Jean Jr. wins Stren Series event on Toledo Bend
Achee wins co-angler title
MANY, La. – Team Abu Garcia pro George Jeane Jr. of Evans, La., caught five bass weighing 15 pounds even Saturday to win the Stren Series Texas Division tournament on Toledo Bend with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 40 pounds, 15 ounces. For his victory, Jeane Jr. earned $17,437 cash and a 198VX Ranger Boat powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard and equipped with a Minn Kota trolling motor and Lowrance electronics.
“The wind had a lot to do with this win,” said Jeane Jr., who said he caught 12 keepers on the final day of competition. “Everything changed up when the wind started blowing and I got on a lot better fish.”
Jeane Jr. said he caught all of his fish during the tournament on a 10-inch Berkley PowerBait worm and targeted brush piles on the edge of creek channels in 18 to 20 feet of water. Jeane Jr. said the fact he was “born and raised” on Toledo Bend had a large factor in the win.
“When the wind blew I knew where to go to get out of the wind,” Jeane Jr. said. “I went into the tournament knowing I was going to throw the worm and it worked out.”
Jeane Jr. opened the tournament in 29th place after catching five bass that weighed 8-14. On Friday, he caught five bass that weighed 17-1 and made the top-10 cut in third place.
Rounding out the top five pros were Tim Reneau of Del Rio, Texas (15 bass, 37-6, $6,975); Jamie Fralick of Martin, S.D. (11 bass, 34-8, $5,580); Patrick Fuller of Tyler, Texas (13 bass, 31-12, $4,882); and Robert Collett of Zapata, Texas (13 bass, 31-11, $4,185).
Fralick caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Thursday – an 8-pound, 5-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s Folgers Big Bass award of $265.
Timothy Achee of Hemphill, Texas, won the Co-angler Division and a 177TR Ranger powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard and trailer, with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 28 pounds, 7 ounces.
Achee caught four bass weighing 9-1 Thursday while fishing with pro Jim Milson of Odessa, Texas, to open the tournament in seventh place. On Friday he caught five bass weighing 8-13 to make the top-10 cut in second place while fishing with pro Jim Criswell of Del Rio, Texas. Finally, on Saturday, he sealed the win with five bass weighing 10-9 while fishing with Reneau.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Will Welch of San Angelo, Texas (11 bass, 26-5, $2,980); David Underwood of Waco, Texas (10 bass, 22-14, $2,235); Brent Killingsworth of Rowlett, Texas (eight bass, 21-7, $1,863); and Steve Hope of Ovilla, Texas (10 bass, 19-11, $1,676).
Killingsworth and Tommy Hagler of Abilene, Texas, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division – a pair of 8-pound, 8 ounce bass – that earned them each a day’s Folgers Big Bass award of $132.
After four qualifying events are complete in each Stren Series division – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western – the top 40 pros and 40 co-anglers based on the points standings from each division advance to the Stren Series Championship on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala., Nov. 5-7 for a shot at $150,000 in the Pro Division and $60,000 in the Co-angler Division. The top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers from each division will also qualify for the 2010 Walmart FLW Tour® and Walmart FLW Series®, bass fishing’s top professional circuits. The highest-finishing pro and co-angler from each division at the Stren Series Championship also qualify for the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup.
In Stren Series competition, pros supply the boats, fish from the front deck against other pros and control boat movement. Co-anglers fish from the back deck and compete against other co-anglers. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points that determine angler standings. Two hundred points are awarded to the winner, 199 points for second, 198 points for third, and so on. The full field competes on days one and two, with the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers advancing to day three based on their two-day accumulated weight. Winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all three days.
Total awards are based on a 200-boat field in every tournament.
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 has taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports.
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.