Category: MLF BIG-5

May 29, 2019  by FLW Communications

 HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Before any professional anglers have even made a cast in Lake Hamilton, Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) has already landed a lunker. Country music superstar Trace Adkins is set to bring his fiery and memorable live performance to the 2019 FLW Cup, performing a free concert on the weigh-in stage at Bank OZK Arena in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on Sunday, Aug. 11 beginning at 4 p.m. Adkins will take the stage before the world’s premier bass anglers weigh their final-day limits at the event – professional bass fishing’s world championship. Fans of all ages are encouraged to attend the free concert, which is presented by Realtree and KSSN 96.

A Nashville icon for more than two decades, Adkins has made his mark on the country-music industry with 11 million albums sold, time-honored hit singles, GRAMMY nominations, and CMT and ACM awards to name a few of his accomplishments. His videos have nearly 200 million plays on YouTube, and he’s even had movie and TV roles come his way. But ask Adkins what’s left to prove in his career, and the small-town Louisiana native says it’s simple: “The itch remains. To create. To collaborate. To continually feel the excitement that comes after whipping up a new song out of thin air and laying it down to tape.”

It’s an interesting change of perspective for Adkins, however, when he hits the road for his now legendary live gigs. Where the studio offers him unique insight into his current state of mind, onstage, when revisiting his classic songs like “You’re Gonna Miss This” or “Every Light in the House” nearly every evening, he says he’s taken back, if only for a brief while, to earlier moments in his life.

“It’s hard to describe, I gotta be honest,” Adkins says of being overcome with emotion and reflection when trotting out some of his time-tested cuts for adoring audiences. “I’ve gotten to the point now where I’ll be onstage singing ‘Every Light In The House Is On,’ and I look down at the crowd and realize that person right there wasn’t even alive when I recorded that song,” he laughs. “To watch their face go, ‘Oh, that’s a cool hook,’ it’s like Oh my god, that’s the first time that person every heard that song!”

With 1 million followers on Spotify and more than 1 billion spins on Pandora (10 million spins per month), the longstanding country icon has yet to lose any of his trademark passion and killer instinct for his craft.

“We are ecstatic to welcome Trace Adkins to the 2019 FLW Cup stage in Hot Springs, Arkansas,” said Kelly Oettinger, FLW Vice President of Marketing. “Trace is a superstar in the world of country music, and we are honored to have him perform. We have a longstanding tradition of providing the absolute best tournament experiences for millions of FLW fishing fans across the country and around the world. Having Trace perform at the crown jewel of professional bass fishing is a perfect fit to continue that tradition.”

In the meantime, Adkins is going to keep doing what he knows and loves. Performing. Creating. Inspiring. He adores it. And, he adds, he knows so many of his lifelong fans, and new ones to boot, do too.

“I’m gonna go out there and find those people,” he says with a laugh. “I’m gonna bring a band and turn it up real loud! And we’re gonna have a good time!”

The FLW Cup, the world championship of bass fishing, returns to Hot Springs and Lake Hamilton, August 9-11 with a $300,000 top prize on the line as well as the title of world’s best bass angler. This year’s championship tournament will feature 52 of the best anglers from across four FLW tournament circuits and is being hosted by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and Visit Hot Springs. It will also feature the inaugural Dee Zee FLW/KBF Cup presented by YakAttack for the world’s top kayak anglers and The Bass Federation Junior World Championship for top young anglers from across the country.

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 and YouTube.

May 16, 2019  by FLW Communications – Photo courtesy of FLW

CHARLES COUNTY, Md. – The nation’s top weekend and collegiate bass-fishing anglers are set to compete at two of the most prestigious bass-fishing championships in the country on the Potomac River later this month – the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) All-American on the Potomac River presented by General Tire, May 30-June 1, and the YETI FLW College Fishing National Championship on the Potomac River presented by Lowrance, June 4-6.

An automatic entry to compete at the 2019 FLW Cup is up for grabs to the winners of each respective event, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money and a brand new Ranger Boat. The events are hosted by the Charles County Board of Commissioners and Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism.

“The Potomac River has been fishing strong for the past few months and is the perfect fishery to host these two championships,” said FLW Tour pro Bryan Schmitt of Deale, Maryland. “They’re going to be hitting it at one of the best times of the year. You’re going to see a lot of different tactics – ChatterBaits, swimjigs, shallow-diving crankbaits, stickbait worms and flipping creature baits. The key to winning will be finding something – a pattern or a location – that nobody else is on.”

The 2019 BFL All-American on the Potomac River presented by General Tire will feature a field of the top 98 boaters and co-anglers from across the 24-division BFL circuit competing for a grand prize of up to $120,000 in the boater division and $60,000 in the co-angler division. The top boater will receive an invitation to compete for bass fishing’s most coveted prize – the 2019 FLW Cup – Aug. 9-11 on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Since its inaugural event in 1983, the BFL All-American championship has visited the Potomac River just once (2012) in its 36-year history. In 2012, boater Brian Maloney of Osage Beach, Missouri, targeted shallow flats with contoured ditches with dark-colored crankbaits to claim the title and the $120,000 top prize.

The 2019 YETI FLW College Fishing National Championship at the Potomac River presented by Lowrance will be comprised of the top qualifying teams from each of the 15 regular-season events from around the country, along with the top 20 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open. A field of 172 teams representing 100 different colleges and universities will be competing for a prize package that includes a new Ranger Z175 boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Evinrude outboard and an automatic qualification for both team members to move on to compete against the best bass-anglers in the world at the 2019 FLW Cup.

“Winning the FLW College Fishing National Championship last year kicked off my career as a professional angler,” said 2019 FLW Tour rookie Hunter Freeman, who won the event last year on the Red River while competing for the University of Louisiana-Monroe along with partner Thomas Soileau. “The entire experience was amazing. From the banquet, to the three-day tournament, the media coverage – everything was a blast. Winning the championship showed me that I had what it takes to become a professional fisherman and gave me the confidence to sign up to compete at the highest level – the FLW Tour.”

BFL All-American competitors will take off from Smallwood State Park, located at 2750 Sweden Point Road in Marbury, at 7 a.m. EDT each morning, May 30 to June 1. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins, May 30-31, will be held at the park beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s Championship weigh-in, June 1, will also be held at the park, but will begin at 4 p.m.

The FLW College Fishing National Championship anglers will also take off each day, June 4-6, from Smallwood State Park, at 7 a.m. EDT. All weigh-ins will be held at the State Park, beginning at 3 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

Television coverage of both events will premiere in the fall of 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, Namibia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Zimbabwe.

The popular FLW Live on-the-water program will air on Days Three and Four of both events – Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1 for the All-American and Wednesday, June 5, and Thursday, June 6, for the College Fishing National Championship. FLW Live features live action from the boats of the tournament’s top anglers each day. Host Travis Moran will be joined by FLW Tour pros Luke Dunkin and Miles Burghoff 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.

May 5, 2019  by FLW Communications – Photo courtesy of FLW

DAYTON, Tenn. – Berkley pro John Cox of DeBary, Florida, won $100,000 at the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude Sunday with a four-day total of 83 pounds, 9 ounces. The victory was the fourth FLW Tour win of Cox’s career – moving him to a tie at No. 7 for the most Tour wins all-time.

Cox brought a five-bass limit to the scale weighing 21 pounds even to clinch the victory by a 1-pound, 11-ounce margin over local favorite Buddy Gross of Chickamauga, Georgia, who brought 20 bass weighing 81-14 to the scale and earned $30,100. Tour rookie Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Michigan, who led the tournament coming into the final day, caught a four-day total of 80-5 to finish third and win $25,000.

“I can’t believe that I won,” said Cox, who also took over the points lead in the ultra-competitive Angler of the Year (AOY) race with just one event left in the regular season. “It was so tough today. I ran all over this place and had a decent limit, but not what I needed. I was bouncing around, then right before I had to check in I remembered a stretch of trees that I hadn’t checked.

“It was the last minute, and I really don’t know why it just popped in my head, but it did – go to the trees,” Cox continued. “It was weird because I had forgotten all about this area. When I pulled up and Power-Poled down, I knew before I even threw in there.”

With less than 10 minutes before he had to check-in, Cox boated a pair of 4-pounders from the trees and raced back to the Dayton Boat Dock.

“When I caught the two in the last 10 minutes, I got all worked up,” Cox said. “I was running back, and I just felt something. Tears were coming down. It was overwhelming – I don’t know. I’ve won tournaments before, but I’ve never felt anything like it before. I’m getting chills right now just talking about it. This one was different.”

Cox said he used two main baits throughout the week. He threw a Texas-rigged 6-inch Baby Bass-colored Berkley PowerBait MaxScent The General while sight fishing and a white ½-ounce Dirty Jigs jig with a white Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Meaty Chunk Trailer to cover water.

“The jig setup really came into play when the rain came in,” Cox said. “It was something that I could cover a lot of water with. I really thought the jig was going to be deal today, but I had to completely change gears at the end of the day and go back to the worm.”

With just one tournament remaining in the regular season, Cox now shifts his focus to Lake Champlain in upstate New York. He holds just a slim 1-point lead in the AOY race over Polaris pro David Dudley – a three-time AOY winner who already has an FLW Tour win on Lake Champlain on his resume.

“My two favorite lakes are Lake Chickamauga and Lake Champlain, and to finish the season on those two fisheries is great,” Cox went on to say. “I’ve been going to Lake Champlain since I was 20, and I really want to win there. But, I really, really want to win the AOY title. That would be awesome.”

The top 10 pros on Lake Chickamauga finished: 

1st: Berkley pro John Cox, DeBary, Fla., 20 bass, 83-9, $102,700
2nd: Buddy Gross, Chickamauga, Ga., 20 bass, 81-14, $30,100
3rd: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 20 bass, 80-5, $25,000
4th: Yamamoto Baits pro Matt Greenblatt, Port St. Lucie, Fla., 20 bass, 80-0, $20,000
5th: Polaris pro David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 20 bass, 78-9, $19,000
6th: Ramie Colson Jr., Cadiz, Ky., 20 bass, 76-7, $18,000
7th: Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., 20 bass, 74-12, $17,000
8th: Strike King pro Jared McMillan, Belle Glade, Fla., 20 bass, 74-12, $16,000
9th: David Williams, Maiden, N.C., 20 bass, 69-9, $15,000
10th: Lowrance pro Austin Felix, Eden Prairie, Minn., 20 bass, 66-10, $14,000

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

Overall there were 50 bass weighing 172 pounds, 10 ounces caught by pros Sunday. All 10 of the final-day pros brought a five-bass limit to the scale.

Television coverage of the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude 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 total purse for the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude was more than $860,000. The tournament was hosted by Fish Dayton and the Rhea Economic Tourism Council. The next event for FLW Tour anglers will be the FLW Tour at Lake Champlain presented by T-H Marine in Plattsburgh, New York, June 27-30. The tournament will be hosted by the City of Plattsburgh and the Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau.

In FLW Tour competition, the full field of 165 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. Only the top 10 pros continued 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.

May 4, 2019  by FLW Communications – Photo courtesy of FLW

DAYTON, Tenn. – FLW Tour rookie Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Michigan, caught four big largemouth late in the day Saturday to anchor his 25-pound, 15-ounce limit and jump to the top of the leaderboard after Day Three of the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude in Dayton, Tennessee. Nelson’s five-bass limit was one of just four brought to the scale Saturday that weighed in excess of 20 pounds, telling when you consider that the lake had pumped out 19, 20+ pound limits in the first two days of competition.

Nelson (15 bass, 65-0) will now bring a 14-ounce lead over second-place angler Yamamoto Baits pro Matt Greenblatt of Port St. Lucie, Florida, (15 bass, 64-2) – who led the tournament after Day Two – into Championship Sunday. Also in striking distance in third place, is Berkley pro John Cox of DeBary, Florida, (15 bass, 62-9), local favorite Buddy Gross of Chickamauga, Georgia, (15 bass, 62-2) and Polaris pro David Dudley of Lynchburg, Virginia, (15 bass, 60-4).

“I feel honored to be here,” said Nelson, who, although a Tour rookie, has three career tournament wins in Costa FLW Series competition. “I had no idea that I had 25 pounds. I had a real slow day and just stuck with it and stuck with it and it started snowballing real quick at the end of the day.

“I’d been running around like Buddy (Gross), burning gas,” Nelson continued. “I was way down the lake and (FLW cameraman) Jody (White) showed up around 1:30 or 2. I caught a big one and was going to leave, then I caught another big one. So I’m getting ready to leave, then I catch another big one. Then I left and came back up the lake and I caught another big one up here. It was truly a blessing.”

Nelson’s four late-in-the-day largemouth came from similar water, but his last kicker came on a different bait. Nelson declined to mention any specifics, but did say that he was catching fish on “a couple of different baits.”

“I’m excited, but I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself,” Nelson said. “Yesterday I dropped the ball and only had 14 pounds. I just don’t know what will happen tomorrow. I may go out and catch 12 pounds, or I could catch 35. I’m just going to keep an open mind and work hard all day. I’ll be looking for a big bag tomorrow.”

The top 10 pros advancing to the final day of competition Sunday on Lake Chickamauga are: 

1st: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 15 bass, 65-0
2nd: Yamamoto Baits pro Matt Greenblatt, Port St. Lucie, Fla., 15 bass, 64-2
3rd: Berkley pro John Cox, DeBary, Fla., 15 bass, 62-9
4th: Buddy Gross, Chickamauga, Ga., 15 bass, 62-2
5th: Polaris pro David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 15 bass, 60-4
6th: Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., 15 bass, 58-2
7th: Ramie Colson Jr., Cadiz, Ky., 15 bass, 57-0
8th: Lowrance pro Austin Felix, Eden Prairie, Minn., 15 bass, 55-5
9th: Strike King pro Jared McMillan, Belle Glade, Fla., 15 bass, 55-3
10th: David Williams, Maiden, N.C., 15 bass, 54-2

Finishing in 11th through 30th are:

11th: Billy McCaghren, Mayflower, Ark., 15 bass, 52-8, $12,000
12th: Bass Pro Shops pro James Niggemeyer, Van, Texas, 15 bass, 52-0, $12,000
13th: Charlie Ingram, Centerville, Tenn., 15 bass, 50-15, $12,000
14th: Tim Frederick, Leesburg, Fla., 15 bass, 50-10, $12,000
15th: Chris Whitson, Louisville, Tenn., 15 bass, 50-5, $12,000
16th: T-H Marine pro Luke Dunkin, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., 15 bass, 49-8, $11,500
17th: Barry Wilson, Birmingham, Ala., 15 bass, 49-4, $11,500
18th: Glenn Chappelear, Acworth, Ga., 15 bass, 49-2, $11,500
19th: Aaron Britt, Yuba City, Calif., 12 bass, 48-7, $11,500
20th: Dicky Newberry, Houston, Texas, 15 bass, 47-12, $11,500
21st: Strike King pro Andrew Upshaw, Tulsa, Okla., 15 bass, 47-8, $10,500
22nd: Kyle Weisenburger, Ottawa, Ohio, 15 bass, 47-5, $10,500
23rd: Bradford Beavers, Summerville, S.C., 15 bass, 47-5, $10,500
24th: Sam George, Athens, Ala., 15 bass, 47-1, $10,500
25th: Ryan Salzman, Huntsville, Ala., 15 bass, 46-1, $10,500
26th: David Gaston, Sylacauga, Ala., 15 bass, 44-0, $10,500
27th: Jason Reyes, Huffman, Texas, 15 bass, 42-15, $10,500
28th: Miles Howe, San Juan Capistrano, Calif., 14 bass, 42-11, $10,500
29th: Rapala pro Terry Bolton, Benton, Ky., 13 bass, 39-11, $10,500
30th: Clark Reehm, Elm Grove, La., 13 bass, 36-3, $10,500

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

Overall there were 145 bass weighing 462 pounds, 2 ounces, caught by pros Saturday. Of the final 30 pros, 27 of them were able to bring a five-bass limit to the scale.

In FLW Tour competition, the full field of 165 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. Now, only the top 10 pros continue competition Sunday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from the four days of competition.

The total purse for the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude is more than $860,000. The tournament is hosted by Fish Dayton and the Rhea Economic Tourism Council.

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.

The final 10 anglers will take off at 7 a.m. ET Sunday from the Dayton Boat Dock, located at 175 Lakeshore St., in Dayton. Sunday’s championship weigh-in will also be held at the Dayton Boat Dock, beginning at 4 p.m.

In conjunction with the weigh-ins, FLW will host a free Family Fishing Expo at the Dayton Boat Dock from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday. 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.

Television coverage of the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude 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 air Sunday, featuring live action from the boats of the tournament’s top pros each day. Host Travis Moran will be joined by FLW Tour veteran Peter Thliveros 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.

May 3, 2019  by FLW Communications – Photo courtesy of FLW

DAYTON, Tenn. – Yamamoto Baits pro Matt Greenblatt of Port St. Lucie, Florida, brought a five-bass limit of largemouth to the Dayton Boat Dock scale Friday weighing 19 pounds, 13 ounces, to vault into the lead after Day Two of the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude in Dayton, Tennessee. Greenblatt’s two-day total of 10 bass weighing 43 pounds, 2 ounces gives him a slim 8-ounce advantage heading into Day Three of the four-day competition that features 165 of the world’s best bass-fishing anglers competing for a top cash award of up to $125,000.

Berkley pro John Cox of DeBary, Florida, who led after Day One, fell to second place, just 8 ounces behind Greenblatt with 42-10. Former FLW Cup champion and three-time Angler of the Year Polaris pro David Dudley of Lynchburg, Virginia, is just 15 ounces behind Greenblatt in third place with 42-3. The field is now cut to 30 for Saturday’s competition with only the top 10 anglers advancing to championship Sunday.

“I pretty much did the same exact thing that I did Thursday – same spot, same bait, same everything,” said Greenblatt, a six-year FLW Tour veteran with one career FLW Cup appearance. “I thought I had milked it for everything it was worth yesterday, but it replenished overnight. Hopefully there is two more days of bass in there, but I really don’t know what it has left.”

Greenblatt described his key area as a slope, in 8 to 12 feet of water.

“I don’t know why the fish are setting up there. There really is nothing there,” Greenblatt said. “Thursday I caught the heck out of them, all day long. Today it slowed down a lot – I think because of the pressure and we had a little different conditions. I’m catching fish on three different baits, and there seems to be a lot of bait in the area so hopefully it keeps them where they are.”

Greenblatt declined to name his main two baits, but did divulge that a Yamamoto Senko has also been a key piece of his arsenal this week.

“There is definitely a shallow Senko bite that is developing,” he said. “Wacky-rigged seems to be best, but I’ve got them rigged up four different ways. I’m dyeing the tail a little bit, giving them a little more to see.

“Hopefully tomorrow my area is not all blown out,” Greenblatt went on to say. “I’m going to get everything I can there and see what happens. If it’s not happening by noon I’m going to drop back, punt, and go to the dock pattern.”

The top 30 pros that made the cut and will fish Saturday on Lake Chickamauga are: 

1st: Yamamoto Baits pro Matt Greenblatt, Port St. Lucie, Fla., 10 bass, 43-2
2nd: Berkley pro John Cox, DeBary, Fla., 10 bass, 42-10
3rd: Polaris pro David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 10 bass, 42-3
4th: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 10 bass, 39-1
5th: Jared McMillan, Belle Glade, Mich., 10 bass, 39-1
6th: Lowrance pro Austin Felix, Eden Prairie, Minn., 10 bass, 38-15
7th: Billy McCaghren, Mayflower, Ark., 10 bass, 38-14
8th: Ramie Colson Jr., Cadiz, Ky., 10 bass, 38-10
9th: Buddy Gross, Chickamauga, Ga., 10 bass, 38-6
10th: Clark Reehm, Elm Grove, La., 10 bass, 36-3
11th: Aaron Britt, Yuba City, Calif., 10 bass, 35-15
12th: Bass Pro Shops pro James Niggemeyer, Van, Texas, 10 bass, 35-9
13th: Tim Frederick, Leesburg, Fla., 10 bass, 35-6
14th: Strike King pro Andrew Upshaw, Tulsa, Okla., 10 bass, 35-1
15th: Dicky Newberry, Houston, Texas, 10 bass, 35-1
16th: Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., 10 bass, 34-13
17th: David Williams, Maiden, N.C., 10 bass, 34-11
18th: T-H Marine pro Sam George, Athens, Ala., 10 bass, 34-11
19th: Charlie Ingram, Centerville, Tenn., 10 bass, 34-4
20th: Miles Howe, San Juan Capistrano, Calif., 10 bass, 34-1
21st: Glenn Chappelear, Acworth, Ga., 10 bass, 33-11
22nd: Kyle Weisenburger, Ottawa, Ohio, 10 bass, 33-4
23rd: Chris Whitson, Louisville, Tenn., 10 bass, 32-12
24th: Rapala pro Terry Bolton, Benton, Ky., 10 bass, 32-11
25th: David Gaston, Sylacauga, Ala., 10 bass, 32-9
26th: Barry Wilson, Birmingham, Ala., 10 bass, 32-8
27th: Jason Reyes, Huffman, Texas, 10 bass, 32-6
28th: Ryan Salzman, Huntsville, Ala., 10 bass, 32-4
29th: T-H Marine pro Luke Dunkin, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., 10 bass, 32-3
30th: Bradford Beavers, Summerville, S.C., 10 bass, 32-1

For a full list of results visit FLWFishing.com.

Ingram won the Big Bass Award and the $500 prize on the pro side Friday with a largemouth weighing 8 pounds, 8 ounces.

Overall there were 765 bass weighing 2,171 pounds, 8 ounces caught by 162 pros Friday. The catch included 138 five-bass limits.

In FLW Tour competition, the full field of 165 pro anglers competed in the two-day opening round on Thursday and Friday. The top 30 pros based on their two-day accumulated weight now 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.

The total purse for the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude is more than $860,000. The tournament is hosted by Fish Dayton and the Rhea Economic Tourism Council.

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.

Anglers will take off at 7 a.m. ET Saturday and Sunday from the Dayton Boat Dock, located at 175 Lakeshore St., in Dayton. Weigh-ins will also be held at the Dayton Boat Dock, beginning at 4 p.m.

In conjunction with the weigh-ins, FLW will host a free Family Fishing Expo at the Dayton Boat Dock from 2 to 6 p.m. each day. 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 Dayton Boat Dock on Saturday, May 4, 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.

Television coverage of the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude 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 air on Saturday and Sunday, featuring live action from the boats of the tournament’s top pros each day. Host Travis Moran will be joined by FLW Tour veteran 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.

DAYTON, Tenn. (May 2, 2019) – A field of 165 of the best bass-fishing professionals in the world began their four-day competition for a top award of $125,000 at theFLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by EvinrudeThursday in Dayton, Tennessee.

Berkley pro John Cox of DeBary, Florida, weighed a five-bass limit of Lake Chickamauga largemouth totaling 24 pounds, 11 ounces to take the early lead after Day One. Cox holds a slim 5-ounce lead over Tour rookie Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Michigan, who caught five bass weighing 24-6, good for second place.

“This place is just awesome,” said Cox, a six-time FLW Cup qualifier. “I started out on a real big fish that I had marked in practice – she’s at least a 10 (pounder) – but I couldn’t catch her. I got frustrated and bailed and went and caught a few decent males that I had marked, then came back to her. I caught the male with her, which was a 4-pounder, so I kept it at the time. Then she left.

“I came back an hour later, and she was with another one,” Cox continued. “I accidently caught that male, and she left again. I came back at the end of the day and she was with another male. So I told her to just finish up and that I’d come back tomorrow.”

Cox said he caught six keepers– all sight fishing – but marked 10 more while looking for beds this afternoon. He said he caught his bass using a selection of Berkley PowerBait MaxScent plastics.

“It was not easy today,” Cox said. “The water is coming up and a lot of the banks are getting really stirred up. The visibility is gone on almost every spot that I stopped at. I was guessing as to where they were.

“I’m going to go out tomorrow and try to catch five more decent males and hope I can get lucky and catch a 9- or 10-pounder,” Cox went on to say. “I will stop in and see if the big female I have marked is ready, then after that I really don’t know what I’m going to do yet.”

The top 10 pros after day one on Lake Chickamauga are:

1^st: Berkley pro John Cox, DeBary, Fla., five bass, 24-11
2^nd: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., five bass, 24-6
3^rd: Yamamoto Baits pro Matt Greenblatt, Port St. Lucie, Fla., five bass, 23-5
4^th: Ramie Colson Jr., Cadiz, Ky., five bass, 23-2
5^th: Tim Frederick, Leesburg, Fla., five bass, 23-0
5^th: Billy McCaghren, Mayflower, Ark., five bass, 23-0
7^th: Randy Allen, Gilliam, La., five bass, 22-14
8^th: Strike King pro Andrew Upshaw, Tulsa, Okla., five bass, 22-7
9^th: Polaris pro David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., five bass, 22-2
10^th: Lowrance pro Austin Felix, Eden Prairie, Minn., five bass, 21-0

For a full list of results visit FLWFishing.com.

McCaghren earned Thursday’s $500 Big Bass award in the pro division after bringing a 9-pound, 13-ounce largemouth to the scale – the largest fish of the day.

Overall there were 766 bass weighing 2,190 pounds, 14 ounces caught by 164 pros Thursday. The catch included 134 five-bass limits.

In FLW Tour competition, the full field of 165 pro anglers compete in the two-day opening round 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.

The total purse for the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude is more than $860,000. The tournament is hosted by Fish Dayton and the Rhea Economic Tourism Council.

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.

Anglers will take off at 7 a.m. ET Thursday through Sunday from the Dayton Boat Dock, located at 175 Lakeshore St., in Dayton. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at the park beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s weigh-ins will also be held at the Dayton Boat Dock, but will begin at 4 p.m.

In conjunction with the weigh-ins, FLW will host a free Family Fishing Expo at the Dayton Boat Dock from 2 to 6 p.m. each day. 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 Dayton Boat Dock on Saturday, May 4, 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 1^st and 2^nd place anglers that catch the biggest fish will be recognized Saturday on the FLW Tour stage, just prior to the pros weighing in.

Television coverage of the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude 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 air on Saturday and Sunday, featuring live action from the boats of the tournament’s top pros each day. Host Travis Moran will be joined by FLW Tour veteran 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.

April 27, 2019  by FLW Communications – Photo courtesy of FLW

SUMMERTON, S.C. – Pro Bradford Beavers of Summerville, South Carolina, caught a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 7 ounces, to win the weather-shortened Costa FLW Series on Santee Cooper Lakes presented by Power-Pole. The tournament was shortened from three days to two after competition was canceled Friday due to high winds. Bradford’s two-day total of 10 bass weighing 54 pounds, 9 ounces, was enough to earn him the victory at the Southeastern Division finale and $86,700, including a new Ranger Z518L boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.

“To win on my home lake is quite an accomplishment,” said Beavers, who won the Costa FLW Series Championship on Kentucky Lake in 2017. “I know how good the anglers are here, and it’s a little redemption for the 2014 [FLW Series] event here. I started that final day in second place, but zeroed and ended up finishing ninth. That’s been on my mind for years, so this is great.”

Beavers said he started out fishing on Lake Moultrie each day, targeting shallow cypress trees.

“I started at the best cypress trees I knew of, where the bass were either spawning or coming off the bank,” said Beavers. “I had four areas of trees that I fished there.”

Beavers said that he headed to Lake Marion around 1 p.m. each day, running pretty much ran the same pattern in two general areas, but with one small adjustment.

“I fished even shallower trees on Lake Marion because I felt more [bass] were truly spawning on the upper lake versus Lake Moultrie, so I’d hit trees more in the pocket rather than out in the open,” said Beavers.

The South Carolina pro said he caught seven keepers Thursday and added another nine today. He weighed nearly every fish from a wacky- or Texas-rigged, 5-inch green-pumpkin Yamamoto Senko. One keeper each day came on an Eye Strike Texas Eye jighead with a 3.3-inch shad-colored Keitech swimbait.

“The Eye Strike is like a wobble head with an eye protruding from it. I’d throw it the first 30 minutes because I felt there was a shad spawn going on.”

The top 10 pros on Santee Cooper Lakes finished:

 1st: Bradford Beavers, Summerville, S.C., 10 bass, 54-9, $86,700

 2nd: Lex Costas, Daniel Island, S.C., 10 bass, 50-1, $15,600

 3rd: Mike Watson, Sumter, S.C., 10 bass, 48-6, $12,300

 4th: Joey Sabbagha, Prosperity, S.C., 10 bass, 46-2, $10,000

 5th: Kyle Welcher, Cleveland, Tenn., 10 bass, 44-0, $10,500

 6th: Todd Smith, Bonneau, S.C., 10 bass, 43-12, $8,000

 7th: William Fletcher, Dallas, Ga., 10 bass, 42-4, $7,000

 8th: Brent Riley, Cross, S.C., 10 bass, 40-13, $6,000

 9th: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 10 bass, 40-7, $5,000

 10th: Mark Hutson, Moncks Corner, S.C., 10 bass, 40-3, $4,000

A complete list of results will be posted at FLWFishing.com.

Watson weighed a 9-pound bass Saturday – the heaviest of the tournament in the Pro Division and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $300.

Rodney Tapp of North Augusta, South Carolina, won the Co-angler Division with a two-day total catch of 10 bass weighing 32 pounds, 10 ounces. For his win, Tapp took home a prize package including a Ranger Z175 with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.

The top 10 co-anglers on Santee Cooper Lakes finished: 

 1st: Rodney Tapp, North Augusta, S.C., 10 bass, 32-10, $27,300

 2nd: Daniel Taylor, Elizabethton, Tenn., seven bass, 21-8, $5,000

 3rd: Oakley Connor, Travelers Rest, S.C., four bass, 20-8, $4,000

 4th: Bart Beasley, Mount Pleasant, S.C., seven bass, 19-13, $3,550

 5th: Adam Haithcock, Butner, N.C., six bass, 19-1, $3,000

 6th: Kevin Gordon, Aiken, S.C., eight bass, 18-10, $2,500

 7th: Thomas Clark, Wildwood, Fla., seven bass, 18-9, $2,000

 8th: Spencer Sato, Warner Robins, Ga., six bass, 18-8, $1,750

 9th: David Williams, Fredericksburg, Va., six bass, 18-7, $1,750

 10th: Mitch Avant, Pawleys Island, S.C., six bass, 18-7, $1,250

Jamie Booth of Erin, Tennessee, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Friday, a fish weighing 7 pounds, 7 ounces. Booth earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $200 for his catch.

The Costa FLW Series on Santee Cooper Lakes presented by Power-Pole was hosted by the Clarendon County Chamber of Commerce. It was the third and final Southeastern Division tournament of the 2019 regular season. The next tournament for FLW Series anglers will be the Costa FLW Series at Table Rock Lake presented by Power-Pole, held May 9-11 in Branson, Missouri. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.

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.

April 26, 2019  by FLW Communications – Photo courtesy of FLW

MINNEAPOLIS – Fishing League Worldwide (FLW), the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, and Kayak Bass Fishing, LLC, (KBF) the nation’s foremost organization supporting kayak bass anglers, announced today the first group of companies named as sponsors of the two kayak bass fishing tournaments scheduled in 2019.

Dee Zee, a staple brand in the truck accessory market since 1977, has signed on as title sponsor of the events. YakAttack, an industry leader specializing in kayak fishing gear and kayak rigging has been named as the presenting sponsor. Bass Pro Shops, FishUSA, Jackson Kayak, Bonafide Kayak, B&W Hitches, Dakota Lithium Batteries and Polaris have all signed on as associate sponsors with the organizations, ensuring that the brands will be showcased at all FLW/KBF Kayak events and through exclusive digital content and on-site activations. Terms of the agreements were not disclosed.

“Dee Zee is excited to explore new marketing opportunities with FLW and KBF. These established brands have proven their ability to empower their athletes through their business models and showcase their sport,” said Scott Moyer, Director of Marketing for Dee Zee. “We are thrilled to have the chance to engage their audience and display how closely our products align with their lifestyles.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to be part of the FLW/KBF Open and the FLW/KBF Cup,” said Luther Cifers, President of YakAttack. “Kayak fishing is something that every angler should experience, and this partnership will help us introduce it to more anglers than ever before.”

Per terms of the agreements, all brands will receive prominent exposure at the FLW/KBF tournaments and expos, FLW Bass Fishing magazine, FLW and KBF social media channels and websites. They also will receive the opportunity to provide contingency program rewards for winning or highest-placing anglers with cash and/or prizes for anglers complying with their program guidelines. Bonafide Kayak and Jackson Kayak have already implemented their contingency programs, offering an extra $5,000 to anglers who win the event fishing out of a Bonafide- or Jackson-brand kayak.

“We’re excited that these nationally-recognized brands are joining KBF and FLW to take kayak fishing competitions to the next level,” said Chad Hoover, president of the KBF. “These events will be a big success and create excitement that gets anglers fired up, whether they have been fishing for several decades or just getting started.”

The first event, the Dee Zee FLW/KBF Open at Nickajack Lake presented by YakAttack, will be hosted by Fish Dayton and Fish Lake Chickamauga next week, May 4-5, 2019. Entry fee for the event is $200 per kayak, with a $5,000 payout guaranteed for first place – $10,000 if contingency guidelines are met. The top 100 anglers will qualify to compete in the second event, the Dee Zee FLW/KBF Cup in Hot Springs, Arkansas presented by YakAttack. Of these 100 qualifiers, the top 20 receive free entry. All other qualifiers pay a $500 entry fee. The Dee Zee FLW/KBF Cup will be held Aug. 8-10, 2019, on a lake to be announced in conjunction with the Aug 9-11 FLW Cup on Lake Hamilton.

Anglers can register for the FLW/KBF Open at KayakBassFishing.com/FLW.

KBF was formed in 2009 to offer kayak anglers the opportunity to compete for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and prizes at premier fisheries around the country. Currently in its seventh season for live events, KBF offers more than 25 professional-level bass-fishing tournaments to kayak anglers. For complete KBF details, schedules and updated information, visit KayakBassFishing.com.

April 22, 2019  by FLW Communications – Photo courtesy of FLW

DAYTON, Tenn. – Fishing League Worldwide (FLW), the world’s largest tournament fishing organization, is set to continue the 2019 FLW Tour season – the 24th season of the competitive Tour – next week, May 2-5, with the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude. Hosted by Fish Dayton and the Rhea Economic Tourism Council, the tournament will feature 168 of the world’s best bass-fishing professionals competing for a top award of up to $125,000 and valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2019 FLW Cup – the world championship of bass fishing.

The FLW Tour has visited Lake Chickamauga four times prior in FLW’s 24-year history. When the Tour visited the East Tennessee fishery in 2015, some of the biggest names in the sport ended up competing on Championship Sunday, including former Forrest Wood Cup champion David Dudley and legendary angler Larry Nixon. Pro Michael Wooley, then of Collierville, Tennessee, won the event, weighing 20 bass totaling 92 pounds, 4 ounces, focusing on a shell bar in Dallas Bay with a shaky-head rig and a football-head jig.

The 2019 event will mark the 216th tournament in FLW Tour history. The total purse for the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude is more than $860,000.

“This tournament is going to be one of the most fun events that we have all year,” said FLW Tour rookie Miles Burghoff of Hixson, Tennessee, who is currently leading both the Angler of the Year (AOY) and Rookie of the Year (ROY) point races with just two events remaining in the season. “Dayton, Tennessee is the most bass-friendly town that I have ever been to and the best bass-fishing community that I have ever seen. It’s going to be great fishing and great crowds all week.”

Burghoff predicted that the majority of the bass would be spawn or post-spawn, and he expects that competitors will be able to fish however they would like to.

“We’re going to have guys that fish the ledges and do great, and we’ll have guys that avoid the ledges and fish shallow that will do great,” Burghoff said. “I think the key will be having multiple options. I don’t think you can win off of one spot very easily. It’s possible, but there are no secrets on Chickamauga – especially offshore. In order to win, you’re going to have to stay fluid and have a few back up plans ready to go.”

Burghoff predicted that standard Tennessee River-tackle would be in play – big spoons, jigs and swimbaits are all expected to play a role for tournament competitors. Burghoff also predicted that many of the FLW Tour pros would likely be seen throwing topwater baits for the first time this season.

“We’re hitting the lake perfectly and there will be plenty of fish well into their summertime patterns,” he said. “I think it’ll take at least a 15-pound-a-day average to make the top-30 cut to fish the weekend. I think it’ll take a four-day total of 87 to 88 pounds to win. It could be a little high, but it’s Lake Chickamauga and we’re going to crush them.”

Anglers will take off at 6:30 a.m. ET Thursday through Sunday from the Dayton Boat Dock, located at 175 Lakeshore St., in Dayton. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins, May 2-3, will be held at the park beginning at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s weigh-ins, May 4-5, will also be held at the park, but will begin at 4:30 p.m.

Prior to the weigh-ins, FLW will host a free Family Fishing Expo at the Dayton Boat Dock from 2 to 6 p.m. each day. 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 Dayton Boat Dock on Saturday, May 4, 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.

As part of the FLW Tour’s community outreach initiative, FLW Tour anglers will visit shoppers and staff at We Care, a second-hand store benefitting the Safe Haven Light Family Transitional Shelter, located at 420 Market Street in Dayton on Wednesday, May 1 from 3-4:30 p.m. to interact with guests, snap photos and sign autographs, give away goodie bags and share fishing stories.

Television coverage of the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude 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 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 Todd Hollowell 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.

In FLW Tour competition, the full field of 168 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.

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. (April 14, 2019) – Pro Andrew Upshaw of Tulsa, Oklahoma, won the FLW Tour at the Cherokee Lake presented by Lowrance after catching five bass Sunday weighing 15 pounds, 6 ounces. Upshaw’s four-day cumulative total of 20 bass weighing 67 pounds, 10 ounces, was enough to edge second-place pro Grae Buck of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, by 1 pound, 2 ounces, at the event that featured 164 of the world’s top bass anglers. For his win – the first of his FLW Tour career – Upshaw earned $100,000.

“This week was phenomenal – there’s no other way to describe it,” a visibly emotional Upshaw said on the FLW Tour weigh-in stage Sunday afternoon. “Through practice, I knew I was on something special, but I didn’t know just how special.”

Upshaw’s week on the water primarily involved targeting spawning bass. Early on, he said he lured bites with a drop-shot rig, using a green-pumpkin-colored Strike King KVD Drop-Shot Half Shell with a 1/8-ounce weight, but ended up switching after breaking it off 30 minutes into day one of competition. He proceeded to pick up a 4-inch, wacky-rigged Strike King KVD Perfect Plastic Ocho of the same color and went to work putting together consistent limits around mid-lake islands. He said he preferred 10-pound-test Seaguar Smackdown braid line with a 6-pound InvisX fluorocarbon leader.

“These fish stay around these islands all year long – they don’t leave,” said Upshaw. “I caught some on banks, but all my big ones came on islands. I wanted to be around the deepest water and the steepest banks. It had to have boulders out in front, and more importantly, the bank had to have somewhat of a turn in it. It didn’t have to have a cove, but just a turn – those smallmouth were spawning in them. There was just enough [curve] to get them out of the current where they could spawn.

“I took the Ocho and pitched it behind those boulders because that’s where they were spawning,” continued Upshaw. “Everybody was casting out in front and in the cracks, but they were actually behind the boulders the entire time. Anybody throwing a weighted bait, whether it was a Ned rig or a shaky-head, wasn’t able to effectively fish it because it was dropping so fast. By pitching that very, very light-weight Ocho around, I was able to get the fish that no one else was fishing for.”

On Championship Sunday, Upshaw slipped and surrendered the lead for a significant period of time, but after a last-minute stop at a secondary area he’d been saving – two points a quarter-mile from takeoff – the Oklahoma pro made two culls that would end up putting him over the top.

“Off to the side of one of the points there was a rock pile – it had isolated boulders and only big ones were moving up on it,” said Upshaw. “I caught a 3½-pounder and one that weighed about 2½ pounds to cull out two small fish.”

Upshaw caught his final two fish using a 3.25-inch, Ghost Shad-colored Strike King Rage Swimmer on a ¼-ounce jighead.

The top 10 pros on Cherokee Lake finished:

               1^st:          Andrew Upshaw, Tulsa, Okla., 20 bass, 67-10, $100,000

               2^nd:         Grae Buck, Harleysville, Pa., 20 bass, 66-8, $30,200

               3^rd:          Dylan Hays, El Dorado, Ark., 20 bass, 65-12, $25,100

               4^th:          Jason Reyes, Huffman, Texas, 20 bass, 65-11, $20,000

               5^th:          Andy Young, Isle, Minn., 20 bass, 64-0, $19,000

               6^th:          Yamamoto Baits pro Tom Monsoor, La Crosse, Wis., 20 bass, 63-1, $18,000

               7^th:          Tim Cales, Sandstone, W. Va., 20 bass, 62-8, $17,000

               8^th:          Derrick Snavely, Piney Flats, Tenn., 20 bass, 61-9, $16,000

               9^th:          Matt Becker, Finleyville, Pa., 20 bass, 61-4, $15,000

               10^th:        Tim Frederick, Leesburg, Fla., 20 bass, 60-12, $14,000

For a full list of results visit FLWFishing.com.

Overall, there were 50 bass weighing 146 pounds, 14 ounces, caught by pros Sunday. All of the final 10 pros were able to bring five-bass limits to the scale.

Television coverage of the FLW Tour at Cherokee Lake presented by Lowrance 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 total purse for the FLW Tour at Cherokee Lake presented by Lowrance is more than $860,000. The tournament is hosted by the Economic Development Alliance, Jefferson County. The next event for FLW Tour anglers will be the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude, in Dayton, Tennessee, May 2-5. The tournament will be hosted by Fish Dayton and the Rhea Economic & Tourism Council.

In FLW Tour competition, the full field of 164 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 continued 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.