April 29 show to cover $1 million bass fishing tournament on Fort Loudoun-Tellico lakes
Tune in Sunday, April 29, to “FLW Outdoors” on FSN as Charlie Evans and Keith Lebowitz host the second Wal-Mart FLW Tour event of the 2007 season from the Fort Loudoun-Tellico lakes in Knoxville, Tenn. The $1 million tournament, which was presented by BP, awarded the winning bass pro a cash prize of $100,000.
The one-hour show is the first of a two-part series covering stop No. 2 on the $9.5 million FLW Tour season. Hosted by the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation, the tournament featured 400 anglers from 36 states, Australia, Japan and Italy.
The second event of the 2007 season was supposed to be a cold, tough, prespawn affair. But an early warming trend had the Eastern Tennessee bass thinking shallow. Three weeks before the tournament, the water temperature was in the upper 40s. Once the tournament began, the water temperature was nearly 70 degrees – the perfect benchmark for spawning bass.
Day-one leader Chad Grigsby caught five huge smallmouths off beds, but he wasn’t staring directly at them. Instead, the BFGoodrich Tires pro was using visual clues in his area to detect deeper smallmouth beds. Grigsby would then back off and make repeated casts to where he thought the fish were setting up. The plan worked brilliantly on day one, but Grigsby learned a harsh lesson on day two. Playing with TVA smallmouths is like playing with fire – eventually you can get burned. The Maple Grove, Minn., resident failed to catch a keeper bass on day two and finished the event in 50th place.
National Guard pro Derek Jones flourished with brown bass for two consecutive days. On day one, the Chicago, Ill., angler registered a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds even. On day two, Jones improved his catch to 20 pounds, 4 ounces, which gave him the overall the lead at the conclusion of the opening round. This event marks the first time Jones qualified for the final round on the FLW Tour. Tune in to see if he can solve the enigmatic TVA smallmouths for a third consecutive day.
M&M’s pro John Sappington is catching a combination of largemouth and smallmouth bass. Like Grigsby, Sappington cannot see his fish, he just knows they are on beds in one small area. He found the fish in practice with a crankbait, and now he’s making repeated casts with a Berkley hand-poured finesse worm. Thus far, the Willard, Mo., pro has caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 26 pounds, 5 ounces. In the Angler Spotlight feature, Sappington tells viewers how it feels to make his first top-10 since the accident three years ago that nearly took him off the FLW Tour for life.
FSN also sits flashes back to the second event of the 2006 FLW Tour season. The tournament, held in Columbia, S.C., on Lake Murray, resulted in one of the most exciting weigh-ins in FLW Tour history.
In addition, BP pro Ray Scheide of Russellville, Ark., participates in this edition of Fishing 101. Scheide, who finished second at the 2006 FLW Tour Championship, shares some insight on how to effectively sight-fish for spawning bass.
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 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. 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 Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.
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: Dave Washburn, vp comm, FLW Outdoors
