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LEFEBRE LEADS AT WAL-MART FLW TOUR EVENT ON
“This is great. I’m shocked at how my day went,” said Lefebre, who has 27
FLW Outdoors top-10s, including four wins, and $588,228 in career earnings
since 2001. “In practice I had a lot of pressure on my main spots, but when
competition started, I’ve had the whole place all to myself. My limit today
happened real fast. I was practicing for the rest of the event by 8:30 this
morning. I am catching them quick and leaving the area trying to save a few
fish for the remainder of the tournament.”
Lefebre has been throwing small finesse jigs
with ultra-light line in both deep and shallow water over the last two days
to catch his quality-sized, tournament limits of bass.
“I’ve tried both shallow and deep over the
last two days and they have both been productive. I have been finding what
depth the fish are first thing in the mornings, and then I will run that
pattern the rest of the day,” he said.
Also fishing for Team Kellogg’s, Clark Wendlandt of Leander,
“This is probably the biggest two-day stringer
I have ever caught in a tournament on this lake,” said Wendlandt, who is a
two-time Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year Award winner. “I kind of changed my
approach up today. I tried something totally different than what I did
yesterday. I have a few places in mind that I haven’t even been to yet for
the rest of the week. I just hope they weren’t beat up to bad. I am just
glad I made it this far and look forward to tomorrow.”
Wendlandt, who was fishing mainly jigs on day one, made a switch for Friday
to throwing crankbaits around shallow rock piles.
Rounding out the top five pros who will
continue competition Saturday and Sunday are Jerry Green of Del Rio, Texas
(10 bass, 24-3); Craig Dowling of Madison, Ala. (10 bass, 22-12); and Ron
Shuffield of Bismarck, Ark. (10 bass, 22-6).
Also clearing the top-10 cut weight of 21
pounds were pros Ott Defoe of
National Guard pro Scott Martin of
All told, there were 679 bass weighing 1,058
pounds, 7 ounces caught by 191 pros Friday. The catch included 77 five-bass
limits.
Pros are competing for a top award of $125,000 this week plus
valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the $2 million Forrest Wood
Cup presented by Castrol in Hot Springs, Ark., Aug. 2-5, where the winning
pro will earn as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award. The top 40
pros after three $1 million qualifiers and three $1.5 million opens will
advance to the Forrest Wood Cup.
Mark Phillips of Fayetteville, Ark., leads the
Co-angler Division with an opening-round total of nine bass weighing 15
pounds, 10 ounces, followed by Shawn Stewart of
Pflugerville, Texas, in second place with 10 bass weighing 14-5.
“I struggled a little bit today,” said Phillips, who has three top-10s in
FLW Outdoors competition since 2003. “I was fishing deep water yesterday and
shallow water today. I just had to adjust to what was working. Overall, I’m
fishing really well and happy to be out here doing this. It is a real thrill
to compete at this level.”
Rounding out the top five
Also clearing the top-10 cut weight of 12
pounds in the Co-angler Division were Adam Lock of Metropolis, Ill.; Joan
Arnal of Barcelona, Spain; Timothy Sisk of Cherryville, N.C.; Frank Divis
Sr. of Fayetteville, Ark., and Doug Caldwell of Kane, Pa.
Chad Hicks of Rockville, Va., earned $500
for the day’s Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a
7-pound, 11-ounce bass he caught while fishing with pro Matt Herren of
Trussville, Ala.
Overall there were 369 bass weighing 529
pounds, 3 ounces caught by 159 co-anglers Friday. The catch included 16
five-bass limits.
Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of
$25,000 this week.
Anglers will take off at 7 Saturday and Sunday
morning from
Prior to the weigh-ins, FLW Outdoors will host
a free Family Fun Zone and outdoor show at the
Sunday’s festivities will also include the CBS 42 Celebrity Challenge
tournament featuring Austin area residents Linda Crelia,
Weldon Klenke, Bonifacio
Velasquez , Scott Morales and Ben Watkins fishing with FLW Tour pros and
local celebrities, including CBS anchors Ron Oliveirs and Kim Miller, Texas
Outdoor Zone host TJ Greaney and Spike from the Round Rock Express, to
benefit Lake Travis conservation efforts. Crelia, Klenke, Velasquez, Morales
and Watkins won a CBS 42 sweepstakes last week to participate in the event.
The winner of the Celebrity Challenge will receive $500 and have $5,000
donated in his or her honor to the FishAmerica Foundation. Takeoff for the
Celebrity Challenge is at 9 a.m. at
In FLW Tour competition, pros and co-anglers
are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat
movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back
deck against other co-anglers. The full field competes Thursday and Friday
for 10 slots in Saturday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated
weight. Weights are cleared Saturday, and
Coverage of the
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 exceeding $43 million through 238
events in 2007.
