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FLEETWOOD WINS STREN SERIES EVENT ON BULL SHOALS
McFarland wins co-angler title, $5,000
BULL SHOALS, Ark. (March 3, 2007) – Pro Tim
Fleetwood of Forsythe, Mo., caught a five-bass limit weighing 11 pounds, 9
ounces Saturday to win the $275,225 Stren Series Central Division tournament
presented by Yamaha on Bull Shoals with a four-day total of 20 bass weighing
52-12. For his victory, Fleetwood earned $25,000 cash and a $40,000 519VX
Ranger boat.
Wind was a factor every day of the tournament,
and the final day of competition was no exception. Ten pros and 10
co-anglers battled cold temperatures, high winds and snow. As a result, many
of the competitors had to alter the way they approached the competition.
“I got lucky and caught a limit every day,”
said Fleetwood. “I really didn’t think about winning this tournament. I was
just thinking about what I had to do each day just to get by.
“I made a lot of lucky, good decisions,”
Fleetwood added. “I had a lot of good holes that I never got to fish because
of the high winds.”
Fleetwood caught most of his fish on a blue and
silver or black and silver Smithwick Rogue near mid-lake and on the upper
end of the lake.
“It was blowing so hard that when I went by a
cove just south of Big Creek, I turned the boat around and stopped in the
cove,” Fleetwood said.
Fleetwood told his co-angler he hadn’t really
fished the cove much before, but wanted to get out of the wind. The detour
turned out to be a profitable one. Fleetwood and his co-angler, Steven
McFarland of
Fleetwood opened the tournament in fifth place
Wednesday with five bass weighing 12-04. On Thursday he added another five
bass weighing 14-08 maintain his lead. He then caught five bass weighing
14-07 Friday to make the crucial top-10 cut in first place.
Rounding out the top five pros are Mark Rose of
Paul Helton caught the biggest bass of the
tournament in the Pro Division Friday – a 5-pound, 6-ounce bass – that
earned him the day’s Snickers Big Bass award of $250.
Overall there were 31 bass weighing 75 pounds,
9 ounces caught by pros Saturday. The catch included four five-bass limits.
McFarland, fishing in his first Stren Series
event, won the Co-angler Division and $5,000, with a four-day total of nine
bass weighing 26-13.
“It’s unbelievable,” said McFarland. “I’ve been
dreaming of something like this ever since I was a little kid.”
McFarland caught his fish Saturday on a
Tennessee Shad-colored Megabass jerkbait and a ¼-ounce Gary Yamamoto Hula
Grub Jig.
McFarland caught two bass weighing 6-04
Wednesday while fishing with pro Lloyd Pickett of
Rounding out the top five
Tyrone Phillips of
Overall there were nine bass weighing 18
pounds, 2 ounces caught by co-anglers Saturday. The catch included no
five-bass limits.
The next Stren Series Central Division event,
hosted by the Marshall County Tourist Commission, will be held May 2-5 on
After four qualifying events are complete in
each of the Stren Series’ five divisions, the top 40 pros from each division
will advance to the $1 million Stren Series Championship in
The top 40 co-anglers from each Stren Series
division will also advance to the championship, where they will fish for as
much as $70,000. The highest-finishing co-angler from each division at the
championship will then advance to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.
FLW Outdoors historically maintains a 98 percent live release rate in all of
its bass tournaments.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger
Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour,
Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart
Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Ranger Owners Tournament
Championship Series, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League,
Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW
Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer
combined purses of nearly $43 million through 238 events in 2007.
Wal-Mart and many of
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its
tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.
