THE LATEST NEWS
Randall Tharp: Short Range Attack – Setup and Gear
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Amphibia Eyegear Signs Morgenthaler and Lane
Amphibia, maker of fishing specific eyegear, has signed two more Elites Series anglers Chad Morgenthaler and Russ Lane as their eyegear sponsor. Amphibia has been very active in the fishing industry and continues to make great strides with top-level professional fishermen.
“I have been keeping my eye on Amphibia for the last year and am now convinced that their sunglasses are the tool I need. The 100% polarization and anti-fog lenses are amazing” Chad Morgenthaler.
“A couple of days on the water with them was all I needed to convince me that they are the best. They are the only sunglasses out there that block solar radiation and it makes a huge difference in how you see objects in the water that you would not have seen before.” Russ Lane
Amphibia’s eyegear are not only 100% polarized against UVA & UVB, but also UVC (solar radiation). They offer several ANSI safety rated frames and have an industry exclusive anti-fog coating. Also, all Amphibias float giving the angler added protection against loss.
See the full Amphibia line up here.
Follow Chad on his Facebook page.
Find out more about Russ here.
The Aftermath from the “Big O”
Gerald Spohrer looks back at the FLW Tour event on Lake Okeechobee and in the aftermath finds some answers to build on.
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Follow Gerald on his Facebook page.
Get all you Bass Mafia gear here.
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Hallman Wins Walmart FLW Tour on Lake Okeechobee
CLEWISTON, Fla. (Feb. 7, 2016) – Pro Bradley Hallman of Norman, Oklahoma, brought just two bass to the scale Sunday totaling 6 pounds, 8 ounces, but it was still enough to earn the win at the Walmart FLW Tour at Lake Okeechobee presented by Ranger Boats. Hallman’s four-day cumulative total of 16 bass weighing 71 pounds, 2 ounces earned him the win by an impressive 14-pound, 14-ounce margin over second-place pro Alex Davis of Albertville, Alabama, and $100,000 in the tournament that featured 169 of the best bass-fishing anglers in the world competing in the first FLW Tour event of the regular season.
“This week on Lake Okeechobee has been great, even magical,” said Hallman, who is now the early frontrunner in the 2016 FLW Tour A
ngler of the Year race. “I was one of the lucky ones who pulled into an area that had a lot of big females coming in to spawn. Even today, after four days of fishing, it was obvious that they were still there.”
Hallman said that his area, which he remained in throughout the entire tournament, was a long stretch of reed clumps in South Bay.
“The reeds I focused on ended up being the biggest, thickest reed heads in the entire bay – which is huge in terms of surface area,” said Hallman. “I knew they held a lot of fish, so all I had to do was find the biggest, quality bass.”
Hallman said that a key development in his area was finding the clearest water possible – a difficult task considering the strong north wind that challenged competitors throughout the event.
“I would lose reeds each day as the water muddied, but my primary clump, even with all of the wind today, still had somewhat clear water around it,” said Hallman. “Dialing in on the thickest reeds and staying ahead of the shifting water color was really what sealed the deal for me.”
Hallman said that he primarily flipped a Backwater Blue-colored Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver, but also utilized a variety of other colors including Penetration and Hematoma, each time using a black and blue punch skirt. Hallman went on to say that even though he used a few different colors to entice bass, it was his technique that defined the pattern.
“For me, it was more about how fast or slow I was going to pop the bait up and down, or if I was going to leave it at the bottom on the next cast,” Hallman said. “That was the game-changing approach.”
The top 10 pros finished the tournament:
1st: Bradley Hallman, Norman, Okla., 16 bass, 71-2, $100,000
2nd: Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., 20 bass, 56-4, $30,000
3rd: Chris Johnston, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, 19 bass, 56-3, $25,000
4th: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 20 bass, 55-15, $20,000
5th: Shinichi Fukae, Palestine, Texas, 20 bass, 52-9, $19,000
6th: Brandon McMillan, Clewiston, Fla., 20 bass, 51-4, $18,000
7th: Joshua Weaver, Macon, Ga., 20 bass, 50-5, $17,000
8th: Clark Reehm, Huntington, Texas, 20 bass, 48-8, $16,000
9th: Charlie Weyer, West Hills, Calif., 18 bass, 47-11, $15,000
10th: William Shelton III, La Crosse, Va., 17 bass, 44-6, $14,500
For a full list of results visit FLWFishing.com.
Overall there were 42 bass weighing 70 pounds, 9 ounces caught by pros Sunday. Seven of the final 10 pros weighed in five-bass limits.
Tim Cales of Sandstone, West Virginia, won the co-angler division and $20,000 Friday with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 30 pounds, 11 ounces, followed by Gary Haraguchi of Redding, California, who finished in second place with 10 bass weighing 27 pounds, 5 ounces worth $7,500.
In addition to casting for top awards of up to $125,000 cash in the pro division and up to $25,000 cash in the co-angler division, anglers are also competing for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing. The 2016 Forrest Wood Cup will be in Huntsville, Alabama, Aug. 4-7 on Wheeler Lake.
Coverage of the Lake Okeechobee tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) this fall. The Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show airs on NBCSN, the Pursuit Channel and the World Fishing Network as well as FLWFishing.com and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.
The Walmart FLW Tour at Lake Okeechobee presented by Ranger Boats was hosted by Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina & Resort and the Hendry County Tourism Development Council. The next event for FLW Tour anglers will be the Walmart FLW Tour at Lake Hartwell presented by Evinrude.
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.
Itawamba Community College Overcomes Adversity To Win On Lake Martin
Hunter Schrock (left) and Russ Johnson of Itawamba Community College weighed in a three-day total of 35 pounds, 9 ounces to take home the trophy Saturday during the 2016 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Southern Regional presented by Bass Pro Shops held on Lake Martin out of Alexander City,Ala.
Photo by Shaye Baker/Bassmaster
ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. — On Thursday, Russ Johnson and Hunter Schrock of Itawamba Community College locked the keys inside their truck and had to pry the door open with a tree limb after trying unsuccessfully to break their window with a tennis racket.
On Friday, they nearly lost a tire off their boat trailer due to a bad wheel bearing.
On Saturday, despite a week of troubles, they won the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Southern Regional presented by Bass Pro Shops on Lake Martin.
Fishing in a borrowed boat, Johnson and Schrock caught five bass that weighed 14 pounds, 8 ounces and took home the first-place trophies with a three-day weight of 35-9. They finished just 4 ounces ahead of John Davis and Payton McGinnis of the University of Alabama (35-5).
“We saw the lake for the first time last Saturday,” Johnson said. “We fished Saturday, half a day on Sunday and then came back and fished the Wednesday before the tournament. We had about three days of practice, and that was it.”
But one crucial cast during that practice period turned them on to the winning strategy.
“We fish Aberdeen Lake on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway,” Johnson said. “It’s a real, shallow muddy place, and that’s why we decided to go out and try to find some largemouth here on Lake Martin. There were places that reminded us a lot of home.
“We caught a fish on about our 10th cast with a KVD 2.5 square bill crankbait Saturday, and that pretty much set the tone for the week. As soon as we caught the fish, we decided that was what we were going to go with.”
The plan seemed to work better as the week went along — even if their luck and equipment didn’t.
After the key-locking fiasco on the first day, they still managed to catch a five-bass limit that weighed 9-8. Then after seeing one of their trailer tires wobbling at a 45-degree angle the following day due to the bad wheel bearing, they managed 11-9 and made the final-day cut with 21-1.
They fished Saturday in a boat loaned to them by their Itawamba Community College teammates Ty Cox and Jake Houston. They caught 14-8 — easily the biggest catch of the day — by doing the same thing they had done all week.
“We just kept throwing that KVD 2.5 in the sexy shad pattern,” Schrock said. “We didn’t change anything all week. That was all we really knew to do.”
The tournament began with a giant field of 214 boats that weighed in the first two days at Wind Creek State Park. The field for Saturday’s round was trimmed to the Top 26, and a drive-through weigh-in was held at nearby Central Alabama Community College with a format similar to that of the Bassmaster Elite Series.
Johnson and Schrock took the lead early during Saturday’s weigh-in, and it seemed for the longest time that they wouldn’t even be seriously challenged. But the Alabama team of Davis and McGinnis, who entered the final day with the lead, made for a few nervous moments for the front runners, as they were the last boat to weigh in.
Needing an even 10 pounds to overtake the Itawamba team, Davis and McGinnis weighed in 9-11 and missed the victory by 4 ounces with a three-day total of 35-5.
“For whatever reason, the big fish just didn’t bite today,” Davis said. “Where we caught largemouth yesterday, there were spotted bass today. Obviously, they were a lot smaller.”
The second-place finishers used Strike King KVD 1.5 square bills in a crawfish pattern all week.
“This time of year, that’s how you’re going to catch your big bags,” McGinnis said. “We looked for that big bag in practice. We never found it, but we knew that was the way to do it.”
All 26 teams that qualified for Saturday’s round are now eligible to fish the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops, which will be held later this year on a lake to be determined.
2016 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Title Sponsor: Carhartt
2016 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Presenting Sponsor: Bass Pro Shops
2016 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Platinum Sponsor: Toyota
2016 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Premier Sponsors: Berkley, GoPro, Huk, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Skeeter Boats, Triton Boats, Yamaha
2016 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Supporting Sponsors: ABU Garcia, A.R.E. Truck Caps, Costa, Dick Cepek Tires & Wheels, Livingston Lures, Lowrance, Power-Pole, Rapala, Shell Rotella, Shimano
About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport. 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.
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