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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (July 27, 2016) – FLW is adding some Alabama flavor to the 2016 Forrest Wood Cup with its Bass & BBQ Festival as part of the FLW Expo outside the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama, August 6 and 7. The BBQ Festival, presented by WQRV 100.3 The River, will feature four award-winning BBQ teams offering delicious fare to visitors at the Forrest Wood Cup. A portion of all proceeds will be donated to local Alabama charities.

“100.3 The River and iHeartMedia is proud to sponsor this year’s Bass & BBQ Festival as part of the 2016 Forrest Wood Cup Championship,” said Erich West, senior vice president of marketing for iHeartMedia. “’Everything Plays Hear’ is our motto at 100.3 The River and nothing goes together better than fishing, BBQ and music. We are looking forward to being a part of this huge event in Huntsville.”

Teams currently registered to attend the festival are:

Badd Newz BBQ – Portion of proceeds to benefit: A Local ALS Fighter, Huntsville, Ala.

Buck & Buddy BAR-B-QUE – Portion of proceeds to benefit: Backyard Blessings, Sumiton, Ala.

Pig Time BBQ – Portion of proceeds to benefit: Williams Syndrome Association, Troy, Mich.

Doctor BBQ – Portion of proceeds to benefit: Kids to Love, Madison, Ala.

The FLW Expo and Bass & BBQ Festival are free and open to the public Saturday, August 6 and Sunday, August 7 from 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

The Forrest Wood Cup presented by Walmart, the world championship of bass fishing, will visit Wheeler Lake to crown bass fishing’s top angler of 2016. Hosted by the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the tournament will feature 50 of the world’s best bass-fishing professionals casting for the sport’s biggest award – $300,000 cash.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow us 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 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 Periscope: @FLWFishing.

Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., wins the 2016 Bassmaster Classic Bracket held out of Buffalo, N.Y., Friday, earning a first-place prize of $10,000 and a berth in the 2017 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro. 

                                                    Photo by James Overstreet/Bassmaster

BUFFALO, N.Y. — In the final round of the Bassmaster Classic Bracket event on the upper Niagara River, Michigan’s Kevin VanDam collected his 23rd B.A.S.S. win in a dramatic ending to this first-of-its-kind tournament.

In today’s championship match, VanDam was pitted against Brett Hite of Arizona, and fans were able to watch live on Bassmaster.com as the two Elite Series anglers clashed rods for a berth in the 2017 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro and a $10,000 first-place payday. Unlike the first two elimination brackets of this derby — and traditional Elite Series tournaments — where a five-fish limit was the goal, every legal-size bass caught today was weighed and counted.

VanDam, who was worried about the change in format after it was announced Thursday, had no issues locating and catching enough fish to eliminate Hite, as he landed 11 bass that weighed-in at 20 pounds, 3 ounces.

“I hit a whole lot of spots looking for keepers, but really the key to my weight today was a spot where I caught my biggest fish (Thursday),” VanDam said. His key area was a flat littered with grass and rock that slowly dropped from 5 to 10 feet deep. And there was plenty of current. “Fish spawn here a lot later than people think, and I was sight-casting to a lot of smallmouth.”

VanDam swapped between three Strike King baits, including a tube, drop shot and jerkbait. “The drop shot was key on the sight-fish, but being able to cover water with the jerkbait in this crazy Niagara River current was important in connecting with fish.”

Hite committed to fishing a bridge on the northernmost boundary of competition waters, where he easily eliminated his first two opponents.

“I identified three pilings in the center of the bridge that were holding nice schools of bass,” he explained. “The water was 10 to 18 feet deep and I drop shotted with a Yamamoto Shad Shape worm the whole time.”

Unfortunately for Hite, those bass had lockjaw during the championship match. “It was really overcast today, and I think I needed sun to position those fish where I could catch them,” he said. “Plus, we had a strong cross-current wind that could have messed ‘em up.”

He caught a little more than 7 pounds on the bridge during the first five hours of competition.

“I ditched the bridge pattern with an hour left in the match and caught two keepers quickly,” Hite said. “And I was fighting a third keeper as the buzzer went off. I made a big mistake by not leaving that bridge earlier.” Hite ended with seven bass weighing 13-9.

Although VanDam seemed to cruise to victory, there was some controversy. VanDam boated a 1-13 keeper bass after fishing in an area B.A.S.S. officials.

“I made a ruling at that time that the 1-13 was caught in an off-limits area and that the fish did not count. Kevin agreed and moved and fished the rest of the day,” said B.A.S.S. Tournament Director Trip Weldon, who happened to be official assigned to VanDam’s boat during the championship round. Hite was notified of the rules violation and was given the opportunity to fish under protest, which he did. Once the competition day was over, Weldon met with the anglers and other tournament officials to make the final decision.

Weldon stated, “Bassmaster Elite Series Rules state in section C1: The following rules shall apply to all Bassmaster Elite and Bassmaster Classic events except that (i) rules for special tournaments may differ from those contained herein. Rule C1 goes on to state under the penalties for rules violations: (b) Loss of one or more fish caught in potential violation of rules or regulations. All bass under question must be marked and verified by your marshal/camera operator. If not verified, the entire catch may be disqualified.”

Weldon was the marshal, the fish was weighed, the boundary checked, and the fish was disqualified according to the rules stated above. Because this was a catch-weigh-release tournament, and because Weldon witnessed the catch and verified the weight, there was no confusion as to which fish was to be disqualified.

“I am completely fine with the ruling,” Hite said. “I didn’t protest because I had anything against Kevin, I just wanted a clarification of the rules. Kevin fished a great tournament.”

2016 Bassmaster Elite Series Premier Sponsors: Toyota, Triton Boats, Yamaha, Berkley, GoPro, Huk, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Skeeter Boats

2016 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: Power-Pole, Rapala, Shell Rotella, Shimano, Academy Sports + Outdoors, A.R.E. Truck Caps, Carhartt, Dick Cepek Tires & Wheels, Livingston Lures, Lowrance, 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, B.A.S.S. Nation, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Costa Bassmaster High School Series, Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro.