FLORENCE, Ala. – Rookie pro George Jeane Jr. of Evans, La., caught a five-bass limit Friday weighing 17 pounds, 1 ounce – the second largest one-day weight of the tournament thus far – to lead a strong top-10 field in the $900,000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour event on Pickwick Lake presented by A&W Root Beer. Pros are competing for a top award of $100,000, and the winner will be determined Saturday.
Despite strong winds and much cooler temperatures compared to the first two days of the event, Friday’s weights were strong for most pros and several co-anglers. Furthermore, many of the top-10 pros said they could catch much more Saturday if the wind dies down, and the current forecast only calls for 5 mph winds for the final day.
Jeane has a good history on Pickwick Lake. He’s only fished the lake five times, but his last visit produced a 31st-place finish in the 2005 Stren Series Championship.
“I had to fish into the wind all day,” he said. “If the wind will let me fish tomorrow, I’ll do well.”
Jeane is coming off a 15th-place at Lake Murray in the last FLW Tour event.
Rob Kilby of Hot Springs, Ark., who smoked the field in the first round, continued to prove he is on a solid pattern. He weighed in a limit Friday for 14 pounds, 10 ounces and is in striking distance.
“I fished Wheeler the first day when I caught 20 pounds, but I haven’t been back,” Kilby said. “I’m going back tomorrow.”
Ozark Trail pro Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., caught a five-bass limit on a jig weighing 13 pounds, 4 ounces, to take the third-place position going into the final day. As with much of the field, the wind hindered Morgan Friday.
“I’m having to run around a lot to catch my fish,” he said, “and the wind hurt me today. The more areas I can fish, the more I can catch.”
Tyson pro Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., is in fourth place with five bass weighing 11 pounds, 2 ounces. “I’ve got a couple of spots that produced one big smallmouth on day one and one on day two. I caught some huge smallmouths there in practice – the biggest I’ve ever caught. They didn’t bite today, but maybe I can get two good ones tomorrow. If so, I have a chance to win.”
Berkley pro David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn., who just competed in the Bassmaster Classic, is in fifth place with four bass weighing 10 pounds, 9 ounces. Walker is locking up to Wheeler Lake and said he has a chance of catching 17 pounds Saturday if he stays there all day.”
Veteran angler Ken Keirsey of Owasso, Okla., caught an impressive limit Friday weighing 13 pounds, 7 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and earn $20,000. Keirsey, a former co-angler FLW Tour Championship winner, won by nearly 4 pounds. He fished with George Jeane Jr. on Pickwick Lake.
“I’m lucky I even made the top 10,” Keirsey said. “Yesterday, we made it back to weigh-in with 14 seconds to spare.
“I had a great day and caught a lot of fish today. I caught fish on a 3/4-ounce brown jig, Lucky Craft jerkbait and a homemade white spinnerbait.”
FLW Tour rookie co-angler Shannon Fletcher of Honaker, Va., weighed in three solid fish for 9 pounds, 8 ounces to finish second and collect $10,000. “I had five minutes of the most exciting fishing I’ve ever had,” he said. “I caught 10 in five minutes on a silver and blue lipless crankbait.”
Accomplished co-angler Alex Ormand of Bessemer City, N.C., caught two bass weighing 7 pounds, 13 ounces to finish third and win $9,000. This is Ormand’s sixth FLW Tour top-10. He was casting a jig Friday.
Chad Parks of Memphis, Tenn., fishing his first full season as a co-angler on the FLW Tour, finished fourth with two bass weighing 4 pounds, 5 ounces. He earned $8,000.
Making his third FLW Tour top-10 and finishing fifth, veteran co-angler James Green of Lincoln, Ala., weighed in one bass for 2 pounds, 5 ounces. This is Green’s eighth year on tour. Green earned $7,000 for his performance this week.
Rookie co-angler Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C., finished sixth with one bass weighing 2 pounds, 3 ounces, and earned $6,000. Montgomery’s primary bait this week was a Chatterbait, which is the hottest lure in the country. “You fish it like a spinnerbait,” he said, “but I think it out fishes a spinnerbait three to one.” The bait sends out a throbbing pulse through water and jerks erratically.
The only other co-angler to land a keeper Friday was Arch Cornett of Huntsville, Ala. Cornett caught one bass weighing 1 pound, 15 ounces and earned $4,000.
Anglers will take off at 7 a.m. Saturday from McFarland Park. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 3100 Hough Road in Florence beginning at 4 p.m.
The community is invited to attend the free Family Fun Zone Saturday outside the weigh-in tent in the Wal-Mart parking lot. The Family Fun Zone, which opens at noon Saturday, features interactive displays, product samples and games for the entire family to enjoy.
The full field competes in the two-day opening round for one of 10 slots in Friday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Friday’s weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.
In FLW Tour competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers.
This is the most lucrative FLW Tour season to date with a $7.6 million purse, including four $900,000 events and two $1.25 million open events during the regular season. Each event leads up to the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship and Outdoor Show presented by Castrol, which will be held Aug. 2-5 on Logan Martin Lake in Birmingham, Ala. The prestigious championship hosted by Birmingham, Pell City and St. Clair County features 48 pros, 48 co-anglers and bass fishing’s largest guaranteed cash award – a $500,000 first-place prize for the winning pro. Held in conjunction with the tournament is a world-class outdoor show featuring more than 140 exhibits.
Coverage of the Pickwick Lake tournament will be broadcast to 78 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on April 2 and April 9 as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to more than 300 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.