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BRANSON, Mo. (Nov. 3, 2016) – Pat Fisher of Colbert, Georgia, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Thursday weighing 15 pounds, 3 ounces to grab the lead after day one of the Costa FLW Series Championship on Table Rock Lake. Fisher now holds a slim 6-ounce lead heading in to day two of the three-day event, hosted by ExploreBranson.com, that features 192 anglers from across the globe casting for a top cash award of $95,000, including a new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard, and an automatic qualification to the 2017 Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing.

“Today was a surprise. A very good surprise,” said Fisher, a former FLW Tour pro who has three career Forrest Wood Cup appearances. “I made a long run, a lot of fish got beat up in there in practice, up where I was. But, I was the only one in there today, and I just stuck with it.”

Though Fisher weighed landed nine keepers, a big kicker bass really keyed his day.

“That big fish was my third fish,” says Fisher. “There was a little stretch there when they were feeding, and that really set the tone for the day. I haven’t seen a fish that big all week.”

Well away from the ramp and way in the back of a creek, Fisher adapted perfectly to the calm and overcast conditions that loomed over the field all morning.

“I’d been catching them on a shaky-head rig in the bright sun and the clear water,” said Fisher. “But, this morning with the overcast they came up and ate topwater baits. I had a pretty consistent day, just catching them all day long on a topwater. When I wanted to catch one, I picked up the shaky-head, but they weren’t the size I was looking for.”

Though the area he’s fishing isn’t huge, Fisher seems fairly confident that it has enough fish for at least another day. He doesn’t think he leaned on them too hard, and he says that he only saw one other boat back in that general area today.

The top 10 boaters after Day One on Table Rock Lake are:

1^st:           Pat Fisher, Colbert, Ga., five bass, 15-3

2^nd:          Bradford Beavers, Ridgeville, S.C., five bass, 14-13

3^rd:          Christopher Jones, Bokoshe, Okla., five bass, 14-9

4^th:           Cody Bird, Granbury, Texas, five bass, 14-5

4^th:           Brad Cook, Afton, Okla., five bass, 14-5

6^th:           Tim Reneau, Del Rio, Texas, five bass, 14-4

7^th:           Travis Fox, Rogers, Ark., five bass, 13-12

8^th:           Mark Tucker, Kirkwood, Mo., five bass, 13-9

9^th:           Rick Taylor, West Olive, Mich., five bass, 13-6

10^th:        Terry Tucker, Gadsden, Ala., five bass, 13-5

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

The Costa FLW Series consists of five U.S. divisions – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western – along with an International division that features anglers from Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. The highest finishing pro from each U.S. division and the new International division based on their finish qualify for the 2017 Forrest Wood Cup, along with the overall top five finishers not already selected as the highest finisher of a division. A total of 11 FLW Series boaters will advance to the 2017 Forrest Wood Cup at Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina.

Tyler Sheppard of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, leads the co-angler division with five bass weighing 12 pounds, 10 ounces followed by Robert Myers of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, with five bass weighing 9-1.

The top 10 co-anglers after day one on Table Rock Lake are:

1^st:           Tyler Sheppard, Hermitage, Pa., five bass, 12-10

2^nd:          Robert Myers, Broken Arrow, Okla., five bass, 9-1

3^rd:          Raymond Tak, Los Angeles, Calif., four bass, 8-12

3^rd:          Michael Black, Toledo, Ill., four bass, 8-12

5^th:           Jonathan Shockey, Fort Smith, Ark., three bass, 8-7

6^th:           Rob Bueltmann, Osage Beach, Mo., four bass, 8-6

7^th:           Kelly Taylor, Beebe, Ark., four bass, 7-10

8^th:           David Hudson, Jasper, Ala., three bass, 7-3

9^th:           Jim Austin, Lithonia, Ga., three bass, 7-0

9^th:           Richard Jordan, Muncy Valley, Pa., four bass, 7-0

9^th:           Mike Mueller, Berryville, Va., four bass, 7-0

Co-anglers are casting this week for a top award of a Ranger Z175 boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $5,000 if Ranger Cup guidelines are met.

Anglers will take off from the Table Rock State Park Marina, located at 380 State Park Marina Road in Branson, at 7 a.m. CDT each day. Weigh-in on Friday will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will take place at the Branson Landing located at 100 Branson Landing in Branson, at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

In Costa FLW Series regular-season competition, each division competes in three tournaments, with competitors vying for valuable points to earn their way into the top 40 and the opportunity to fish in the Costa FLW Series Championship.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Costa FLW Series on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.

About FLW

FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2016 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 235 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat: @FLWFishing.

The 2017 Academy  Sports + Outdoors B.A.S.S. Nation tournament season presented by Magellan will begin with the B.A.S.S. Nation Central Regional on Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Mo., April 5-7. The season will be comprised of three major regionals and the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship, all with large fields of contenders.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Three lakes in very different parts of the country — Lake of the Ozarks, Lake Shasta and Upper Chesapeake Bay — will host B.A.S.S. Nation Regionals in 2017.

“You can’t get more West, Central and East than our regionals,” said Jon Stewart, director of the B.A.S.S. Nation. “We’re proud of the diversity of this schedule.”

Top performers in each of the three regionals will advance to the 2017 Academy Sports + Outdoors B.A.S.S. Nation Championship presented by Magellan.

Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Mo., will host the first regional of the year, April 5-7. Teams from Texas to Ohio will be invited to compete in the B.A.S.S. Nation Central Regional.

“Lake of the Ozarks is a very popular tourist attraction,” Stewart said, “but it’s also a great fishery, especially that time of year. It should really fish well.”

The 2017 Academy Sports + Outdoors B.A.S.S. Nation Central Regional presented by Magellan will be the final event in a trifecta on the 54,000-acre reservoir. The Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Central Regional presented by Bass Pro Shops will take place March 29-31, followed by the Costa Bassmaster High School Midwest Open presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods, April 2.

“B.A.S.S. will be at Lake of the Ozarks for nearly two weeks, and we’re looking forward to it,” Stewart said. “It’s a beautiful place.”

The Ozarks Tri-County Lodging Association and the Lake of the Ozarks Convention & Visitor Bureau (funlake.com) are the local hosts for the event.

For the Western Regional, two weeks after the Central has concluded, B.A.S.S. heads almost as far west in the United States as possible, to Lake Shasta in Redding, Calif. The 2017 Academy Sports + Outdoors B.A.S.S. Nation Western Regional presented by Magellan will take place April 19-21, in conjunction with the 2017 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Western Regional presented by Bass Pro Shops.

Anglers from New Mexico to Washington will make up the competitors in the Western Regional.

“Lake Shasta will be another great event,” Stewart said. “It’s a good spotted bass fishery with the potential for some big spotted bass.”

California’s largest reservoir at 30,000 acres, Lake Shasta is nestled inside the Shasta-Trinity National Forest and looks up to the magnificent Mount Shasta.

“We’re excited to go to Redding, and they’re excited to have us,” Stewart added.

The Redding Convention and Visitors Bureau will host the tournament.

The final B.A.S.S. Nation Regional of the season will be held 2,800 miles away on the opposite coast. Upper Chesapeake Bay in North East, Md., will be the site of the 2017 Academy Sports + Outdoors B.A.S.S. Nation Eastern Regional, June 14-16. Cecil County Maryland will serve as the event’s host.

Teams from Maine to Florida will compete in the Eastern Regional.

“We’ve been to the Upper Chesapeake Bay a few times for regionals, and we just had a Bassmaster Elite Series event there in 2015,” Stewart said. “It’s a great community, and it’s very supportive of B.A.S.S.”

The fishing for the Eastern Regional should be good, too. In August 2015, Bassmaster Elite Series pro Aaron Martens won the four-day Elite Series tournament with 70 pounds, 2 ounces.

States send teams of 20 to each regional. The top boater and nonboater from each state in each regional will qualify for the 2017 B.A.S.S. Nation Championship, which will be held in fall 2017 at a location to be announced.

2017 Academy Sports + Outdoors B.A.S.S. Nation presented by Magellan Schedule

Event                                  Lake                                     City                             Date
Central Regional                 Lake of the Ozarks               Osage Beach, Mo.       April 5-7
Western Regional                Lake Shasta                          Redding, Calif.            April 19-21
Eastern Regional                 Upper Chesapeake Bay        North East, Md.           June 14-16

2017 B.A.S.S. Nation Title Sponsor: Academy Sports + Outdoors

2017 B.A.S.S. Nation Presenting Sponsor: Magellan

2017 B.A.S.S. Nation Premier Sponsors: Toyota, Berkley, GoPro, Huk, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Skeeter Boats, Triton Boats, Yamaha, Power-Pole

2017 B.A.S.S. Nation Supporting Sponsors: A.R.E. Truck Caps, Carhartt, Dick Cepek Tires & Wheels, Livingston Lures, Lowrance, Nationwide, Rapala, Shell Rotella, Shimano, T-H Marine, Phoenix Boats

About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 500,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), television show (The Bassmasters on ESPN2), social media programs and events. For more than 45 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.

The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open Series, Academy Sports + Outdoors B.A.S.S. Nation presented by Magellan, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Costa Bassmaster High School Series presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods, Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro.