LAKE HAVASU, Ariz. – Pro Justin Kerr of Simi Valley, Calif., caught a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds Thursday to capture a lead in the Stren Series Western Division tournament. With a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 28-13, he now holds an 1-pound, 15-ounce lead over second place pro Terrence Rath of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., who managed to haul in a total of 10 bass weighing 26-14 during the first two days of competition.
“I prefished a couple of days, and I actually only fished the same 20 spots I’ve fished every year,” Kerr said. “I just fished the same ones yesterday and lost four fish, including a 6-pounder. I had a pretty much mental breakdown on the lake because I couldn’t cope with how it was yesterday. I could do no wrong today, and it was pretty much a 180. I’ll be happy if I catch 8 pounds tomorrow.”
The weather was affecting the bite today. Kerr explained that these are river fish that love the warmth and bite better when it’s sunny. He expects tomorrow’s predicted windy weather to change his game plan.
“It’s hit or miss for me pretty much. I mean, I’ve had two top-10 finishes in Stren and blinked on the third day. It’s been rough for me the last couple years, so hopefully, I can change that and have a normal day on the lake, just go fishing and pray for the best.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Tim Wilsterman of Lake Havasu City, Ariz. (10 bass, 26-07); Rick Francis of Cibola, Ariz. (10 bass, 25-11); and Michael Rooke of Lake Havasu City, Ariz. (10 bass, 25-02).
Bret Gouvea of Redding, Calif. earned $250 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 5-pound, 4-ounce bass.
Overall there were 309 bass weighing 678 pounds, 11 ounces caught by 155 pros Thursday. The catch included 29 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 Branson, Mo., Nov. 5-8 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 2009 Forrest Wood Cup, where they will compete against top pros from the Wal-Mart FLW Tour®, Wal-Mart FLW Series®, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League® and TBF (The Bass Federation) for bass fishing’s biggest prize – $1 million.
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Bob Diehl of Yucca Valley, Calif., 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 four bass weighing 8-00 while fishing with pro Ron Bettiga of Windsor, Calif., Wednesday and five bass weighing 8-14 while fishing with pro Scott Nielsen of Salt Lake City, Utah, Thursday for a total of nine bass weighing 16-14.
“I’ve been out here four days prior to the tournament and I really struggled during the prefish,” Diehl said. “I have a go-to bait on a drop-shot, and this particular bait came through for me on the first day. I only had four fish, but they were decent-sized fish.”
Characterizing the fishing as tough today, Diehl caught his limit alternating between a reaction bait and a drop-shot bait.
“Team tournaments the past two weeks have affected the bite. Lots of fish have been caught and pulled out of certain areas, and I’m not sure if they’ve refilled yet. The fish have seen a lot of baits and a lot of really good fishermen.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Bruce McCune of Anderson, Calif. (six bass, 16-06); Gayle Janes of Bermuda Dunes, Calif. (eight bass, 16-03); John Weisfuss of Oxnard, Calif. (10 bass, 15-14); and Ted Romero of Lakewood, Calif. (eight bass, 15-02).
Cesar Laguna of Roseville, Calif., and Carl Mack of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., each earned $65.50 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to 3-pound, 13-ounce bass.
Overall there were 184 bass weighing 393 pounds, 4 ounces caught by 155 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included five 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 2009 Forrest Wood Cup.
Anglers will take off at 7 each morning from Lake Havasu State Park/Windsor Beach located at 699 London Bridge Road in Lake Havasu City, Ariz. 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 1795 Kiowa Blvd. in Lake Havasu, Ariz., 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.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2008 alone the organization is offering more than 90,000 anglers the chance to win over $40 million through 230 tournaments in 10 circuits targeting bass, walleye, redfish, kingfish and striped bass. FLW Outdoors is also taking fishing mainstream with the largest cash awards in the history of fantasy sports, $7.3 million.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.