FLORENCE, Ala. – Rookie pro George Jeane Jr. of Evans, La., caught a final-round total of 10 bass weighing 29 pounds, 1 ounce to win the $900,000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour event on Pickwick Lake presented by A&W Root Beer. Jeane defeated an extremely accomplished top-10 field – winning by more than 8 pounds – to earn $100,000.
Jeane finished fourth in the 2005 Stren Series Central Division to qualify for the FLW Tour. Although he is a rookie, Jeane has been to Pickwick Lake numerous times and has performed well. Jeane posted a 31st-place finish on Pickwick last November in the Stren Series Championship.
“I was fishing in 22 to 25 feet of water,” Jeane said. “I was using a big rod and setting the hook hard because I was fishing deep and the wind was pretty strong. I switched to 17-pound-test Vanish line so I wouldn’t break the line when I set the hook.
“I used a 1/2-ounce black and blue PJ’s football jig – 3/4 ounce if it was really windy. I was fishing one spot all week. It’s a road that goes out on a point with a ditch on the side, and I found 14 brush piles on that point. After practice, I knew I could win because I was marking so many fish in the brush piles.
“This tournament was about the win and not the money,” he continued, “because of the caliber of the guys in the top 10.”
Jeane is coming off a 15th-place finish at Lake Murray in the last FLW Tour event. Since 2002, Jeane has two Stren Series top-10s, four Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League top-10s and one Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail top-10.
Tyson pro Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., caught a final-round total of nine bass weighing 20 pounds, 11 ounces to jump from fourth to second place and earn $36,000. Moynagh focused on one small area of the lake and located productive deep and shallow spots in that area. In practice, Moynagh landed the biggest smallmouths he has ever caught, with one weighing an estimated 8 pounds. Unfortunately for Moynagh, the big fish didn’t bite during the event, but he still managed to catch solid keepers on a jig and finish second.
Rounding out the top five pros were Rob Kilby of Hot Springs, Ark. (seven bass, 18 pounds, 2 ounces, $25,000); Berkley pro David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn. (seven bass, 17 pounds, 2 ounces, $18,000); and Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky. (seven bass, 16 pounds, 9 ounces, $20,000).
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. His Friday pro partner was George Jeane Jr.
Pro Scott Dobson of Clarkston, Mich., caught the largest bass of the tournament – a 7-pound, 7-ounce largemouth – on day two to earn the event’s Snickers Big Bass worth $1,000, along with the day-two daily big bass prize of $750.
Pro Todd Auten of Lake Wylie, S.C., won the Energizer Keeps on Going Award and a Wal-Mart $500 for coming from the farthest behind after day one to make the top 10. Auten was in 32nd place after day one and finished in ninth.
In FLW Tour events, 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.
The next FLW Tour event is the $1.25 million Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake April 5-8.
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.