Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla., caught a five-bass limit weighing 12 pounds even Saturday to win $125,000 at the FLW Tour event presented by Folgers on Fort Loudoun/Tellico lakes with a four-day catch of 20 bass weighing 59-13.
The catch gave him the win by a solid 4-pound even margin over Goodwill pro Chad Grigsby of Maple Grove, Minn., who caught a total of 19 bass weighing 55-13 and earned $37,197.
“I’m on cloud nine,” said Browne, who notched his first FLW Tour win. “I mean, it hasn’t sunk in totally. I don’t even know what to say. I’ve fished for seven seasons on the Tour, and I’ve come close and had some good finishes. This is what I’ve been looking for for a long time.
“The first three days of this tournament everything just went right,” Browne added. “I mean, you make the right moves, the right stops and I never lost a keeper fish. Everything just went right and I just had that feeling that things were going to happen right.”
Browne said he was making a 30-mile run each day to his backwater pocket above the Little River on Fort Loudoun. The pocket contained laydown trees and logs and Browne said he caught the majority of his fish flipping a 4-inch Gambler flipping tube in black neon with a chartreuse tail, but admitted he caught fish on a spinnerbait and a swimbait as well. Browne said he matched the tube to a 5/16-ounce weight and 20-pound-test fluorocarbon line.
Browne said Friday he began to think that he had a legitimate shot at winning the Knoxville event.
“It was tougher for me yesterday, but I thought, ‘Man, if I can still go around and catch five fish, they’re going to have to beat me,'” Browne said.
Browne opened the tournament in third place Wednesday with five bass weighing 17-0. On Thursday he added another five bass weighing 16-15. He then caught five bass weighing 13-14 Friday to make the crucial top-5 cut in first place. On Saturday he sealed his victory.
The remaining top-5 pros finished the tournament in:
| 3rd: | Damiki pro Bryan Thrift | Shelby, N.C. | 20 bass | 55-0 | $27,864 |
| 4th: | Chris Baumgardner | Gastonia, N.C. | 20 bass | 49-6 | $18,531 |
| 5th: | Brandon Coulter | Knoxville, Tenn. | 17 bass | 46-0 | $16,664 |
Overall there were 22 bass weighing 49 pounds, 14 ounces caught by five pros Saturday. The catch included three five-bass limits.
Spencer Shuffield of Bismarck, Ark., won the Co-angler Division and $20,000 Friday with a three-day total of 13 bass weighing 24 pounds, 2 ounces, followed by Derrick Snavely of Rogersville, Tenn., in second place with 10 bass weighing 21-15 worth $9,306.
Grigsby and Snavely each won a $2,500 gift card as part of the new Cabela’s Angler Cash program. In 2010, Cabela’s is offering pro and co-anglers the opportunity to register and win a $2,500 gift card for being the highest qualified finisher in each division at all FLW Tour events, making the stakes even higher in an already rich payout.
In FLW Tour competition, anglers and co-anglers are also vying for valuable points that could help them qualify for the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup, where they could win up to $600,000 and $60,000 respectively.
The Fort Loudoun/Tellico lakes event, hosted by the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation and the Loudoun County Visitors Bureau, was the third of five FLW Tour tournaments that will be held in 2010. The next event will be May 26-29 on Lake Ouachita in Hot Springs, Ark. The event will be hosted by the Hot Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau and boats will launch from Mountain Harbor Resort and Spa in Mount Ida, Ark.
The remaining tournaments are scheduled for:
June 23-26 Lake Guntersville Huntsville, Ala.
2010 Forrest Wood Cup
Aug. 5-8 Lake Lanier Atlanta, Ga.
Coverage of the Fort Loudoun/Tellico lakes tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS. “FLW Outdoors,” will air June 6 from 12:30 to 1:30 ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide.
ABOUT FLW OUTDOORS
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 189 tournaments in 2010. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000.By: Chad Gay, Public Relations Manager
