LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. – The $7.1 million Walmart FLW Series will visit Lake Havasu in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., March 25-28 for its first National Guard Western Division tournament of the season. Hosted by the Lake Havasu City Convention & Visitors Bureau, the tournament will feature as many as 300 top bass anglers casting for top awards of $125,000 in the Pro Division and $25,000 in the Co-angler Division.
“The fishing should be really good on Lake Havasu this time of year,” said Team Dunkin Donuts pro Brett Hite of Phoenix, who has amassed more than $420,000 in career earnings with FLW Outdoors. “I am really looking forward to fishing this event because of the time of year.”
Hite said that fish will be spawn, prespawn and postspawn. He said that the lake will produce a lot of 15-pound stringers and a lot of different techniques will be used on the lake.
“Many anglers will be power-fishing, finesse-fishing or sight-fishing,” he said. “Popular baits among the anglers will be a drop-shot, Texas-rigged worm, flipping a jig or a swimbait.”
Hite predicts that anglers will need 40 to 45 pounds to make the top-10 cut, and to win the first-place prize of $125,000, anglers will need around 60 to 65 pounds.
“The really neat thing about this tournament is that anglers will be able to catch fish any way they want,” he said.
Anglers will take off from Lake Havasu State Park/Windsor Beach located at 699 London Bridge Road in Lake Havasu City at 6:30 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 5695 Highway 95 N. in Lake Havasu City 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 Lake Havasu tournament is nearly $900,000, including $10,000 through 50th place in the Pro Division. Ultimately, all anglers in the tournament will also be competing for valuable points in the hope of qualifying for a shot at advancing to the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup, where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award.
Coverage of the Lake Havasu FLW Series tournament will be broadcast as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program. “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. Check local listings for broadcast 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. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.
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.