Winning team to claim $50,000 first-place purse
Tune in Sunday, April 1 to “FLW Outdoors” on FSN for the season-opening $200,000 Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series event in Clearwater, Fla. The first Eastern Division event of the $1.9 million FLW Redfish Series season concludes with the winning team claiming a cash prize of $50,000.
The “FLW Outdoors” saltwater series is a reality-format show told from the anglers’ perspective. Each week the top-five finalists are followed from takeoff to weigh-in, allowing the audience to feel the anglers’ nerves, listen to their strategy and learn from their mistakes. The stories evolve and the suspense grows throughout the one-hour show until the final weigh-in results are announced.
The April 1 show follows Bo Johnson of Cape Coral, Fla., and Richard Hudec of Naples, Fla., who have been punishing their bodies in order to make 100-mile-plus runs to Pine Island Sound. And for the second consecutive day, the long runs have paid off. The Florida team brought in two redfish that weighed 13 pounds, 13 ounces on day two to take the lead with a two-day total weight of 27 pounds, 15 ounces. Once Johnson and Hudec reach their primary spot, they are sight-casting to a large group of reds with Berkley Gulp shrimp and jerkbaits. This is the same area the team fished at the 2006 FLW Redfish Series event held out of Englewood, Fla., in which they finished fourth. Tune in Sunday as Johnson and Hudec roll the dice yet again in search of tournament-winning redfish.
Cousins Ken and Jeff Mullett of Sarasota, Fla., finished the opening round in second place with a two-day total of 26 pounds, 5 ounces. Unlike the leaders, this team is staying close to the launch site and blind-casting.
Troy and Jill Sapp of Odessa, Fla., made Redfish Series history by being the first husband-wife team to make a top-five final round. The couple was done fishing after only six casts on day two, weighing two redfish for 13 pounds, 9 ounces to hold down third with a two-day total of 25-13. Troy Sapp guides out of Tarpon Springs, Fla., and is fishing familiar water in that area.
John Henninger and John Eggers of Jacksonville, Fla., moved into fourth place with one of the biggest two-fish stringers of the tournament. The team is making a 65-mile run south and fishing one small school of reds in the Long Bar area near Sarasota, Fla., with Berkley Gulp 4-inch shrimp rigged backwards on a weighted hook. Rather than focusing on giant schools of redfish, Henninger and Eggers are concentrating on a small depression that no one else is fishing.
FSN broadcasts “FLW Outdoors” Sundays from 11 a.m. to noon ET. Check local listings for show times and channels in your area.
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
