MINNEAPOLIS (Oct. 16, 2008) - The 2008 Angler of the Year title in the Western Division of the FLW Series came down to a battle between two seasoned veterans at the fourth and final qualifier of the season on the California Delta last week. In the end, pro Ken Wick of Star, Idaho, defeated pro David Kromm of Kennewick, Wash., by 24 points with a total of 769 out of a possible 800.
"To be competitive with the guys who fish in the Western Division and to claim the Angler of the Year title is really a big deal for me," said Wick, who has won more than $261,000 in FLW Outdoors events. "There is some really great bass fishing in Idaho, and those waters really prepared me for fishing this western circuit and allowed me to be competitive all year long.
"My sponsors were really the key to my success this year," Wick added. "Ranger boats, Evinrude and Berkley - without those sponsors, what I accomplished this year would not have been possible."
Wick started the 2008 FLW Series season off by finishing fourth on the California Delta in March. At the next stop, on Lake Mead in May, he finished eighth. Wick notched his third consecutive top 10 with a fifth-place effort on the Columbia River in September and finished the season out with an 18th-place finish on the California Delta last week. The final Cal Delta event was originally scheduled for Lake Shasta but was moved because of low water levels.
Kromm notched two top-10 finishes in 2008 - including a $100,000 win on the Columbia River. If not for a sub par day-two weight of 7 pounds, 14 ounces at the season's final tournament, he may have won a second major title.
As the Western Division Angler of the Year, Wick will lead the division's top 30 pros into the FLW Series Fish-Off where they will face the top 30 pros from the Eastern Division in three days of head-to-head competition to determine who will advance to the 2009 Forrest Wood Cup. Wick, the No. 1 Western Division pro, will face the No. 30 Eastern Division pro, and the No. 1 Eastern Division pro will face Dustin Baker of Lakeside, Calif., the No. 30 Western Division pro. The No. 2 qualifiers will face the No. 29 qualifiers, and so on. The winners of these head-to-head matchups will proceed to the Forrest Wood Cup along with the top 30 co-anglers based on accumulated weight at the Fish-Off. The pro with the heaviest overall weight will also earn $25,000, and the co-angler with the heaviest overall weight will earn $5,000.
The Angler of the Year title in each division of the FLW Series is determined by the total accumulated points from four regular-season events. Two hundred points are awarded for a win, 199 for second, 198 for third, and so on.
Angler of the Year honors and Fish-Off qualifiers in the Eastern Division will be determined following the division's final tournament Oct. 22-25 on Clarks Hill Lake in Appling, Ga. In September, FLW Outdoors announced that the Fish-Off would be held on Falcon Lake in Zapata, Texas. Falcon Lake, arguably the best bass fishing destination in the world, is home to the FLW Outdoors four-day weight record of 20 bass weighing 110 pounds, 2 ounces.