RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (May 11, 2007) – Team Chevy pro Larry Nixon of Bee Branch, Ark., caught a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 12 ounces Friday to capture the lead in the $1 million Wal-Mart FLW Series BP Eastern Division tournament on Lake Dardanelle. With a three-day catch of 15 bass weighing 50-15, he holds a 2-pound, 5-ounce lead over his closest competitor, David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn., heading into the final day of competition.
“Today was as good of a day as a fisherman could ever ask for,” said Nixon, who has won three FLW Outdoors events and more than $872,000. “My first six fish weighed 17-12, and that was by 8:30 in the morning, so that’s a pretty good day. The only bad thing about that is that you have to waste a lot of time until weigh-in, and I was ready to weigh in.”
Nixon said he caught 13 or 14 keepers by fishing grass with a 10-inch Berkley Power Worm matched with a ¼-ounce weight and 17-pound test line. Nixon said he was fishing grass and not getting many bites when he decided to change his tactics.
“I threw a cast out onto some shelves in about 3 feet of water, and on the first cast I caught a 4-pounder,” Nixon said. “I just kept catching them right there and I had my limit before I knew it.”
Nixon plans to go back to a key area he has targeted for the tournament and said he hopes to catch a few larger bass from the area and then rely on backup spots to fill out his limit.
“The sweetest part of this tournament is to be in a position to win here in Arkansas,” Nixon said. “It’s home, and I’ll have my whole family here tomorrow – even my mother.”
Walker caught a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 48-10 to advance to the final round as the No. 2 seed.
Rounding out the top five pros are David Lawson of Richmond, Ky. (15 bass, 47-3); Matt Herren of Trussville, Ala. (15 bass, 46-15) and Bud Pruitt of Spring, Texas (15 bass, 45-3).
Also clearing the top 10 cut weight of 40 pounds, 7 ounces in the Pro Division are Team BP pro Shinichi Fukae of Mineola, Texas; Eric Ambort of Mabelvale, Ark.; Derek Remitz of Madison, Ala.; Kevin Bishop of Hilton, N.Y.; and Daniel Kweekul of North Little Rock, Ark.
Theron Caldwell of Fort Worth, Texas, earned the day’s $488 Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 7-pound, 1-ounce bass he caught.
Overall there were 615 bass weighing 1,515 pounds, 4 ounces caught by pros Friday. The catch included 60 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing this week for a top award of $125,000 plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the BP East-National Guard West Fishoff and a shot at advancing to the $2 million, 2008 Forrest Wood Cup, where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award. The top 30 pros from both FLW Series divisions after four qualifying events are complete will advance to the East-West Fishoff, which will be held Jan. 17-19, 2008. The location for the fishoff has not yet been announced. Thirty winners from the fishoff will advance to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.
Terry Chapman of Stanley, N.C., won the Co-angler Division and $20,000 Friday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 40 pounds, 2 ounces followed by Ben Hand of Memphis, Tenn., in second place with 13 bass weighing 30-13 worth $9,835.
Chapman opened the tournament in first place Wednesday with five bass weighing 13-3 while fishing with pro Kota Kiriyama of Moody, Ala. On Thursday he slipped to second place with a five-bass catch weighing 13-9 while fishing with pro Herren. He wrapped up the win Friday with a five-bass catch weighing 13-6 while fishing with pro Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C.
“I drew a partner that was fishing the same type of water and the same basic bait that I was fishing, so I was comfortable with that,” said Chapman, who notched his third FLW Outdoors victory. Chapman also has two FLW Tour wins as a co-angler – his most recent at the Fort Loudoun-Tellico Lakes event at Knoxville, Tenn., in late March.
“You always worry about who you’re going to draw in a tournament and if their presentation is going to be compatible with the way you want to fish,” Chapman said. “But we started fishing shallow, and I caught a keeper pretty quick and that put my mind at ease. I caught a few more and actually had my limit by 11:30.”
Chapman said he fished a Rad Lures Chatterbait all three days of competition.
“The first day I fished shallow in a stumpy area,” Chapman said. “The second day we fished rocks shallow and I stuck with the Chatterbait. I fished that Chatterbait around stumps, rocks and grass.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Bud Strader of Rockwood, Tenn. (11 bass, 30-3, $8,851); Ron Fabiszak of South Bend, Ind. (11 bass, 29-13, $7,868) and Jerry Weisinger of Wyandotte, Okla. (11 bass, 29-8, $6,884).
Jim Russell of Dade City, Fla., earned $295 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 5-pound, 8-ounce bass he caught while fishing with Team BP pro Tracy Adams of Wilkesboro, N.C.
Overall there were 250 bass weighing 592 pounds, 2 ounces caught by co-anglers Friday. The catch included five five-bass limits.
The 10 remaining pros will take off at 6:30 Saturday morning from Lake Dardanelle State Park located at 100 State Park Dr. in Russellville. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 2409 E. Main St. in Russellville beginning at 4 p.m. Children will also be treated to a Family Fun Zone prior to Saturday’s weigh-in from noon to 4 p.m. at Wal-Mart. Activities in the Family Fun Zone include the Fujifilm trout pond, a Ranger boat simulator and assorted fishing-themed games. All activities are free and open to the public.
FLW Outdoors historically maintains a 98 percent live release rate in all of its bass tournaments.
Coverage of the Lake Dardanelle FLW Series tournament will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing July 15. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to approximately 350 million households in Europe, Africa and Asia, making it the most widely distributed weekly fishing program 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 presented by Abu Garcia, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, 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 of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.
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 Walmart.com.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.