Hopkins leads Stren Series event on Lake Texoma

DENISON, Texas – Pro Ronnie Hopkins Jr. of Mounds, Okla., caught a five-bass limit weighing 15 pounds, 8 ounces Thursday to retain the lead in the $275,225 Stren Series Texas Division tournament on Lake Texoma. With a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 33-06, he now holds an 6-pound, 15-ounce lead over second place pro Douglas Jones of Fort Gibson, Okla., who managed to haul in a total of 10 bass weighing 26-08 during the first two days of competition.

“Today was a lot harder,” Hopkins said. “This morning I only caught one fish and I didn’t catch my next one until around 11 a.m. That must have been the hot spot, because after that fish, I had my limit by 11:15 a.m. My dad is fishing this tournament as well, and he has been fishing along side of me. He is currently in ninth place and we are both hoping to make the cut.”

Hopkins caught his five-bass limit throwing a crankbait near rock piles.

“I’m not sure what the wind will do tomorrow. I’m just going to fish hard and try to stay on top of the leaderboard.”

Rounding out the top five pros are Craig Hatchel of Whitesboro, Texas (eight bass, 25-9); Russell Cecil of Willis, Texas (10 bass, 25-7); and Ryan Lovelace of Denison, Texas (10 bass, 23-3).

Robert McFarlane of San Antonio, Texas, earned $218 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 5-pound, 15-ounce bass.

Overall there were 347 bass weighing 708 pounds, 6 ounces caught by 120 pros Thursday. The catch included 27 five-bass limits.

Pros are competing for as much as $65,000, including a 198VX Ranger powered by Evinrude or Yamaha if contingency guidelines are met, and valuable points toward qualifying for the $1 million Stren Series Championship in Mobile, Ala., Nov. 8-11 for a shot at $140,000. After four qualifying events are complete in each of the circuit’s five divisions, the top 40 pros from each division will advance to the championship. The highest-finishing pro from each division at the championship will also earn a spot in the $2 million 2008 Forrest Wood Cup, where they will compete on Lake Murray in Columbia, S.C., against top pros from the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series and TBF (The Bass Federation) for bass fishing’s biggest prize – $1 million.

Bo Middleton of Elgin, Okla., leads the Co-angler Division in the chase for a top award of $35,000, including a 198VX Ranger if contingency guidelines are met. He caught five bass weighing 13-10 while fishing with pro Robert Robinson of Mobile, Ala., Wednesday and three bass weighing 5-2 while fishing with pro Ket Getchell of Granbury, Texas, Thursday for a total of eight bass weighing 18-12.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Gilbert Herald of Pittsburg, Texas (nine bass, 15-7); Ira Lynn of Adkins, Texas (eight bass, 13-9); Kenny Moser of Alba, Texas (six bass, 12-13); and Jeff Lobaugh of Emory, Texas (seven bass, 12-5).

Rusty Harvey of Nederland, Texas, earned $116 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 3-pound, 4-ounce bass.

Overall there were 179 bass weighing 332 pounds, 2 ounces caught by 94 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included one five-bass limits.

The top 40 co-anglers from each Stren Series division will also advance to the championship, where they will fish for as much as $70,000. The highest-finishing co-angler from each division at the championship will then advance to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.

Anglers will take off at 6:30 each morning from Highport Marina located at 120 Texoma Harbor Drive in Pottsboro, Texas. Friday’s weigh-in 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 401 N. U.S. Highway 75 in Denison, beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

Stren Series tournaments are four-day events consisting of two rounds. The entire field competes Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. At the conclusion of Friday’s weigh-in, the field is cut to the top 10 pros and co-anglers based on the heaviest three-day accumulated weights. These anglers continue competition Saturday, with the winners determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.

FLW Outdoors historically maintains a 98 percent live release rate in all of its bass tournaments.

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, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.