BENTON, Ky. (Oct. 30, 2007) - FLW Outdoors announced today that it will realign its bass tournament offerings in Texas next season, suspending the Texas Tournament Trail and focusing instead on the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League and Stren Series, which offer Texas anglers the opportunity to advance to the Wal-Mart FLW Series and Wal-Mart FLW Tour.
"The TTT was a very popular tournament trail, but it did not offer anglers the opportunity to advance to higher levels of competition" said FLW Outdoors President and CEO Charlie Evans. "It filled a gap in our tournament circuits that no longer exists, and hasn't since 2006 when we dedicated an entire Stren Series division to the state."
Anglers living and fishing in Texas can now start their tournament careers in the Cowboy and/or Louisiana/Texas divisions of the BFL then advance to the Stren Series and ultimately to the FLW Tour and FLW Series.
"Everything we do is based on starting anglers at the grassroots level and offering them the opportunity to qualify for higher, more lucrative levels of competition if they so choose," Evans said. "The TTT did not fit that mold."
The Stren Series Texas Division offers top awards of $65,000 for pros and $35,000 for co-anglers and payouts of $825 and $325, respectively, through 60th place in every qualifying tournament plus the opportunity to advance to both the $1 million Stren Series Championship and the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup.
The top 40 pros and top 40 co-anglers in the Stren Series Texas Division advance to the Stren Series Championship, which pays as much as $140,000 to the winning pro and as much as $70,000 to the winning co-angler Additionally, Stren Series Championship payouts extend through 50th place, offering pros $6,000 and co-anglers $2,000. The top 10 pros and top 10 co-anglers in the Stren Series Texas Division points standings also qualify for the FLW Tour and FLW Series the following season, and the top pro and co-angler finishers from the Texas Division at the Stren Series Championship advance to the Forrest Wood Cup.
Entry fees for the Stren Series are $825 per event for pros and $325 per event for co-anglers. Ranger boat owners may register beginning Dec. 7, Champion and Stratos owners may register beginning Dec. 10, and TBF members may register beginning Dec. 11. All other entries will be accepted beginning Dec. 12.
Boater entry fees for the BFL are $200 for qualifiers and $300 for Super Tournaments. Co-angler entry fees the BFL are $100 for qualifiers and $150 for Super Tournaments.
Texas Division January 9-12 Falcon Lake Zapata, Texas February 20-23 Sam Rayburn Jasper, Texas May 7-10 Lake Texoma Denison, Texas September 24-27 Red River Natchitoches, La. Stren Series Championship November 5-8 Table Rock Lake Branson, Mo. 2008 BFL Cowboy and Louisiana/Texas Division SchedulesCowboy Division Feb. 16 Lake Whitney Hillsboro, Texas March 8 Lewisville Lake Lewisville, Texas March 29 Lake Palestine Flint, Texas April 26 Richland Chambers Corsicana, Texas Oct. 4-5 Lake Texoma Denison, Texas Louisiana/Texas Division March 1 Sam Rayburn Reservoir Jasper, Texas April 12 Red River Shreveport, La. May 17 Red River Natchitoches, La. June 28 Toledo Bend Many, La. Sept. 20-21 Sam Rayburn Reservoir Jasper, Texas Cowboy and Louisiana Division Regional Oct. 23-25 Lake Ouachita Mount Ida, Ark. BFL All-American May 29-31 Connecticut River Hartford, Conn.