Tune in Sunday, Feb. 19, to “FLW Outdoors” on FSN as Charlie Evans and Keith Lebowitz host the season-opening Wal-Mart FLW Tour event from Lake Okeechobee. The $900,000 tournament, which was presented by Snickers, awarded the winning bass pro a cash prize of $100,000.
The one-hour show is the first of a two-part series covering the first event of the $7.6 million FLW Tour season. The tournament featured 400 top bass anglers from 38 states, Japan and Canada.
The Feb. 19 show presents several mini-features with the 10 pros that made the cutoff after two days of competition. The features include pros Chad Grigsby of Maple Grove, Minn., and David Fritts of Lexington, N.C.
Grigsby is one of the top young guns on the FLW Tour. During the 2005 season, he placed in the top 10 three times, including a second-place finish at the Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship on Lake Hamilton. Despite a difficult day one on the Big O, Grigsby has flipped his way back into contention, moving from 79th to seventh courtesy of a five-bass limit on day two that weighed 16 pounds, 1 ounce.
Fritts is a legendary name in professional bass fishing. In his FLW Outdoors career alone, he has accumulated 12 top-10 finishes and nearly $700,000 in earnings. Widely regarded as the best crankbait angler in the world, watch as Fritts cranks his way toward a second FLW Tour victory on Lake Okeechobee.
FSN also sits down with Florida phenom Bobby Lane. In just two years, the Lakeland pro has notched five top-10 finishes in the sunshine state spanning FLW Tour, Stren Series and Wal-Mart BFL competition.
In addition, Kellogg’s pro Alvin Shaw of State Road, N.C., participates in this edition of Fishing 101. Shaw, who won the 2005 FLW Tour event on Wheeler Lake, demonstrates three popular techniques on Lake Okeechobee. These techniques include casting a Chatterbait, working a Rat-L-Trap and using a topwater Spook.
FSN is the industry leader in providing the most up-to-date technology in TV production. FSN puts viewers in the boats with the pros, shadowing them from sunrise until the final weigh-in using innovative camera work that gives fishing fans the most intimate viewing experience available.
FSN broadcasts “FLW Outdoors” Sundays from 11 a.m. to noon ET. Check local listings for show times and channels in your area. FLWOutdoors.com also provides an online show guide listing what events are coming up on “FLW Outdoors.”
During each tournament show, “FLW Outdoors” hosts Charlie Evans and Keith Lebowitz go on location to provide on-the-water coverage. “FLW Outdoors” is tape-delayed to bring audiences nationwide the best tournament footage possible throughout the season.
FSN reaches more than 81 million homes through its network of 20 regional sports channels. Established in 1996, FSN is the only cable network that supplies national, regional and local sports programming. FSN serves as the cable TV home to 62 of the 82 MLB, NHL and NBA teams based in the United States, and produces over 4,500 live events each year. FSN has an extensive catalog of original national programs, including “Best Damn Sports Show Period” and “Beyond the Glory” documentary series, along with national packages of collegiate sports. Based in Los Angeles, FSN is part of the vast FOX Sports television family.
“FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to more than 300 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 service men and women stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, call (270) 252-1000.
By: Will Brantley, communications specialist
