyle Gelles of Pingree, Idaho, 14 bass, 52-11, $20,000
5th: Matthew Stefan of Junction City, Wis., 15 bass, 51-15, $19,000
6th: Miles Burghoff of Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., 15 bass, 51-5, $18,000
7th: Jared McMillan of Belle Glade, Fla., 15 bass, 50-5, $17,000
8th: Chad Warren of Sand Springs, Okla., 15 bass, 50-0, $16,000
9th: Casey Scanlon of Lake Ozark, Mo., 15 bass, 49-7, $15,000
10th: Brandon McMillan of Clewiston, Fla., 15 bass, 49-7, $14,000
Complete results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Overall there were 145 bass weighing 366 pounds, 9 ounces, caught by the pros Sunday. Of the final 30 pros, 27 of them were able to bring a five-bass limit to the scale.
Television coverage of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Harris Chain of Lakes will premiere in 2020. The 2020 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit will have 156 two-hour airings on network television, including 26 consecutive weeks of Friday night primetime airing on Outdoor Channel and 130 airings on Sportsman Channel for a total of 312 hours of Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit programming.
The Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Harris Chain of Lakes presented by Bad Boy Mowers was hosted by Lake County, Florida. The next event for Pro Circuit anglers will be the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at Lake Martin, March 19-22, in Alexander City, Alabama. The tournament will be hosted by the Alexander City Chamber.
In normal Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit competition, the full field of 154 pro anglers competed in the two-day opening round on Thursday and Friday. The top 30 pros based on their two-day accumulated weight advanced to Saturday. Only the top 10 pros continue competition Sunday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from the four days of competition. After Friday’s weather postponement the format was changed to a three-day event, the full field fished the first two days of competition (Thursday and Saturday) and the top 30 pros advanced to Sunday, the final day of competition.
Throughout the season, anglers are also vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2020 FLW TITLE, the Pro Circuit Championship. The 2020 FLW TITLE will be on the St. Lawrence River in Massena, New York, Aug. 8-13 and is hosted by the Town of Massena.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
About FLW
FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, FLW and its partners conduct more than 290 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Namibia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and Zimbabwe.
FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show while Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. Acquired by Major League Fishing in late 2019, FLW is expanding its programming in 2020 to the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel as well as on-demand at MyOutdoorTV (MOTV).
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