HEMPHILL, Texas (June 21, 2007) - Pro Stephen Johnston of Hemphill, Texas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 6 ounces Thursday to retain the lead in the $275,225 Stren Series Texas Division bass fishing tournament on Toledo Bend. With a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 39-3, he now holds an 5-ounce lead over second place pro Harold Allen of Shelbyville, Texas, who managed to haul in a total of 10 bass weighing 38-15 during the first two days of competition.
"Today was a good day overall," said Johnston, who is approaching the $130,000 mark for career earnings with FLW Outdoors. "All day I caught eight keepers but I didn't get any big bites."
"We had a cold front come through with winds of 10-12 miles per hour out of the northeast," Johnston said. "This changed the position of the fish and I had to start fishing different ways."
Rounding out the top five pros are Tommy Martin of Hemphill, Texas (10 bass, 37-12); Stan Burgay of Timpson, Texas (10 bass, 34-8); and Russell Cecil of Willis, Texas (10 bass, 34-3).
Allen earned $243 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 9-pound, 9-ounce bass.
Overall there were 349 bass weighing 841 pounds, 13 ounces caught by 122 pros Thursday. The catch included 31 five-bass limits.
Blake Martin of Hemphill, Texas, leads the Co-angler Division in the chase for a top award of $35,000, including a 519VX Ranger if contingency guidelines are met. He caught five bass weighing 14-6 on Wednesday and five bass weighing 11-8 Thursday for a total of 10 bass weighing 25-14.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Jacob Brown of Cylde, Texas (nine bass, 25-8); Wesley Schubert of Conroe, Texas (nine bass, 23-8); Bo Middleton of Elgin, Okla. (seven bass, 18-10); and Mack McCoy of Ringgold, La. (eight bass, 17-8).
Ray Peace of Arlington, Texas, earned $128 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 8-pound, 3-ounce bass.
Overall there were 200 bass weighing 469 pounds caught by 103 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included six five-bass limits. 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.
Anglers will take off at 6:30 each morning from Frontier Park & Marina located at 360 Frontier Drive in Hemphill. Friday's weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday's weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 155 San Antonio Ave. in Many, La., beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Stren Series tournaments are four-day events consisting of two rounds. The entire field competes Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. At the conclusion of Friday's weigh-in, the field is cut to the top 10 pros and co-anglers based on the heaviest three-day accumulated weights. These anglers continue competition Saturday, with the winners determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.
FLW Outdoors historically maintains a 98 percent live release rate in all of its bass tournaments.