Lago Vista Lodge and Lake Gurerro, Mexico will be hosting a made for television bass fishing shootout of professional bass anglers between the 14th and 17th of November 2005. This one-of-a-kind team event primarily features professional anglers from Texas and Oklahoma, however teaming up as a captain's pick on the Oklahoma team will be current FLW champion Luke Clausen. This heads-up multiple-format event will also mark the return to fishing action for past FLW Champion John Sappington from a boating accident as he begins to gear up for the 2005 FLW Tour.
Over a two-day period this match-play style event will feature numerous formats to include singles matches, two-man team matches, and overall cumulative team matches for combined weight. The overall team winner will be determined over the three day period by gaining the most points available in each match. The format pairs anglers in a boat that is lead into various areas of the lake that they've not seen before. They then fish for a four hour period before rotating to different location for another match. The final match has all anglers from each team combining to bring in fish for a cumulative weight, after which time the winner will be crowned.
Team captains Kelly Jordon (Texas) and Jeff Kriet (Oklahoma) are both excited about the opportunity and their respective team rosters. Jordon stated, "This is a really a great event and while it's a friendly competition in the sense that there are no FLW Championship or Classic berths on line, there are strong bragging rights at stake in this event between the anglers and the two states". Jordon also mentioned that events like this during the off season are great tune-ups for the coming year, and certainly are events that nobody wants to lose - especially in front of a nationally televised audience. Kriet backed up Jordons comments and feels the Oklahoma team is very diverse and loaded with the talent needed to win the event. His team contains two past FLW Champions (Clausen and Sappington), the runner up from 2003 FLW Championship (Harmon Davis), and two past Bassmaster Classic qualifiers and BASS touring pros (Jeff Reynolds and Kriet).
The event is being produced by Careco Multimedia in association with Lago Vista Lodge and will be seen during February 2005 on FOX Sports. For more information contact Angel@carecotv.com or 210-697-8081.
Team RostersOKLAHOMA Jeff Kriet John Sappington Luke Clausen Harmon Davis Jeff ReynoldsTEXAS Kelly Jordon Cody Bird Mike Hawkes Jason Reyes Wade Middleton