Back to the Potomac
Stren Northern kicks off on Eastern Seaboard
LA PLATA, Md. – Chris Baumgardner won $125,000 in Wal-Mart FLW Tour action here just last month. While the money won’t be quite that good as the Stren Series Northern Division kicks off its 2007 season on the same fishery, the Potomac River, the fishing should be just as good – if not better.
It’s a good time of year for bass fishing on the Potomac. Temperatures are sultry and the grass is thick on the river. Even compared to last month’s FLW Tour stop here, the vegetation seems to have filled out even more in just a few weeks’ time.
That will leave plenty of options for anglers running the tides near the mouth of the river or up in Mattawoman Creek. It will take close to 20 pounds of fish per day to contend for the title this week.
On thing that might impact some anglers’ catch weights is, of all things, last week’s FLW Tour event on Lake Erie. A lot of top Northern pros came straight here after the conclusion of that event on Sunday, and that doubtlessly put a serious dent in their practice time. It remains to be seen whether big Potomac sticks like Baumgardner, last year’s Stren Potomac winner Dave Lefebre and Jacob Powroznik – all of whom came straight from Erie – can rebound from the punishment they took from the big lake and successfully fish memories on the river this week. It will be interesting to see if the local pros like James Dudley and Chris Daves can take advantage of a schedule in their favor.
One thing’s for certain: Even if they don’t catch many fish this week, at least the ride’s going to be a whole lot smoother for those Erie pros.
Tournament logistics
The pros are fishing for a top award of $25,000 plus a $40,000 519VX Ranger powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard and equipped with a Minn Kota trolling motor and Lowrance electronics if contingency guidelines are met. Ranger will award another $3,000 to the winner if he or she is a participant in the Ranger Cup program. If the winner is not a Ranger Cup participant, Ranger will award $1,500 to the highest-finishing participant in the contingency program. Yamaha will match 50 percent of Ranger Cup earnings if “Powered by Yamaha” guidelines are met.
Co-anglers are casting for a top award of $5,000 plus a $30,000 Ranger boat and trailer if contingency guidelines are met.
Anglers take off from Smallwood State Park, located at 2750 Sweden Point Road in Marbury, Md., 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 weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 40 Drury Drive in La Plata, Md., beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
On the Web
For those unable to catch the weigh-in action in person, FLWOutdoors.com offers FLW Live, an online application that brings fans real-time weigh-in results, streaming video and audio.