The Rayovac FLW Series is headed to Kentucky and Barkley lakes May 7-9 for a tournament presented by Evinrude when as many as 300 pros and co-anglers will take to the water for the second stop of 2015 in the Central Division.
“There’s going to be some variables in this tournament that anglers from out of town may find difficult,” said twenty-year Walmart FLW Tour veteran Dan Morehead of Paducah, Kentucky. “The water level hasn’t been stable due to the amount of rain we’ve had and municipal facilities using lake water. That means the fish are very active and haven’t set up to spawn. In my opinion, we still have a large wave a fish waiting to come in and spawn.
“With that being said, fish will be caught in a couple of different areas. There will be some found offshore and there will be quite a few caught shallow in the button bushes that Kentucky Lake is known for,” said Morehead.
Morehead said that he thinks flipping button bushes with a natural-colored jig will be a heavily favored technique by tournament anglers.
“I also see a lot of soft plastics, like a green-pumpkin Zoom Super Fluke being used,” said Morehead. “The water will be clear, so anglers will be looking to imitate what the bass are feeding on.”
Morehead predicted a three-day cumulative weight cracking the 60-pound mark will be needed to take the tournament.
“It will be a great weekend of fishing,” said Morehead. “A lot of fish are going to be caught in a variety of ways so it should be a very exciting tournament.”
Anglers will take off from the Moors Resort & Marina located at 570 Moors Road in Gilbertsville at 6 a.m. CDT each day. Weigh-in on days one and two will be held at the marina beginning at 2 p.m. On day three, weigh-in will be held at Walmart, located at 310 W. Fifth St. in Benton, beginning at 3 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public. The event is being hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Pros will fish for a top award of $40,000 plus a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard if Ranger Cup guidelines are met. Co-anglers will cast for a top award consisting of a Ranger Z117 with 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $5,000 if Ranger Cup guidelines are met.
The Rayovac FLW Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Each division consists of three tournaments and competitors will be vying for valuable points in each division that could earn them the opportunity to fish in the Rayovac FLW Series Championship. The 2015 Rayovac FLW Series Championship is being held Oct. 29-31 on the Ohio River in Paducah, Kentucky.
ABOUT FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2015 over the course of 240 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.
By: Brian Johnson, FLW
