FLW Series to visit Clarks Hill Lake

$1 million BP Eastern Division tournament to feature top bass anglers from 36 states

APPLING, GA. – The $10 million Walmart FLW Series® will visit Clarks Hill Lake in Appling, Ga., Oct. 22-25 for its final BP Eastern Division tournament of the season. Hosted by Columbia County Georgia, the tournament will feature as many as 400 top bass anglers from 36 states, Canada, Japan and Australia casting for top awards of $125,000 in the Pro Division and $25,000 in the Co-angler Division.

“This is going to be a tough tournament,” said Team M&M’s pro Pat Fisher of Buckhead, Ga., who has earned more than $525,000 in career earnings with FLW Outdoors. “The lake is down 17 feet which will create a problem for many anglers.”

Fisher predicts anglers will need 35 pounds to make the cut to the final day of competition to take home the grand prize of $125,000 and anywhere from 45 to 55 pounds to win.

“The topwater bite should only get better and better as the water temperatures fall,” Fisher added. “The bass seem to be on the move now and chasing small schools of shad into the mouths of the larger creeks and coves.”

Fisher said popular baits among anglers will include a football jig, buzzbait and a Rat-L-Trap. “The lake is really clear at the lower end with patches of hydrilla and as you move towards the north you will find rocks and wood,” he said.

Fisher’s strategy for the Clarks Hill Lake event is to get five quality bites a day.

Anglers will take off from Wildwood Marina located at 6212 Holloway Road in Appling at 7:30 each morning. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will also be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart store located at 4471 Washington Road in Evans, Ga. 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 Walmart. Activities in the Family Fun Zone include a trout pond, a Ranger boat simulator and assorted fishing-themed games. All activities are free and open to the public.

The entire field competes for the first three days of FLW Series events. Co-angler winners are determined on day three based on the heaviest accumulated three-day weight. The top 10 professionals continue competition on day four, and the winner is determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.

In FLW Series competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers. The total purse for the Clarks Hill Lake tournament is $1 million, including $10,000 through 50th place and $2,000 through 75th place in the Pro Division. Ultimately, all anglers in the tournament will also be competing for valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the BP East-National Guard West Fish-Off and a shot at advancing to the $2 million, 2009 Forrest Wood Cup, where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award.

Tournament anglers aren’t the only ones winning big this season. With the introduction of FLW Fantasy Fishing™, FLW Outdoors® offered anyone the opportunity to enter for their chance to land the catch of a lifetime with the opportunity to win $7.3 million in cash and prizes. Players could become a virtual pro angler by signing up for Player’s Advantage, which provided them with exclusive insider information that could have guided them to a $100,000 victory at every Walmart FLW Tour® stop and the Forrest Wood Cup. Player’s Advantage gave them an edge over the competition and increased their shot for the $1 million cash grand prize awarded to the FLW Fantasy Fishing cumulative points winner. Visit FantasyFishing.com today to find out more information and to register for next season.

Coverage of the Clarks Hill Lake 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 Dec. 28. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast in Canada on WFN (World Fishing Network) and to more than 429 million households in the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East through a distribution agreement with Matchroom Sport, making it the most widely distributed fishing program in the world. The program airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time in most markets. Check local listings for times in your area.

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. FLW Outdoors also took 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, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.

Total awards are based on a full field of 200 boats in every tournament.