$6.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Series to visit Lake Cumberland

Second stop of 2006 takes place May 3-6

SOMERSET, Ky. – The $6.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Series will stop in Somerset, Ky., May 3-6 for its second regular-season tournament, which will be held on Lake Cumberland. Hosted by the Somerset/Pulaski Convention & Visitors Bureau, the tournament features 400 anglers from 31 states, Japan, Canada and Australia, with 200 of the world’s best bass pros fishing for a top award of $100,000 cash. Two hundred co-anglers will compete for a top award of $20,000 cash.

Local pro Keith Monson of Burgin, Ky., believes anglers competing in the $900,000 event will have their pick of patterns throughout the tournament.

“Sight-fishing, flipping brush or an early morning topwater bite could hold for a solid four days,” said the FLW Outdoors veteran, who has 26 top-10 finishes to his credit. “Any of those patterns will produce quality fish this time of year.”

Another local favorite, Mike Devere of Berea, Ky., says weather and water conditions will be a determining factor throughout the course of the tournament.

“We’ve had a lot of rain recently,” Devere said. “The water is so muddy in the upper end on the river, you could walk on it. With a little sun, the smallmouth will pull off the beds, and that will open up a good spinnerbait bite or Fluke pattern.”

While both anglers agree targeting largemouths by flipping flooded bushes will be a heavy-weight pattern, Monson believes even spotted bass will produce respectable limits.

“We’ve had a good population of spots pop up in the last couple years,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if some anglers get on them.”

Anglers will take off at 6:30 each morning from the General Burnside State Park. Wednesday, Thursday and Firday’s weigh-ins will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 177 Washington Drive in Somerset beginning at 4 p.m. Children will be treated to the Fujifilm trout pond and rides in the Kellogg’s Ranger boat simulator beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday prior to the final weigh-in at Wal-Mart. All events are free and open to the public.

The entire field competes for the first three days of FLW Series events. Co-angler winners are determined on day three by the heaviest accumulated three-day weight. The top 10 professionals continue competition on day four, and the winner is determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.

In FLW Series 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. The total purse for the Cumberland Lake tournament is $900,000, including $10,000 through 50th place in the Pro Division.

The new $6.5 million FLW Series features five $900,000 qualifying tournaments, each with a top award of $100,000, that advance anglers to the $2 million, 2007 Forrest Wood Cup in Hot Springs, Ark., where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million cash.

Coverage of the Lake Cumberland FLW Series tournament will be broadcast to 80 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing June 4. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to approximately 350 million households in Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary, the United Kingdom, among other others, making it the most widely viewed 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. FLW Outdoors also recently announced the addition of a striped bass circuit, which will debut in May. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, browse 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.