BULL SHOALS, Ark. (March 3, 2007) - Pro Tim Fleetwood of Forsythe, Mo., caught a five-bass limit weighing 11 pounds, 9 ounces Saturday to win the $275,225 Stren Series Central Division bass fishing tournament on Bull Shoals with a four-day total of 20 bass weighing 52-12. For his victory, Fleetwood earned $25,000 cash and a $40,000 519VX Ranger boat. Wind was a factor every day of the tournament, and the final day of competition was no exception. Ten pros and 10 co-anglers battled cold temperatures, high winds and snow. As a result, many of the competitors had to alter the way they approached the competition.
"I got lucky and caught a limit every day," said Fleetwood. "I really didn't think about winning this tournament. I was just thinking about what I had to do each day just to get by.
"I made a lot of lucky, good decisions," Fleetwood added. "I had a lot of good holes that I never got to fish because of the high winds."
Fleetwood caught most of his fish on a blue and silver or black and silver Smithwick Rogue near mid-lake and on the upper end of the lake.
"It was blowing so hard that when I went by a cove just south of Big Creek, I turned the boat around and stopped in the cove," Fleetwood said.
Fleetwood told his co-angler he hadn't really fished the cove much before, but wanted to get out of the wind. The detour turned out to be a profitable one. Fleetwood and his co-angler, Steven McFarland of Mountain Home, Ark., caught fish and stayed in the cove for the rest of the day.
Fleetwood opened the tournament in fifth place Wednesday with five bass weighing 12-04. On Thursday he added another five bass weighing 14-08 maintain his lead. He then caught five bass weighing 14-07 Friday to make the crucial top-10 cut in first place.
Rounding out the top five pros are Mark Rose of Marion, Ark. (18 bass, 46-12, $8,301 plus $5,000 Ranger bonus); Jerry Weisinger of Wyandotte, Okla. (18 bass, 38-07, $7,471); Randall Hutson of Washburn, Mo. (14 bass, 36-08, $6,641) and Larry Nixon of Bee Branch, Ark. (17 bass, 36-0, $5,810).
Paul Helton caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Friday - a 5-pound, 6-ounce bass - that earned him the day's Snickers Big Bass award of $250.
Overall there were 31 bass weighing 75 pounds, 9 ounces caught by pros Saturday. The catch included four five-bass limits. McFarland, fishing in his first Stren Series event, won the Co-angler Division and $5,000, with a four-day total of nine bass weighing 26-13.
"It's unbelievable," said McFarland. "I've been dreaming of something like this ever since I was a little kid." McFarland caught his fish Saturday on a Tennessee Shad-colored Megabass jerkbait and a ¼-ounce Gary Yamamoto Hula Grub Jig. McFarland caught two bass weighing 6-04 Wednesday while fishing with pro Lloyd Pickett of Bartlett, Tenn., to open the tournament in second place. He then caught one bass weighing 1-11 Thursday while fishing with pro Ken Romain of Northport, Ala. On Friday he added three more bass weighing 10-02 to make the top-10 cut in first place while fishing with pro John Gross of Springfield, Ill. Finally, on Saturday, he sealed the win with a three-bass catch weighing 12-02 while fishing with pro Fleetwood.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Ed Shay of Chesterfield, Mo. (seven bass, 18-0, $3,461); Michael Waltrip of Fayetteville, Ark. (seven bass, 14-0, $2,813); Steve Amata of Nixa, Mo. (six bass, 13-6, $2,164) and Barney Moore of Johnston City, Ill. (seven bass, 12-12, $1,731).
Tyrone Phillips of Little Rock, Ark., caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday - a 5-pound bass - that earned him the day's Snickers Big Bass award of $131.
Overall there were nine bass weighing 18 pounds, 2 ounces caught by co-anglers Saturday. The catch included no five-bass limits.
The next Stren Series Central Division event, hosted by the Marshall County Tourist Commission, will be held May 2-5 on Kentucky Lake in Benton, Ky. Boats will launch from Moors Resort and Marina in Gilbertsville, Ky., and the final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart located at 310 West Main in Benton.
After four qualifying events are complete in each of the Stren Series' five divisions, the top 40 pros from each division will advance to the $1 million Stren Series Championship in Mobile, Ala., Nov. 8-11 for a shot at $140,000. The highest-finishing pro from each division at the championship will also earn a spot in the $2 million 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.
The top 40 co-anglers from each Stren Series division will also advance to the championship, where they will fish for as much as $70,000. The highest-finishing co-angler from each division at the championship will then advance to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.
FLW Outdoors historically maintains a 98 percent live release rate in all of its bass tournaments.