Championship run
Quest for $500,000 begins at Lake Hamilton
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The top 48 pros and 48 co-anglers of the 2005 Wal-Mart FLW Tour season took off onto a calm, sultry Lake Hamilton Wednesday morning, launching the first day of competition in the $1.5 million Forrest L. Wood Championship. The pros are gunning for professional bass fishing’s largest prize – $500,000 – and they’re going to have their work cut out for them this week to win it.
By most accounts, the fishing at scenic Lake Hamilton is pretty tough at the moment. In its midsummer doldrums, anglers say the fishery has been reluctant to cough up many tournament-winning bass in practice, much less an entire five-fish limit of them.
“It’s been hard to catch five fish a day,” said pro George Cochran, a Hot Springs native who lives on the lake. “This is probably the hardest time of the season as any to catch fish in Arkansas, and the boat traffic makes it even worse.”
Hamilton is a top recreation lake in Arkansas. With a heavily developed shoreline, very little grass cover exists in the lake for bass. Anglers who favor fishing vegetation will have to alter their strategies here since the name of the game this week will mostly be fishing docks and brush piles.
But even that will be a test because many bass are suspended and tough to reach. Hot, sunny weather has pushed the fish deep, and they could be out of reach for many competitors.
“I’ve lived here for 15 years, and never have I fished it during the day at this time of year,” Cochran said. “I’ll be surprised if any stringers over 12 pounds come in.”
Still, these aren’t your average fishermen. It’s 48 of the world’s top bass anglers going after the fish this week, and they have the sport’s biggest incentive of all motivating them to figure it out.
“If you put this many fishermen of this caliber out there, somebody’s definitely going to catch them,” Cochran said.
One thing that might help is the potential for some rain this afternoon. Anglers have been hoping cloud cover will settle in once the tournament has started, since that has the potential to spur a nice topwater bite.
Opening weigh-in at 5 p.m., outdoor show opens at 2 p.m.
The Pro Division winner of the FLW Championship will take home $500,000, and the Co-angler Division winner will earn $25,000. There are 48 anglers competing in each division.
The pros are competing in head-to-head competition the first three days. The two-day opening round lasts through Thursday, after which the field will be cut in half to 24 anglers. Friday, the semifinal-round qualifiers compete head-to-head within their bracket, again for a single day, to qualify for Saturday’s 12-angler final round.
Wednesday’s weigh-in, the first half of the opening round, begins at 5 p.m. Central time at Summit Arena, adjacent to the Hot Springs Convention Center. The championship’s boat and outdoor show features more than 140 exhibits, fishing seminars by Hank Parker, Jimmy Houston, Guido Hibdon, Forrest L. Wood and other bass-fishing legends, as well as free daily giveaways. The boat and outdoor show runs from 2 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, noon to 9 p.m. Friday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.
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 5 p.m. Central.
Wednesday’s conditions:
Sunrise: 6:10 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 81 degrees
Expected high temperature: 95 degrees
Water temperature: 81-86 degrees
Wind: W at 9 mph
Maximum humidity: 49 percent
Day’s outlook: fair, afternoon thunderstorms
Link: