Veteran Yamaha pro J.T. Kenney of Palm Bay, Fla., leads a dominating group of five Yamaha-powered anglers sitting in the top 10 positions after the first day of competition in the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup world championship at Lake Lanier.
Kenney, making his fifth Cup appearance, holds third with 14 pounds, 6 ounces, just six ounces behind leader Kevin Hawk. He’s followed by fellow Yamaha-powered angler Jason Meninger in 6th (13-3); and Yamaha Pros Brian Travis, 7th (13-2); Brent Ehrler, 9th (12-9); and David Dudley,10th (11-14).
“My day went according to plan,” explained Kenney, “and I sure hope I can do it again tomorrow. With fishing tough like it is, the weights are very close, and there are a couple of very good pros right behind me who’ve won this tournament before, Brent Ehrler and David Dudley, so I certainly can’t let up at all.”
The Yamaha Pro said he depended heavily on his electronics, from which he could see bass around the deeper brush, but if they weren’t feeding, he never even tried to fish for them.
Another Yamaha Pro, Bryan Thrift, the 2010 FLW Angler of the Year, sits in 18th with 9 pounds, 11 ounces. Other notable Yamaha Pros include Dave Lefebre, 15th; Clark Wendlandt, 17th; and Shinichi Fukae, 19th.
Overall, the field described the fishing as extremely difficult. Of the 78 pros in the field, only 27 managed a five-fish limit.
The entire field will fish on Friday, August 6 for the second day of the 2010 FLW Cup competition. After the weigh-in on Friday, the field will be cut to the top 30 who will fish on Sat. Only the top six pros will compete on Sun. August 8, the final day of competition.
Daily takeoff ceremonies will be held at Laurel Park, located at 3100 Old Cleveland Highway in Gainesville, Ga., each morning from 6:30 to 7 a.m. Takeoffs will commence at 7 a.m. Weigh-ins will be held daily at 5 p.m. at The Arena at Gwinnett Center located at 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth, Ga.
Yamaha Marine products are marketed throughout the United States and around the world. Yamaha Marine Group, based in Kennesaw, Ga., supports its 2,000 U.S. dealers and OEM partners with marketing, training and parts for Yamaha’s full line of products and strives to be the industry leader in reliability, technology and customer service. Yamaha Marine is the only outboard brand to have earned NMMA’s C.S.I. Customer Satisfaction Index award every year since its inception.By: Yamaha Marine
