Hydra-Sports nets $50,000 with Striper Series win

$150,000 Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series Championship in Virginia Beach, Va., Dec. 7-9

Team Hydra-Sports, which consists of Capt. Phillip Gootee of Church Creek, Md., and Lee Anderson of Bradenton, Fla., boated two striped bass weighing 13 pounds, 11 ounces to take home $50,000 at the final regular-season stop of the 2006 FLW Striper Series.

November 4, 2006 • MLF • Archives

CAMBRIDGE, Md. – Team Hydra-Sports, captained by Phillip Gootee of Church Creek, Md., boated two striped bass weighing 13 pounds, 11 ounces Saturday to take home $50,000 at the final regular-season stop of the 2006 Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series, a tournament presented by the National Guard in Cambridge, Md.

“It was a slow day, really,” Gootee said. “The wind was blowing 15 miles per hour out of the north, and there was a lot of chop on the water. There were a lot of breaking fish, but most of the fish were small – 12 to 20 inches.

“There were a lot of fish that didn’t make the slot,” Gootee added.

Team Hydra-Sports, which consists of Gootee and Lee Anderson of Bradenton, Fla., fished a parachute rig with a white 9-inch Sassy Shad to catch their two keepers.

“We were fishing close to the bottom in 40 feet of water,” Gootee said.

In accordance with tournament regulations, both of Gootee’s fish fell within a 28- to 34-inch slot limit and were successfully weighed in alive and released.

With $20,000 cash for first place, a $15,000 Hydra-Sports bonus and a $15,000 Yamaha bonus, Gootee said he is looking ahead to the three-day $150,000 Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series Championship in Virginia Beach, Va., Dec. 7-9.

“I’ll use the same rig there, but this is my backyard,” Gootee said. “It’s foreign to me down there. I’m totally unfamiliar with the area. I hope I get to go down and fish it before the tournament.”

Rounding out the top-five finishers were team For-Net captained by Michael Monteforte of Charlestown, R.I. (one fish, 7 pounds, 3 ounces, $1,687); team The Eversman V captained by Ron Eversman of Germantown, Md. (one fish, 7 pounds, 3 ounces, $1,687, $563 Yamaha bonus); team Beer & Bologna captained by Samuel Fisher of Heathsville, Va. (one fish, 6 pounds, 11 ounces, $900); and team Dialed In captained by Jonathan Dehart of Virginia Beach, Va. (one fish, $788, $169 Wellcraft bonus).

The new $1 million FLW Striper Series featured seven qualifying tournaments this season. Teams, ranging in size from two to four anglers each, competed for a guaranteed top award of $20,000 cash in each qualifier and as much as $50,000 cash based on boat and engine bonuses from Hydra-Sports, Seaswirl, Wellcraft, Evinrude and Yamaha. The top 25 teams from each qualifier advance to the no-entry-fee FLW Striper Series Championship for a shot at a top award of $50,000 cash on FSN (Fox Sports Net).

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 presented by Abu Garcia, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $37.9 million through 249 events in 2006.

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.