In case you missed the big-bass bonanza on Falcon Lake last week, the FLW Series East-West Fish-Off concluded Saturday with Greg Hackney holding up a $25,000 check. Hack averaged a mind-boggling 36 pounds and change per day and broke the FLW Outdoors record for heaviest single-day catch when he sacked 39-11 on day two. Not a bad way to end the season.
More importantly, the winners from each of the 30 head-to-head matchups punched their tickets to the 2009 Forrest Wood Cup on the Three Rivers. While Hackney is a notable name, several other big sticks will be heading to the Steel City in July. Simply put, we’ve got a star-studded field in the making.
Only 10 of the 30 Western Division pros made it, but the ones who did are impressive. The names Brent Ehrler, Ken Wick, Michael Rooke, Rusty Salewske and Jason Borofka should be recognizable. Ehrler won the 2006 Cup and Borofka took 14th place at the 2007 Cup, about 2 pounds away from making the all-important top-10 cut.
Still, the names are much heavier on the Eastern Division side. In addition to Hackney, BASS Elite Series pros Tommy Biffle and Takahiro Omori won their matchups. Like Hackney and Michael Iaconelli, who qualified through the Stren Series, Biffle and Omori fished the 2005 Bassmasters Classic on the Three Rivers.
BP pro David Walker also fished the 05 Classic and will join his former BASS buddies in Pittsburgh after defeating Coppertone pro Brett Hite 76-14 to 69-9. Other heavy-hitters from the Eastern Division include Bryan Thrift, Dion Hibdon, Chris Baumgardner, David Fritts, Koby Kreiger, Terry Bolton, JT Kenney, Mark Rose, Shinichi Fukae and Dan Morehead.
Those are names to remember when it comes time to make your 2009 Forrest Wood Cup picks.