THE LATEST NEWS
Morgan is 2014 AOY
Last year Andy Morgan put his hands on his first Walmart FLW Tour Kellogg’s Angler of the Year trophy in front of his home crowd on Lake Chickamauga in Tennessee. This year the venue may have changed, but it seems only fitting that he claimed his second AOY title from the Tennessee portion of Kentucky Lake. It wasn’t an easy victory for Morgan; in fact, he finished the event on Kentucky Lake in 14th place which was one spot ahead of runner-up Cody Meyer. He won the title by just nine points over Meyer. Read the full story here.
Rookie Johnson Wins Kentucky Lake
PARIS, Tenn. (June 29, 2014) – Rookie pro Skip Johnson of Goodells, Mich., brought the fourth-largest stringer of the entire tournament to the scale Sunday – a five-bass limit weighing 24 pounds even – to win the Walmart FLW Tour at Kentucky Lake presented by Evinrude. Johnson’s four-day total of 20 bass weighing 88 pounds, 10 ounces gave him the win by a narrow 1-pound, 2-ounce margin over second-place pro Jason Lambert of Pickwick Dam, Tenn., and earned him the $100,000 prize in an exciting finale to the four-day event that wrapped up the 2014 Walmart FLW Tour regular season.
“I’m almost speechless,” said Johnson, who earned the win in his first career top-10 showing on the FLW Tour. “I knew that I was on something special and that I had a spot that I could win the tournament on. I found the spot a few years ago in another tournament and I went to it a 9 a.m. on the first day of practice. It was a creek channel, way inside where everyone else was fishing.”
Johnson said that his creek channel was located up the Tennessee River, near New Johnsonville. After realizing that he was on to something special he spent almost his entire practice nearby, making sure that no other tournament competitors found his secret.
“I’ve been watching guys drive by me all week long and it just amazes me that nobody really came in and checked it out,” Johnson continued. “It comes off the shore and makes a couple of real hard bends, and there are a couple of oxbows in it where there are two or three channels with humps in between. I was ledge fishing, but it was the ledges of the creek channel that dropped off. The fish sat on the edges of those humps in 11 to 13 feet of water. I really just banked on that one spot.”
Johnson estimated that he caught 50 to 100 fish every day and said that his key baits throughout the week were black and blue- and green-pumpkin-colored ¾-ounce Strike King Tour Grade Football Jigs with Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craws with the claws dipped in chartreuse dye. He said that he made a key adjustment today by slowing down with a 10-inch crawdad-colored Western Plastics worm.
“I moved to Michigan from Southern California 10 years ago and a big part of that decision was so that I could get into professional fishing,” Johnson said. “I got held up a few years and I couldn’t jump right into the Tour, so I fished a lot of local tournaments and worked my way up. I took my shot this year and now here I am today. I think I proved that I belong.”
The top 10 pros finished the tournament:
1st: Skip Johnson, Goodells, Mich., 20 bass, 88-10, $100,000
2nd: Jason Lambert, Pickwick Dam, Tenn., 20 bass, 87-8, $30,000
3rd: Snickers pro Jim Moynagh, Carver, Minn., 20 bass, 86-13, $25,000
4th: Randy Haynes, Counce, Tenn., 20 bass, 85-11, $20,000
5th: Clent Davis, Montevallo, Ala., 20 bass, 84-3, $19,000
6th: Tom Redington, Royse City, Texas, 20 bass, 83-12, $18,000
7th: Brett Hite, Phoenix, Ariz., 20 bass, 83-2, $17,500
8th: Andrew Upshaw, Tulsa, Okla., 20 bass, 82-4, $16,000
9th: Straight Talk Wireless pro Scott Canterbury, Springville, Ala., 20 bass, 80-9, $15,000
10th: Tim Malone, Gatlinburg, Tenn., 19 bass, 77-14, $14,000
A complete list of results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.
Overall there were 49 bass weighing 203 pounds, 10 ounces caught by pros Sunday. Nine of the final 10 pros caught five-bass limits.
For the second straight season, Livingston Lures pro Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., wrapped up the Kellogg’s Angler of the Year title on Saturday. He narrowly edged out Repel pro Cody Meyer of Auburn, Calif., by just 9 points in a tightly contested race that thrilled fishing fans throughout the season. Morgan clinched the second Angler of the Year title of his career after finishing the tournament in 14th place. Morgan, who received $100,000 for the title, also will receive an automatic berth into the 2015 Forrest Wood Cup.
Jason Lambert of Pickwick Dam, Tenn., clinched the 2014 Walmart FLW Tour Rookie of the Year award Friday, which is awarded to the rookie pro angler who finishes the season with the highest point total.
Cody Kelley of Conway, Ark., won the co-angler division and $20,000 Saturday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 54 pounds, 9 ounces, followed by Joe McClary of Kirkwood, Mo., in second place with 15 bass weighing 54 pounds, 1 ounce worth $7,500.
Braxton Setzer of Auburn, Ala., was declared the 2014 FLW Tour Kellogg’s Co-angler of the Year early Sunday morning, just one day after the title appeared to have slipped through his grasp on Kentucky Lake. Jason Johnson of Gainesville, Ga., was declared the winner Saturday after finishing the tournament in 11th place. Unfortunately for Johnson, who has fished the FLW Tour as a co-angler since 2012, that all changed when it was discovered that he had made a cast from the front deck of Cody Meyer’s boat Saturday, a clear violation of FLW Tour rules. As a result of the infraction, Johnson’s catch for the day was disqualified, giving Setzer the Co-angler of the Year title.
Coverage of the Kentucky Lake tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs Sept. 7 from 8 p.m.-9 p.m. ET. The Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show is hosted by Jason Harper 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 Tour stop on Kentucky Lake presented by Evinrude was hosted by the Henry County Alliance and was the sixth and final event of the Walmart FLW Tour’s 2014 season. The 2014 Forrest Wood Cup presented by Walmart will be the next tournament and will be held Aug. 14-17 in Columbia, S.C., on Lake Murray. The event will be hosted by Capital City Lake Murray Country. Boats will launch from the Dreher Island State Park in Prosperity, S.C. Coverage of the Forrest Wood Cup will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC when “FLW” airs Oct. 5 from 2 p.m.-3 p.m. ET. For complete details and updated information visit FLWOutdoors.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 industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2014 over the course of 229 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world. For more information about FLW visit FLWOutdoors.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
Setzer Wins Co-angler of the Year Title After Johnson Disqualified
PARIS, Tenn. (June 29, 2014) – Braxton Setzer of Auburn, Ala., was declared FLW Tour Co-angler of the Year early Sunday morning, just one day after the title appeared to have slipped through his grasp on Kentucky Lake.
On Saturday Jason Johnson of Gainesville, Ga., was declared the winner over Setzer after finishing 11th in the tournament, matching Setzer’s 1054 points for the season and winning the title by a tiebreaker. To win the tiebreaker Johnson needed to weigh-in at least 11 pounds, 14 ounces. He brought 14 pounds, 3 ounces to the scale. Unfortunately for Johnson, who has fished the FLW Tour as a co-angler since 2012, that all changed when it was discovered that he had fished from the front deck of Cody Meyer’s boat Saturday, a clear violation of FLW Tour rules.
“This is an unfortunate situation,” said Tournament Director Bill Taylor. “Video from the day shows a single incident where Johnson stepped onto the front deck to net a fish for Cody Meyer. Johnson then makes a cast from the front deck and works his lure while waiting with the net. It was clearly an innocent mistake, but it is a violation nonetheless.”
The video can be seen on FLW’s YouTube channel here.
As a result of the infraction, Johnson’s catch for the day has been disqualified, giving Setzer the Co-angler of the Year title.
“Obviously I hate that this happened,” Johnson said. “It was just a reaction to keep fishing. I know fishing from the front deck is not permitted by co-anglers. I’d been casting to the front of the boat for most of the day due to the wind conditions, and I was just trying to keep the school fired up. I just never once thought about it during the heat of the moment. I made the cast, dropped to get the net and was not thinking when I made the cast from the front. Winning Co-angler of the Year would have been incredible, particularly since it was such a close race, but I’m not going to let this set me back. I’m still looking forward to fishing the FLW Tour as a pro next season.”
Setzer will be recognized on stage during today’s final weigh-in in Paris, Tenn., as the 2014 FLW Tour Co-angler of the Year.
ABOUT FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2014 over the course of 229 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world. For more information about FLW visit FLWOutdoors.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
Meet the Tatula (casting rod)
After testing the Daiwa Tatula Baitcasting reel, which resulted in the purchase of eight more for my rods, I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the new Daiwa Tatula Bass Rods while practicing in a recent tournament, and again Daiwa left me wanting to convince my wife that I needed eight more. These rods were designed to match up perfectly with the Tatula reel, although the rod tested (7’1” MH action rod) had a competitor’s reel attached when I got my hands on it, and like the Tatula reel, it’s clearly in a class by itself, particularly in it’s price range.
Technology
The Tatula series of bass rods from Daiwa feature Daiwa’s SVF (super volume fiber) graphite technology in its Zero-G Design rod blanks. What does this mean to you and I? Three things: high sensitivity, extremely low weight, and high strength and hook setting power. Daiwa accomplishes this through
45 degree bias construction, which prevents twisting of the blank for greater strength, sensitivity and hook setting power. The Super Volume Fiber technology packs unidirectional graphite fiber into a denser form with exact resin control for greater strength, lighter weight and incredible sensitivity. Rods bend similarly to golf clubs, causing a bend along the length of the rod while causing the rod to torque along circumference of the rod itself. Increased resistance to this torque results in greater energy transfer to the cast, as well as a decrease in energy dissipation from vibration on the end of your line – meaning you FEEL more on the end of your line. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like something every angler would benefit from.
Construction
As one expects from Daiwa, high quality components were used in the construction of the Tatula series rods. Featuring Fuji Alconite ring guides, a custom Daiwa reel seat with a machined aluminum reel clamp nut, the Tatula is built to feel almost weightless in your hands. Split grip EVA foam handles and a blank through construction allow for a comfortable grip without sacrificing sensitivity. As soon as you pick this rod up, the first thing you’ll notice is how light it feels. Flipping a jig, casting a heavy crank, or in my case, tossing a frog is a breeze with the Tatula rod, as its lightweight construction dramatically reduces fatigue felt throughout the day. Increased feel, less hand/forearm fatigue…. starting to see why Tatula should be on the deck of your boat?
Performance
The combination of the Tatula’s Technology and Quality components resulted in a stick that truly delivers as advertised. Subtle movements of tungsten weights moving over rocks are easily detected; frogs launch a mile and are easy to walk across the water, all while having the strength to haul bass from the heaviest cover. The Tatula is offered in technique specific designs (drop shot, frog, flipping, casting, and spinning) allowing the angler to match rod designs to their favorite ways to catch bass.
Price
Ranging in price from $149.99 to $169.99, the Tatula is the definition of premium, tour level quality that’s affordable. The Tatula rod is used by many of Daiwa’s tour level pros (Randy Howell, Andy Montgomery), but they are priced for the weekend tournament angler. With Tour-Grade performance that won’t break the bank, the Daiwa Tatula bass rods should be considered by every angler looking to add to or improve their rod arsenal. Now to convince my wife that I need more rods………
By Chris Murphy
Find out more about Chris on his web site and Facebook page.
Get all your Daiwa here.
Redinton Retains Lead
PARIS, Tenn. (June 28, 2014) – Boy Scouts of America pro Tom Redington of Royse City, Texas, brought a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 13 ounces to retain his lead after day three of the Walmart FLW Tour at Kentucky Lake presented by Evinrude. Redington now enters the fourth and final day of competition as the No. 1 seed in the event featuring 162 of the best bass-fishing anglers in the world casting for the top cash award of up to $125,000.
Redington has brought a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 65 pounds, 12 ounces to the scale, which gives him a slim 1-pound, 2-ounce lead over second-place pro Skip Johnson of Goodells, Mich., who caught five bass today weighing 19 pounds, 12 ounces. Johnson has weighed in 15 bass totaling 64 pounds, 10 ounces in his three days of competition.
“It was way tougher today and my fish just weren’t there,” said Redington, who made his first top-10 cut of the season. “I didn’t get a limit until mid-morning. The schools that I had yesterday were kind of broken up and I was forced to scramble around and find some new fish today.
“The numbers of fish that I caught were about the same, but they were way smaller in size. And I didn’t see nearly as many fish there on my electronics. The weather was a little different today. We’d been getting storms in the afternoon, but today we had storms in the morning. I had to use finesse tactics today, like the first day. I tried throwing the big power baits, but I still only caught small fish.”
Redington said that he threw five different baits today, but only caught fish on three. He said that because the top-10 weights were so close he isn’t really feeling much pressure heading into the final day.
“Less than four pounds separates me from 10th place,” Redington said. “Whoever catches the biggest bag tomorrow will win. It’s basically a one-day tournament now, so there isn’t much pressure.
“The worst that I can do is 10th place, so I’m not going to try to put together a small limit to save my ego,” Redington went on to say. “I’m going to fish for the big ones and if I don’t get them, then so be it. I’m going for the win.”
The top 10 pros advancing to the final day of competition on Kentucky Lake are:
1st: Tom Redington, Royse City, Texas, 15 bass, 65-12
2nd: Skip Johnson, Goodells, Mich., 15 bass, 64-10
3rd: Jason Lambert, Pickwick Dam, Tenn., 15 bass, 64-10
4th: Brett Hite, Phoenix, Ariz., 15 bass, 64-6
5th: Snickers pro Jim Moynagh, Carver, Minn., 15 bass, 63-11
6th: Tim Malone, Gatlinburg, Tenn., 15 bass, 63-6
7th: Randy Haynes, Counce, Tenn., 15 bass, 63-2
8th: Clent Davis, Montevallo, Ala., 15 bass, 62-11
9th: Andrew Upshaw, Tulsa, Okla., 15 bass, 62-6
10th: Straight Talk Wireless pro Scott Canterbury, Springville, Ala., 15 bass, 62-2
Finishing in 11th through 20th are:
11th: John Voyles, Petersburg, Ind., 15 bass, 61-8, $12,000
12th: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 15 bass, 61-7, $12,000
13th: Scott Martin, Clewiston, Fla., 15 bass, 60-15, $12,000
14th: Livingston Lures pro Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 15 bass, 59-6, $12,000
15th: Repel pro Cody Meyer, Auburn, Calif., 15 bass, 58-14, $12,000
16th: Jason Christie, Park Hill, Okla., 15 bass, 58-7, $12,000
17th: Ramie Colson Jr., Cadiz, Ky., 15 bass, 57-14, $12,000
18th: Charlie Ingram, Centerville, Tenn., 15 bass, 57-11, $12,000
19th: Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., 15 bass, 57-10, $12,000
20th: Walmart pro Mark Rose, West Memphis, Ark., 15 bass, 51-12, $12,000
Final results for the remaining field can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.
Overall there were 100 bass weighing 373 pounds, 11 ounces caught by pros Saturday. All 20 professionals weighed in five-bass limits.
Pros are competing for a top award of up to $125,000 this week plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the 2014 Forrest Wood Cup presented by Walmart, the world championship of bass fishing. The top 35 anglers in the point standings from the six events on the 2014 Walmart FLW Tour will qualify. The 2014 Forrest Wood Cup will be in Columbia, S.C., Aug. 14-17 on Lake Murray and is hosted by Capital City Lake Murray Country. The winning angler in that event will win $500,000 – professional bass-fishing’s richest prize.
Anglers were also vying for the prestigious 2014 Walmart FLW Tour Angler of the Year presented by Kellogg’s title that is determined by the most points accumulated over the six Tour events in 2014.
For the second straight season, Livingston Lures pro Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., wrapped up the Kellogg’s Angler of the Year title on Saturday. He narrowly edged out Repel pro Cody Meyer of Auburn, Calif., by just 9 points in a tightly contested race that thrilled fishing fans throughout the season. Morgan clinched the second Angler of the Year title of his career after finishing the tournament in 14th place. Morgan, who received $100,000 for the title, also will receive an automatic berth into the 2015 Forrest Wood Cup.
Cody Kelley of Conway, Ark., won the co-angler division and $20,000 Saturday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 54 pounds, 9 ounces, followed by Joe McClary of Kirkwood, Mo., in second place with 15 bass weighing 54 pounds, 1 ounce worth $7,500.
“These pros that we fish with are so good and they are so tough to fish behind,” said Kelley. “You have to find one little bait or one thing unique that you can do to catch a few. This week for me, it’s been a new bait from Crock-O-Gator bait company called a Swamp Bug Sr. I was able to get 8 or 9 keepers each day by slow rolling it and it was the key for me this week.”
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Cody Kelley, Conway, Ark., 15 bass, 54-9, $20,000
2nd: Joe McClary, Kirkwood, Mo., 15 bass, 54-1, $7,500
3rd: John Wilson, Six Mile, S.C., 15 bass, 50-6, $5,000
4th: Brian Wilson, Somerset, Ky., 15 bass, 49-5, $4,000
5th: Joshua Weaver, Macon, Ga., 15 bass, 49-4, $3,000
6th: Dennis Cameron, Travelers Rest, S.C., 14 bass, 48-9, $2,500
7th: Timothy Curran, Huntsville, Ala., 15 bass, 48-7, $2,000
8th: Doug Back, Fort Myers, Fla., 14 bass, 47-7, $1,800
9th: Kyle Prskalo, Hobart, Ind., 15 bass, 47-2, $1,700
10th: Kyle Monti, Okeechobee, Fla., 15 bass, 46-11, $1,600
For a full list of results visit FLWOutdoors.com.
Overall there were 84 bass weighing 247 pounds even caught by co-anglers Saturday. The catch included 12 five-bass limits.
In addition to the top award of $25,000, co-anglers were also fishing this week for valuable points that would help them qualify for the 2014 Forrest Wood Cup presented by Walmart. The top 35 co-anglers in the point standings from the six events on the 2014 Walmart FLW Tour will qualify.
Jason Johnson of Gainesville, Ga., clinched the Walmart FLW Tour Co-Angler of the Year presented by Kellogg’s title Saturday and won a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard plus an automatic berth into the 2015 Forrest Wood Cup.
“I’ve been fishing as a co-angler for three years,” said Johnson. “My first year on Tour I practiced with Brett Hite. Last year I practiced with Cody Meyer. This year, I’ve been practicing with Brent Ehrler. Those guys are the best in the world and when you practice and fish with them, these kinds of things tend to happen.”
The final 10 pros will take off from Paris Landing State Park located at 16055 Highway 79 N. in Buchanan at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday. Sunday’s final weigh-in will be held at Walmart located at 1210 Mineral Wells Ave. in Paris beginning at 4 p.m. The event is being hosted by the Henry County Alliance.
Fans will also be treated to the FLW Expo at Walmart on Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. prior to the final weigh-in. The Expo includes Ranger boat simulators, a Chevy Truck Tour, the opportunity to interact with professional anglers, enjoy interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by sponsors, and fans can learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities. All activities are free and open to the public. Country music star Michael Ray will perform a free live concert on the Walmart weigh-in stage at 3 p.m.
Coverage of the Kentucky Lake tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs Sept. 7 from 8 p.m.-9 p.m. ET. The Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show is hosted by Jason Harper and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWOutdoors.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 industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2014 over the course of 229 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world. For more information about FLW visit FLWOutdoors.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.