BENTON, Ky. – Pro David Fritts of Lexington, N.C., holds a slight 8-ounce advantage heading into the final day of the four-day, $900,000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour event presented by Pedigree on Kentucky Lake, and he claimed the lead for the third straight day thanks to a five-bass catch Friday that weighed 16 pounds, 8 ounces. The original field of 200 pros was narrowed to 10 for Friday and Saturday’s competition, and the winner will be awarded $100,000 at the conclusion of Saturday’s weigh-in based on the heaviest two-day weight.
It was more of the same for Fritts on Friday – another tough day of fishing, a few more good bites lost but again still enough to lead the field heading into the final day. Anglers fished amid pouring rain and high winds on Friday, which made boat positioning much more of a challenge. Fritts managed to get his trusty crankbait in front of another heavy limit of bass, although he found them in a completely different area than he used during the tournament’s previous days.
“I’ll tell you, it was a hard day,” said Fritts, who holds the record for most career FLW Tour wins with four tournament victories. “I should have had about 4 more pounds than what I weighed in. It’s really hard to fish the way the wind is blowing; you have to make do with what you can.”
With a calmer weather forecast on the horizon for Saturday, Fritts is looking to change up his pattern to make a run for the tournament crown. “I haven’t caught them in the same place two days in a row,” he said. “If the wind wouldn’t blow so bad I believe I could catch a few more. I’d like to see it get slick and sunny and hot. I need to get some good bites, and I need to get them in. That’s the problem – I know where the fish are, but those good, quality fish are hard to come by. I’m going to crank a lot tomorrow but I’m going to do something else, too – it’s been too windy to do it so far.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Castrol pro David Dudley of Lynchburg, Va. (five bass, 16 pounds); Brennan Bosley of Benton, Ark. (five bass, 15 pounds, 6 ounces); Yamaha pro Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La. (five bass, 15 pounds, 5 ounces); and Shinichi Fukae of Osaka, Japan (five bass, 14 pounds, 11 ounces).
FLW Tour rookie Stephen Tosh Jr. of Waterford, Calif., claimed $20,000 Friday as winner of the Co-angler Division with a winning catch of four bass that weighed 16 pounds, 13 ounces. Tosh’s father Steve is also a rookie on the FLW Tour, albeit on the pro side. The elder Tosh claimed a top-10 finish on the Atchafalaya Basin in February while the younger Tosh missed the top-10 cut there by a scant 2 ounces. Tosh Jr. more than made up for it Saturday with his lucrative first victory.
“Coming into the first day, I thought I had them pretty good, and the second day I had enough,” Tosh said. “I told myself, `If you make the cut, you’ve got to catch them.'” Catch them he did – Tosh weighed in two monster bass that he claims were smaller than two he lost.
“I lost one on a drop-shot – I couldn’t even slow down – and the other one threw my crankbait 10 feet in the air,” Tosh said. “I caught three on a drop-shot and one on a crankbait. I gave it my best, and it worked out. I’ve been waiting my whole life; I watched these things on TV. My dad came back as a pro, and I thought it would be great to fish as a co-angler. I had a lot of fun; this is a great show.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Greg Gulledge of Monticello, Ark. (five bass, 16 pounds, 3 ounces); Alex Ormand of Bessemer City, N.C. (four bass, 10 pounds, 10 ounces); Team Yamaha angler Frank Divis Sr. of Fayetteville, Ark. (five bass, 9 pounds, 10 ounces); and David Gee of Plymouth, Ind. (three bass, 6 pounds, 9 ounces).
The tournament began Wednesday with 200 pros and 200 co-anglers competing for two days for one of 10 slots in Friday’s competition. The event is the fifth of six regular-season stops along the 2004 FLW Tour en route to the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship, set for Aug. 11-14 on Logan Martin Lake in Birmingham, Ala. The winning pro at the championship will earn $500,000 cash, the sport’s largest guaranteed cash award.
Kentucky Dam Marina in Gilbertsville will host the final takeoff at 6:30 a.m. Saturday. The final weigh-in will take place at the Wal-Mart store located at 310 W. Fifth St. in Benton beginning at 3 p.m. The community is encouraged to attend the Family Fun Zone on Saturday outside the weigh-in tent in the Wal-Mart parking lot. The Family Fun Zone features interactive displays, product samples and games for the entire family to enjoy. The Fun Zone will open Saturday at 11 a.m.
Dudley earned the Energizer Keeps on Going Award and a $500 Wal-Mart gift card for advancing to the final round as the No. 7 seed after finishing 75th on opening day.
Fritts 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 27 pounds, 9 ounces.
Morizo Shimizu of Suita, Osaka, Japan, 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.
Coverage of the Kentucky Lake tournament will be broadcast to 65 million subscribers of the Outdoor Life Network on the “FLW Outdoors” television program. A tournament preview show featuring bass-fishing legend Hank Parker will air May 30 at 1 p.m. Eastern time and June 3 at 5 p.m. Eastern time, and fishing fans can watch the tournament weigh-in with hosts Carlton Wing, Taylor Carr and Charlie Evans June 6 at 1 p.m. and June 10 at 5 p.m. Eastern time. Tournament veteran Larry Nixon will host a tournament wrap-up show June 13 at 1 p.m. Eastern time, and that show will re-air June 17 at 5 p.m. Eastern time.
The winner of the FLW Tour stop on Kentucky Lake will also be featured on “FLW Outdoors Presented by Wal-Mart” on 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.