PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (June 24, 2006) - After five career FLW Tour top-10s, Tyson pro Tracy Adams of Wilkesboro, N.C., earned a hard-fought victory and $100,000 Saturday on Lake Champlain in the final FLW Tour qualifier of 2006 with a final day's catch of five largemouth bass weighing 17 pounds, 11 ounces.
The impressive catch boosted Adams' final round, two-day total to 10 bass weighing 34-7 and jumped him from second into the winner's circle, surpassing a seemingly unstoppable Dion Hibdon of Stover, Mo., who dominated the previous three days for Team Chevy with hefty limits of largemouth bass. On the final day, however, Adams who was fishing not far from Hibdon in the Ticonderoga area of the lake, made a critical adjustment to claim his first FLW Tour title.
"I was in the grass about 8 feet deep all week, and they quit biting about 9 a.m. every day," Adams said. "I knew I had to do something if I was going to win, so after getting my limit in the grass early today, I picked up a jig and started flipping willow trees in about 2 feet of water."
Adams' lures of choice were a green-pumpkin Zoom brush hog in the grass and a 3/8-ounce black and blue Hot Shot Lures jig tipped with a sapphire blue Zoom Super Chunk in the flooded willows.
Adams' opened the tournament Wednesday in 33rd place with four largemouth bass and one smallmouth weighing 16-8. He then advanced to the final round in seventh place Thursday with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 34-3. On Friday, he added five largemouths to his limit to finish second with 16-12, just 2 ounces behind Hibdon's leading catch of 16-14.
When it counted most, however, Adams came out on top followed by pro Kevin Vida of Clare, Mich. (10 bass, 33-1, $36,000); Hibdon (10 bass, 31-3, $25,000); Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla. (10 bass, 30-9, $20,000); and Shinichi Fukae of Mineola, Texas (10 bass, 30-3, $18,000).
All 10 pro finalists caught five-bass limits Saturday and 100 percent of the fish were released alive. With the regular season now complete, FLW Outdoors has maintained a live release rate in excess of 98 percent through six FLW Tour events. In honor of this accomplishment, Energizer will donate $25,000 to the Children's Miracle Network.
Mark Myers of Minneapolis took top honors and $20,000 in the Co-angler Division Friday with five largemouth bass weighing 14-6. He fished the Ticonderoga stretch of Lake Champlain with Adams to secure his win. The pair was fishing grass, with Myers throwing a green-pumpkin Senko. When fishing the deeper edges of grass he paired the lure with a 1/8-ounce sinker on 10-pound-test fluorocarbon. While fishing grass flats, he switched to a 3/16-ounce weight and 12-pound fluorocarbon.
"I knew I would be in contention, but I really thought it would take over 15 pounds to win," said Myers, who also won the Stren Series Northeast Division tournament on Lake Erie in 2005.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Bill Gift of Alix, Ark. (five bass, 13-14, $10,000); Doug Weiser of Springdale, Ark. (five bass, 11-1, $9,000); James Schneider of Albany, N.Y. (five bass, 10-14, $8,000); and Matthew Parker of Whitesburg, Ga. (five bass, 10-12, $7,000).
Lake Champlain's two-day opening round catch of 3,521 bass weighing 8,759 pounds, 8 ounces broke the previous FLW Tour records, held by Lake Champlain, for number of fish and total weight. In fact, Lake Champlain in now home to the FLW Tour's top three all-time opening round catches. FLW Tour anglers caught 3,457 bass weighing 8,239 pounds, 11 ounces in 2004 and 3,233 bass weighing 7,865 pounds, 8 ounces in 2002.
In addition to the tournaments top award of $100,000 and cash awards of $10,000 through 50th place in the Pro Division, anglers were also competing this week for the Angler of the Year title and qualification for the $1.5 million Forrest L. Wood Championship presented by Castrol in Birmingham, Ala., Aug. 2-5. The top 48 pros and top 48 co-anglers in the Angler of the Year standings posted at FLWOutdoors.com have qualified for the championship where pros will fish for $500,000 cash - the sport's biggest award.
The coveted Angler of the Year title went to Team Folgers pro Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C., Thursday after he finished 44th and successfully fended off a last minute charge from Matt Herren of Trussville, Ala., who finished 13 places ahead of Gagliardi but fell short of the 36 places needed to take the title.