CLAYTON, N.Y. – Pro Mike Desforges of Burlington, Ontario, caught a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds, 8 ounces Friday to widen his lead in the Stren Series BP Eastern Division tournament on 1,000 Islands. With a three-day catch of 15 bass weighing 60-01, he holds a 2-pound, 9-ounce lead over his closest competitor heading into the final day of competition.
“I basically went on the same run today,” Desforges said. “Actually, we started in the same place, then we went for a longer run and caught some more fish. We started out fishing for smallmouth, then went largemouth fishing for a couple hours, but ended up culling whatever largemouth we caught.”
Desforges brought in a limit of smallmouth bass he caught mostly on jerkbaits and spinnerbaits.
“I’ve been running around the whole lake–spending a lot on gas,” Desforges added.
Rounding out the top five pros are Charlie Hartley of Grove City, Ohio (15 bass, 57-08); Matthew Martin of Chittenango, N.Y. (15 bass, 54-06); Daniel Welch of New Martinsville, W.Va. (15 bass, 53-10); and Derek Strub of Elora, Ontario (15 bass, 53-07).
Also clearing the top 10 cut weight of 51 pounds, 10 ounces in the Pro Division are Michael Beebe of Conneautville, Pa.; Michael Iaconelli of Runnemede, N.J.; Trevor Jancasz of White Pigeon, Mich.; Joseph Sancho of New Windsor, N.Y.; and Al Gagliarducci of Agawam, Mass.
Martin earned $211 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 5-pound, 13-ounce bass.
Overall there were 589 bass weighing 1,584 pounds, 12 ounces caught by 126 pros Friday. The catch included 111 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 ros 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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Dustin Edwards of Ellington, Conn., leads the Co-angler Division in the chase for a top award of $35,000, including a 198VX Ranger if contingency guidelines are met, thanks to a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 49-08.
“It feels great to be leading; I’m excited,” Edwards said. “You go into a tournament and always aim for first. You just have to have a couple of good days and you’re up there.”
Edwards said he caught his bass on a drop-shot and Berkley 3-inch black Leech, staying in three different spots near the launch area.
“Tomorrow’s going to be different; we’re going out to the lake and fishing in a little different area than today,” Edwards said. “I was out there the first day doing that type of fishing, so I’m pretty prepared for it.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Mark Keniston of Camden, N.Y. (15 bass, 44-03); Zackery Seal of Eldred, Pa. (15 bass, 42-11); Jeff Zeisner of Arva, Ontario (15 bass, 42-05); and Cory Leonard of Castalia, N.C. (15 bass, 41-02).
Also clearing the top 10 cut weight of 40 pounds, 4 ounces in the Co-angler Division are Richard McCrory of Point Claire, Quebec; Tim Elliot of Kenbridge, Va.; Jerry Thompson of Bemidji, Minn.; James Richardson Sr. of Harrison, Ontario; and Scot Keefe of Hinesburg, Vt.
Darren Izumi of Milton, Ontario, earned $113 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 5-pound, 5-ounce bass.
Overall there were 438 bass weighing 988 pounds, 1 ounce caught by 126 co-anglers Friday. The catch included 60 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 6:30 Saturday morning from French Creek Marina located at 250 Wahl St. in Clayton, N.Y. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 20823 NY State Route in Watertown, N.Y., beginning at 4 p.m. The takeoff and weigh-in 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.