GALLATIN, Tenn. – Kellogg’s pro Dave Lefebre of Erie, Pa., sits in the No. 1 spot heading into the final day of the four-day, $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour event presented by Snickers on Old Hickory Lake thanks to a five-bass catch Friday that weighed 15 pounds, 2 ounces. Hosted by the Forward Sumner Economic Council and Sumner County Tourism, the tournament, which is the third of six regular-season FLW Tour events, will award the winning pro $100,000 cash Saturday afternoon based on his two-day accumulated weight.
Lefebre blew away the competition Friday, giving himself a 6-pound, 4-ounce advantage heading into the tournament’s final day. Lefebre caught the only limit on perhaps the toughest day yet on Old Hickory, a day in which brilliant skies belied the frigid air temperatures. Lefebre, ranked 12th on the FLW Tour, has been knocking on the door of a tournament win since he started competing on the FLW Tour just last year, and he began the 2004 season with a fifth-place finish on Lake Okeechobee in January. Lefebre put himself in prime position Friday to claim his first FLW Tour win thanks to a hot cranking bite.
“I left my best stuff alone,” said Lefebre, a Yamaha pro who advanced to the FLW Tour through the EverStart Series and the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League. “I wasn’t thinking I’d be able to do it but I did. I’ve been going to a weedy area and trying to catch three out of there and leaving, and the first two days it worked out perfectly. Today I only got one out of there, and I was scared.”
Lefebre made a slight change to his technique and wound up with a tournament-leading limit. “After I would catch those three, I’d go flipping,” he said. “Today I tried not to flip; I did more cranking and covered a lot of water, and it worked out pretty good. I’m catching them from a spot I’d been looking at the past two days, and I couldn’t wait to fish it. I’m ready. I feel really good.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla. (three bass, 8 pounds, 14 ounces); Mickey Bruce of Buford, Ga. (four bass, 7 pounds); Dion Hibdon of Stover, Mo. (three bass, 4 pounds, 9 ounces); and Marcel Veenstra of Brighton, Mich. (two bass, 3 pounds).
Katsutoshi Furusawa of Tokyo, Japan, claimed $15,000 cash Friday as winner of the Co-angler Division thanks to his three-bass catch that weighed 9 pounds, 9 ounces. The win was Furusawa’s third FLW Tour top-10 finish. This is his third season to fish the FLW Tour.
Furusawa caught his bass Friday on a jig, a tube worm and a crankbait. His heaviest bass came on the jig early in the day while he fished with partner Rick Clunn of Ava, Mo.
More than 99 percent of the tournament’s bass have been released alive, thanks in part to an all-new, state-of-the-art release boat that will be used at every FLW Tour stop in 2004. If the tour maintains a 98 percent live-release rate throughout the season, Energizer will donate $25,000 to the Children’s Miracle Network.
Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La., earned the Energizer Keeps on Going Award and a $500 Wal-Mart gift card for advancing to the final round as the No. 6 seed after finishing 122nd on opening day.
Browne earned the Shop-Vac Clean Sweep Award and a selection of four Shop-Vac products for advancing to the finals as the No. 1 seed with 10 bass weighing 33 pounds, 2 ounces.
Hibdon earned the Schick Close Shave Award, a $100 Wal-Mart gift card and a selection of Schick products for advancing to the finals in the last qualifying position.
Bull Creek Ramp in Gallatin will host the final takeoff Saturday morning at 7. The winning pro will be crowned at Saturday’s weigh-in, which begins at 3 p.m. at the Wal-Mart store located at 1112 Nashville Pike in Gallatin. The FLW Tour’s Family Fun Zone featuring product giveaways, interactive displays and games for fishing fans of all ages opens in the Wal-Mart parking lot at 11 a.m.
In addition to cash awards, anglers are also competing this week for valuable points that determine Land O’ Lakes Angler of the Year standings and the field for the 2004 FLW Tour Championship, set for Aug. 11-14 in Birmingham, Ala., on Logan Martin Lake. Two hundred points are awarded to tournament winners, with 199 for second, 198 for third, and so on. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points.
The $1.5 million championship presented by Castrol awards the winning pro $500,000 cash, the sport’s largest prize. Surrounding the championship is a world-class outdoor show in which fishing fans are treated to hundreds of displays featuring special offers on everything from crankbaits to bass boats.
Coverage of the Old Hickory Lake tournament will be broadcast to 65 million Outdoor Life Network subscribers on the “FLW Outdoors” television program. A tournament preview featuring bass-fishing legend Hank Parker will air March 28 at 1 p.m. Eastern time and April 1 at 5 p.m. Eastern time. Fishing fans can watch the tournament weigh-in with hosts Carlton Wing, Taylor Carr and Charlie Evans April 4 at 1 p.m. and April 8 at 5 p.m. Eastern time. Tournament veteran Larry Nixon will host a tournament wrap-up April 11 at 1 p.m. Eastern time and April 15 at 5 p.m. Eastern time.
The winner of the FLW Tour stop on Old Hickory Lake will also be featured on “FLW Outdoors Presented by Wal-Mart” Sunday from 9-11 a.m. Eastern time. The cutting-edge radio program hosted by Keith Lebowitz and Tony Casillas is broadcast live on the World Wide Web at FLWOutdoors.com. The show is also broadcast throughout Texas and parts of Oklahoma on Fox Sports 1190 AM KFXR in Dallas. Listeners who would like to ask a question of any show guest can e-mail the question to [email protected].
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, the Wal-Mart FLW Tour is administered by FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing. Other FLW Outdoors-sanctioned tournament trails are the EverStart Series, the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour, the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye League and the Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its six tournament trails. Wal-Mart has been the title sponsor of FLW Outdoors since 1997.
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