Author: jcarrigan

January 24, 2019  by FLW Communications – Photo Courtesy of FLW Tour

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) Tour, professional bass fishing’s most lucrative tournament circuit, heads to Lake Toho, Feb. 7-10, for the FLW Tour at Lake Toho presented by Ranger Boats. The event, hosted by Experience Kissimmee and the Kissimmee Sports Commission, will feature 170 of the world’s most decorated bass-fishing professionals casting for a top award of up to $125,000 cash in the Pro Division.

Now in its 24th season of competition, the FLW Tour has made the trek to Lake Toho five times in its history. When the circuit last visited in 2015, pro J.T. Kenney took top honors primarily working pad fields in Lake Toho and Lake Kissimmee with a black-and-blue stick worm. This year, the fishery is expected to host another productive week of bass fishing.

“If the weather slowly warms up it could be really good fishing. It’s possible to break 100 pounds [in four days] there,” said FLW Tour pro John Cox, a former FLW Cup champion with 12 career top-10 finishes in Florida – including one on Lake Toho. “I hear the water is still really high at Lake Toho, but the grass bite will probably be pretty good. There’s usually a couple of guys who figure out something in Kissimmee, Cypress and Hatchineha, too. There’s a lot of water to cover, and it’s always exciting when the Tour visits Florida.”

Cox predicted that the majority of the fish would be in the pre-spawn to spawn phase, but said that doesn’t necessarily mean close to the bank.

“There is not much spawning that happens inside the grass like in years past,” Cox said. “They used to scrape the lake and you’d have a nice clean bottom, but they haven’t scraped in a long time, so a lot of those fish actually spawn offshore now. There will be a lot of anglers out in the open-water hydrilla. Those bigger groups of fish are off the bank.”

Cox said that lipless crankbaits and Carolina rigs would be popular with anglers fishing off the bank, while Texas-rigged Yamamoto Senkos and Berkley Power Worms would likely see a lot of action shallow. The Florida veteran predicted it would take around 18 pounds a day – 72 pounds total – to win the tournament.

“We’re thrilled to welcome the Fishing League Worldwide Tour to our destination,” said John Poole, Executive Director of Kissimmee Sports Commission. “We pride ourselves on our area’s championship bass fishing lakes, which have been home to many marquee tournaments throughout the years. We appreciate the opportunity to host an event of this prestige and impact in the fishing industry, as well as raise awareness about the sport and the opportunities for anglers in the destination.”

Anglers will take off at 7 a.m. EST each day from Big Toho Marina, located at 69 Lakeview Drive, in Kissimmee. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins, Feb. 7-8, will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s weigh-ins, Feb. 9-10, will also be held at the marina, but will begin at 4 p.m.

Television coverage of the FLW Tour at Lake Toho presented by Ranger Boats will premiere in 2019. The exact air-date will be announced soon. The Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show airs each Saturday night at 7 p.m. EST and is broadcast to more than 63 million cable, satellite and telecommunications households in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean on the World Fishing Network (WFN), the leading entertainment destination and digital resource for anglers throughout North America. FLW television is also distributed internationally to FLW partner countries, including Canada, China, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and South Africa.

The popular FLW Live on-the-water program will air on Days Three and Four of the event, featuring live action from the boats of the tournament’s top pros each day. Host Travis Moran will be joined by veteran FLW Tour pro Peter Thliveros to break down the extended action each day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. On-the-water broadcasts will be live streamed on FLWFishing.com, the FLW YouTube channel and the FLW Facebook page.

Prior to weigh-in each day FLW will host a free Family Fishing Expo at Big Toho Marina from 2 to 6 p.m. The Expo is a chance for fishing fans to meet their favorite anglers, enjoy interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by FLW sponsors, and learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities.

Also for youth, the FLW Foundation’s Unified Fishing Derby will be held at the marina on Saturday, Feb. 9, from Noon-2 p.m. The event is hosted by FLW Foundation pro Cody Kelley along with other FLW Tour anglers, and is free and open to anyone under the age of 18 and Special Olympics athletes. Rods and reels are available for use, but youth are encouraged to bring their own if they own one. The 1st and 2nd place anglers that catch the biggest fish will be recognized Saturday on the FLW Tour stage, just prior to the pros weighing in.

In FLW Tour competition, the full field of 170 pro anglers compete in the two-day opening round on Thursday and Friday. The top 30 pros based on their two-day accumulated weight advance 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.

Throughout the season, anglers are also vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2019 FLW Cup, the world championship of professional bass fishing. The 2019 FLW Cup will be on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Aug. 9-11 and is hosted by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and Visit Hot Springs.

January 22, 2019  by FLW Communications – Photo Courtesy of FLW Tour

CLEWISTON, Fla. – The 2019 Costa Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) Series Southeastern division is set to open next week at Lake Okeechobee, Jan. 31- Feb. 2, with the Costa FLW Series at Lake Okeechobee presented by Power-Pole. Hosted by Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina & Resort and the Hendry County Tourism Development Council, the three-day tournament will feature 500 of the best regional bass-fishing pros and co-anglers casting for a top prize of up to $110,000, including a brand new Ranger Z518L boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard in the pro division.

Water levels are down at Lake Okeechobee – nearly 3-feet low – according to local FLW Tour pro Brandon McMillan of Clewiston, and it has the world-renowned big-bass factory in a bit of a funk.

“The lake is fishing a little tough right now,” McMillan said. “The lake is lower than it has been in the last 4 or 5 years and the problem is that there is very little, if any, clean water right now. The key to this tournament will be figuring out how to catch them in the dirty water.”

With the water clarity being such a big factor, McMillan said he expects moving baits to play a large role for tournament anglers.

“Rat-L-Traps, squarebill crankbaits and ChatterBaits will be the ticket,” he said. “There will be some kind of flipping bite – off the grass reed line, flipping a big jig – but it seems like the more consistent anglers will be in the rim canals, just working down the bank. That being said, it’s always going to be won somewhere in the main lake.”

McMillan predicted that the winner would likely have a three-day total around 50 pounds.

“It’s really hard to give a good weight prediction because the fishing is tough, but it’s Lake Okeechobee and we know that there are giants that live here,” McMillan went on to say. “If a guy can catch one or two of those during the event it will really go a long way. One thing is for sure – someone is going to catch them, and it should be a pretty exciting event.”

Anglers will take off from Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina and Resort, located at 920 E. Del Monte Avenue in Clewiston, at 7 a.m. EST each day. Weigh-ins will also take place at the Resort, and will begin at 3 p.m. each day. All takeoffs and weigh-ins are free to attend and open to the public.

In Costa FLW Series regular-season competition, payouts are based on the number of participants competing in the event. At Lake Okeechobee, pros will fish for a top prize of up to $110,000 including a brand new Ranger Z518L boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard if Ranger Cup qualified. Co-anglers will cast for a brand new Ranger Z175 boat with a 115-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard, and $5,000 if Ranger Cup qualified.

The Costa FLW Series consists of five U.S. divisions – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western – along with the International division. Each U.S. division consists of three regular-season tournaments with competitors vying for valuable points that could earn them the opportunity to compete in the season-ending Costa FLW Series Championship. The 2019 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Oct. 31 – Nov. 2 on Lake Cumberland in Burnside, Kentucky.

Cover photo courtesy of FLW Tour.

Two crankbaits were some of the top lures to be used at the First FLW Tour event at Sam Rayburn in 2019. Crankbaits were part of all the Top 10 with the exception of one angler. The first FLW was one for the record books with super low temps and the final day being postponed due to high winds. The weather was defiantly one of the biggest topics for this event.  High winds and even higher water really challenge these anglers is winter to pre-spawn fishing conditions. Water levels that were as much as 10ft higher than normal just help cover up the locations of these fish. Crankbaits still came out as the most popular technique of this tournament.

Crankbaits dominated the Top 10 at Sam Rayburn even through very tough conditions. So here is how crankbaits rounded out the top of the list for FLW Tour.

1. The Berkley DT series carried Terry Bolton to his first-ever FLW Tour event win. While Terry was the only person in the Top 10 to use the DT series. He did win with an assortment of DT crankbaits and that’s what puts it at the top of the list. The assortment included the DT 10, DT 14, and DT 16. So, was it the action of the lure and/or colors that made the difference here? The main color for Terry was the demon, click on the link below to check it out and more from Rapala.com. By the way, I went to check out Tackle Warehouse and this color is completely sold out!!

• The prominent crankbait of the Sam Rayburn FLW Tour event was hands down the Strike King XD series. 5 of the Top 10 anglers used Strike King XD series crankbaits to help push them towards the top. This included Nick Lebrun who gave Terry Bolton a run for his money and also put up some major weight on day one with 29lbs 2oz. The Top 10 used a combination of XD5 and XD6 crankbaits. A shad color was a top pick of the pro’s for this event.

• A few other crankbaits were used by Top 10 anglers, those crankbaits included Berkeley Bad Shad, Bandit 300 Series, Bomber Fat A, and the Salmo Rattlin’ Hornet. Some of these aren’t the most popular amongst anglers but they proved just as effective at catching these bass in not so ideal weather condition.

Crankbait Color was another notable item of interest at this event. The colors were equally split between two colors that are some of the most popular. Those two colors consisted of Red Craw and Shad Color. The Shad Color was the color of all anglers who used the Strike King XD and the Red Craw was the color of choice for Bolton and his Rapala DT series. The other notable mention of crankbaits also used the red craw type color.

So, what are your thoughts when it comes to the color and style of crankbait used?

Which crankbait do you prefer? Comment below and let’s see who comes out on top amongst other anglers.

Semper Fish!

Joe, The National Angler

January 14, 2019  by FLW Communications – Photo Courtesy of FLW

BROOKELAND, Texas – After fishing the FLW Tour for 23 years, competing in his 168th career event, Rapala pro Terry Bolton of Benton, Kentucky, finally got it done. Bolton earned his first career victory in a dramatic final-day weigh-in Monday at the FLW Tour at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Polaris after bringing a five-bass limit totaling 17 pounds, 6 ounces to the scale. Bolton’s four-day total of 20 bass weighing 91-3 earned him the victory by a 12-ounce margin over second-place pro Nick LeBrun of Bossier City, Louisiana, and the $125,000 first-place prize.

“This is pretty big for me,” said Bolton, a 13-time FLW Cup qualifier. “I was going to retire at the end of last year, but my wife talked me into coming back. I didn’t think that I’d ever see this moment and today, it finally happened. This is only 30 years in the making right here.”

Bolton caught most of his fish throughout the event – including his entire 33-pound, 9-ounce Day Two limit – in an area that he described as a drain or void in a grassline. He said the key for him was working his crankbaits at different depths around the grasslines.

“I threw a Rapala DT10 (demon), DT14 (demon) and DT16 (Caribbean shad) to make sure that I could hit the different depths,” Bolton said. “I had one drain that was really special that I found at 3:30 on the last day of practice. I idled across it and saw them all on the depth finder, made two casts and caught a 6-pounder and a 2½-pounder. I left right away and didn’t really know what was there.

“I caught 20 pounds, 10 ounces there the first day and left it at 12:30,” Bolton continued. “Then, I pulled in the next day and got up to 27-28 pounds and was going to leave but I was afraid that a local boat would get in there. I decided to stay and then, lo and behold, I catch the 9-8 and end up weighing in 33 pounds. I don’t know if you call it dumb luck or a good decision, but staying there Friday is what won me this tournament.”

Bolton said that he also mixed in a chartreuse and white-colored ¾-ounce Accent Lures spinnerbait with double-willow blades to catch a couple of keepers throughout the week. He credited his 7-foot, 11-inch Lew’s rod paired with a Lew’s BB1 Pro reel as being crucial to his success.

“That Lew’s crankbait rod and reel combo is truly the best on the planet,” Bolton said. “The key for me was definitely the crankbaits. I had to put the bait just above them in order to get bit.”

The top 10 pros on Sam Rayburn Reservoir finished:

1st: Rapala pro Terry Bolton, Benton, Ky., 20 bass, 91-3

2nd: Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., 20 bass, 90-7

3rd: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 15 bass, 88-13

4th: Chad Warren, Sand Springs, Okla., 20 bass, 83-13

5th: Evinrude pro Jim Tutt, Longview, Texas, 20 bass, 78-7

6th: Colby Schrumpf, Highland, Ill., 20 bass, 70-7

7th: Jordan Osborne, Longview, Texas, 20 bass, 67-10

8th: Tom Redington, Royse City, Texas, 20 bass, 67-10

9th: Sam George, Athens, Ala., 15 bass, 67-10

10th: Charles Sim, Nepean, Ontario, Canada, 19 bass, 60-2

Complete results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Overall there were 49 bass weighing 160 pounds, 6 ounces caught by pros Monday. Nine of the final 10 pros weighed in five-bass limits.

Television coverage of the FLW Tour at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Polaris will premiere on the World Fishing Network (WFN) in 2019. The exact air-date will be announced soon. The Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show airs each Saturday night at 7 p.m. EST and is broadcast to more than 63 million cable, satellite and telecommunications households in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean on the WFN, the leading entertainment destination and digital resource for anglers throughout North America. FLW television is also distributed internationally to FLW partner countries, including Canada, China, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and South Africa.

The total purse for the FLW Tour at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Polaris was more than $860,000, including $9,000 through 65th place in the Pro Division. The tournament was hosted by the Jasper County Development District. The next event for FLW Tour anglers will be the FLW Tour at Lake Toho presented by Ranger Boats, in Kissimmee, Florida, Feb. 7-10. The tournament will be hosted Experience Kissimmee and the Kissimmee Sports Commission.

In FLW Tour competition, the full field of 170 pro anglers competed in the two-day opening round Thursday and Friday. The top 30 pros based on their two-day accumulated weight advanced to fish on Saturday. Competition was postponed on Sunday due to inclement weather, so the top 10 pros continued the competition Monday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from the four days of competition.

January 13, 2019  by FLW Communications – Photo Courtesy of FLW

BROOKELAND, Texas – Sunday’s Day Four of the FLW Tour at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented Polaris has been postponed due to inclement weather. The top 10 anglers scheduled to fish the final day of competition will now compete Monday to close out the season-opening tournament.

Strong winds moved into the area Saturday afternoon and continued throughout the night, creating rough conditions on Rayburn and forcing FLW officials to make the decision to push back the final day.

“After speaking with the entire team, including our pro anglers, we all feel that the best decision to be made for this event is to go ahead and cancel today and finish it up tomorrow,” says FLW Tour Tournament Director Bill Taylor. “The weather conditions are much more favorable for it tomorrow.”

The final 10-angler field will launch at a delayed start time of 8 a.m. CST on Monday in order to give Tour pros better visibility on the water. The added time will also allow for winds to subside and Rayburn’s waters to calm before takeoff. Anglers will still check in at 3:30 p.m., as originally planned. Weigh-in and takeoff will be held at the Umphrey Family Pavilion, located at 5438 Sam Rayburn Parkway, in Brookeland.

Television coverage of the FLW Tour at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Polaris will premiere in 2019. The Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show airs each Saturday night at 7 p.m. EST and is broadcast to more than 63 million cable, satellite and telecommunications households in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean on the World Fishing Network (WFN), the leading entertainment destination and digital resource for anglers throughout North America. FLW television is also distributed internationally to FLW partner countries, including Canada, China, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and South Africa.

The popular FLW Live on-the-water program will now air Monday, featuring live action from the boats of the tournament’s top pros each day. Travis Moran will be joined by veteran FLW Tour pro Todd Hollowell to break down the extended action from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. On-the-water broadcasts will be live streamed on FLWFishing.com, the FLW YouTube channel and the FLW Facebook page.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the sport’s top anglers on the FLW Tour on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.