MORGAN CITY, La. – Although the Wal-Mart FLW Tour is named after Ranger Boat founder Forrest L. Wood, anglers could be excused Wednesday morning for concluding that the FLW acronym stood for Forecasting Lots of Wetness. Bundled from head to toe in rain gear, all 400 pros and co-anglers made their way past Belle River Boat Launch shortly after 7 a.m. amidst an unrelenting downpour. Adding to the relatively miserable conditions was the fact that anglers probably won’t get any drier throughout the four-day event as the National Weather Service is predicting steady rains at least through Sunday.
However, there is a silver lining. With a total purse of $900,000 at stake, including $100,000 for the top pro and another $20,000 for the winning co-angler, the field will have plenty of incentive to ignore the rain and compete as hard as possible. But with heavy rains and water levels increasing by the hour, fishing conditions will be decidedly difficult all week.
“I think it’s still going to take about 27 pounds (over two days) to make the cut,” said 2003 FLW Tour Champion David Dudley. “But I think, overall, that the weights are going to be a lot lower than last year.”
According to Dudley, rising water levels will make fishing particularly tricky on the basin.
“When the water levels rise, the fish are going to start stacking up,” he said. “Once they find a place they’re comfortable with, they are going to stay there. The key is finding those places. I have one spot where I killed them. And I’m going back there today. But other than that one area, I only caught one fish all week in practice. It’s going to be tough.”
FLW action continues at today’s weigh-in, scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. Central time at the Belle River Boat Launch, located at Highway 70 North in Belle River, La.
For bass-fishing fans unable to attend the festivities in person, you can catch all the weigh-in action live at FLWOutdoors.com with FLW Live. Show time starts at 3 p.m. Central.
Wednesday’s conditions
Sunrise: 6:48 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 53 degrees
Expected high temperature: 62 degrees
Water temperature: 55 degrees
Wind: from the east at 12 mph
Relative humidity: 92 percent
Day’s outlook: rain