Express ticket to the Cup
Rangers Owners Tournament Championship Series to qualify eight anglers for 2007 Forrest Wood Cup
It’s not every day that a novice tournament angler has a shot at a $1 million first-place purse. So when the Rangers Owners Tournament Championship Series was announced in December 2006, weekend warriors from coast to coast perked up to the prospect of competing in the richest championship in the history of professional bass fishing.
Unlike season-long circuits like the Stren Series and Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series consists of two stand-alone events. In addition, the format for these two tournaments is quite a bit different. Rather than a standard Pro Division and Co-angler Division, these are team tournaments with a shared-weight formula. Essentially, both anglers have a vested stake in the ability of their partners. The entire dynamic of working together and sharing water as one boat team is a rarity in bass fishing’s ultracompetitive arena.
That teamwork concept will go a long way in determining who qualifies for the 2007 Forrest Wood Cup in Hot Springs, Ark., Aug. 2-5. While the top prize at each of the ROTCS events is a $10,000 Ranger purchase certificate, the real prize is the Cup berth, a chance to rub elbows with the Dave Lefebres, Luke Clausens and Clark Wendlandts of the world. The second-place purse is a $7,500 purchase certificate plus a berth into the Cup. Although both anglers fish together as a team, each team must designate a boater. The boater will advance to the Forrest Wood Cup as a pro. The boater’s partner will advance as a co-angler and will fish for a top award of $50,000. Ranger will cover travel expenses for both qualifiers and will supply them with apparel. What’s the price tag of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? The cost is $100 per person or $200 per team.
Granted, it’s a long shot, with only eight anglers getting the nod, but why not? That “why not” kept ringing in the heads of walleye pros Eric Olson and Jason Przekurat. It may be hard to believe, but the magnitude of this event is so large that it is attracting interest from anglers who focus on an entirely different species. Olson and Przekurat, stalwarts on the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour and former Master’s Walleye Circuit champions, will put away the planer boards and slip-bobbers and concentrate on those not-so-tasty green fish for a week. Przekurat, the newest member of the BP sponsor team, was the 2003 FLW Walleye Tour Angler of the Year. While short on tournament bass fishing experience, this duo is more than familiar with high-profile tournament competition.
“This is an opportunity to qualify for the championship of a lifetime,” said Olson, a Land O’Lakes pro from Red Wing, Minn. “Jason and I have fished together for several years. I think that knowledge of team tournaments may give us an advantage. We’re confident in each other’s ability to find fish in practice and to execute come tournament time. Let’s just see how the walleye boys do against the bass boys. Hey, we figured, why not give it a shot?”
For others still pondering that “why not” idea, a limited number of entries remain. Chapter 1 begins April 14 on Kerr Lake in Henderson, N.C., so don’t delay. Table Rock Lake in Kimberling City, Mo., will host the second event May 12. Entries may be made by calling FLW Outdoors at (270) 252-1000. For those interested in catching the action from land, visit FLWOutdoors.com for daily press releases. Both tournaments will also air tape-delayed TV coverage on FSN (Fox Sports Net), Americana Outdoors and Versus.