June 15 show to cover third stop of $9.5 million season
Tune in Sunday, June 15, to “FLW Outdoors” on FSN for the National Guard Open on Lake Norman in Charlotte, N.C. The $1.5 million tournament, which was hosted by the Charlotte Sports Commission, Visit Lake Norman and Visit Charlotte, awarded the winning bass pro a cash prize of up to $200,000.
The one-hour show is the first of a two-part series covering stop No. 3 on the $9.5 million FLW Tour season. The tournament featured 400 top bass anglers from 37 states, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Australia and Japan.
Coming into the event, many anglers knew that two primary patterns would be taking place: sight-fishing for bass on beds and fishing docks for post-spawn bass. When the tournament began, some committed completely to sight-fishing and some committed completely to fishing the shad spawn on docks. But after two days of competition, pro leader Sean Hoernke has the best of both worlds. The Magnolia, Texas, native is using both techniques en route to a tournament-leading opening-round total of 10 bass weighing 27 pounds, 11 ounces. For the final round, Hoernke plans to keep an eye on his shad-spawn spot early in the mornings and then go sight-fishing the rest of the day.
In second place with a two-day total of 27 pounds, 5 ounces is National Guard pro Brent Ehrler. The Redlands, Calif., native and 2006 Forrest Wood Cup champion is having another banner season with two top-10 finishes in the FLW Series Western Division. After narrowly missing the cutoff at the FLW Tour qualifier on Smith Lake, Ehrler has successfully qualified for his first regular season FLW Tour top 10. This week the Western pro is junk fishing, mixing up swimbaits with a little bit of sight-fishing and worm fishing. Ehrler starts each day by throwing a swimbait around brush piles and points. That window of opportunity is small and when it closes he begins to dock fish with a finesse worm.
Also in contention is rookie phenom Scott Canterbury. After wowing the Charlotte area crowd with an 18-pound, 5-ounce stringer on day one, the Odenville, Ala., angler retreated on day two with the intention of saving fish for the final two days. He finished the opening round with a total weight of 26 pounds, 5 ounces. Much like at Smith Lake, where he finished second last month, Canterbury has gone back to his burning-while-looking technique. At Smith he used a buzzbait to cover water quickly while he searched for spawning bass. On Norman, he has gone to a swimbait to keep his hands busy while he looks for bedders. In the Duracell Angler Spotlight, viewers get an up-close look at this up-and-coming pro, who is fishing in his second top 10 in a row.
Also making his second consecutive top 10 is Glenn Browne. The Ocala, Fla., native is as red-hot as his Berkley jersey lately. He scored a top 10 at a Lake Eufaula Stren Series event, then went to the FLW Tour event on Smith Lake for another top 10 and now he’s made yet another top 10 at Norman with a two-day total of 26 pounds, 12 ounces. Browne is known as a shallow-water specialist with a flipping stick, but he’s changed his tune at Norman. He started his practice by fishing docks but was unable to find quality keepers. Instead he chose to search for spawning bass and was able to locate sizeable females that would bite. Tune it to see if he has enough fish left for the final round.
In addition, Coppertone angler Kimberlee Striker of Cullman, Ala., participates in this edition of Fishing 101. Striker, a Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League veteran, reminds viewers of the importance of wearing sunscreen while fishing.
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” Sunday mornings. Check local listings for show times and channels in your area. The FLWOutdoors website also provides an online guide listing upcoming episodes on “FLW Outdoors.”
FSN is broadcast to 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 more than 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 429 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.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2008 alone the organization is offering more than 90,000 anglers the chance to win over $40 million through 230 tournaments in 10 circuits targeting bass, walleye, redfish, kingfish and striped bass.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000.
By: Dave Washburn, vp comm, FLW Outdoors
