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FLW Tour: Kentucky Lake

Tour Event # 4 of 6

Day 1: Lytle Leads FLW Tour Event on Kentucky Lake

BENTON, Ky. - Two hundred of the world's best professional anglers competing in the $900,000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour event presented by Pedigree on Kentucky Lake endured heavy rain and braved rough waters Wednesday in search of five bass that would bring them one step closer to the tournament's top award of $100,000. The man leading the charge at the end of the day was Yamaha pro Curt Lytle of Zuni, Va., who caught an impressive five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 9 ounces.
Lytle, an FLW Outdoors veteran of 12 years, fished shallow, stained water to bag his tournament-leading limit.
"I had a good day fishing," said Lytle, who has five wins and 12 top-10 finishes in FLW Outdoors competition. "I don't know why the big fished moved in, but I'm glad they did."
Lytle wouldn't reveal his pattern or fishing location this early in the tournament, but he did drop a hint.
"I love coming to this lake because it reminds me of Buggs Island," he said referring to Kerr Reservoir. "The seasonal patterns are nearly identical and they fish alike."
Kerr Reservoir, located on the border of North Carolina and Virginia, is known for big limits of bass being caught from flooded buckbrush during the spring. Large jigs are the most popular lure of choice followed by tubes and Texas-rigged worms.
Ranger pro Toshinari Namiki of Mineloa, Texas, finished in a close second with five bass weighing 20 pounds, 1 ounce.
"It was a very good day for me," said Namiki, who had four top-five finishes last year on the FLW Tour. "The weather really helped make the fish more active."
Namiki fished two areas having both deep and shallow water. He fished shallow in the morning with a jig and later switched to a crankbait for the deeper water. He believes that enough fish are in the two areas to last the entire tournament.
Rounding out the top five pros are Gary Yamamoto of Mineloa, Texas (five bass 20 pounds); Team National Guard angler Jonathan Newton of Rogersville, Ala. (five bass 19 pounds, 14 ounces) and Team Tylenol angler Gabe Bolivar of Ramona, Calif. (five bass 19 pounds, 12 ounces).
The Snickers Big Bass of the day was landed by pro Ralph Laster of Lees Summit, Mo., who earned $750 for his 7-pound, 5-ounce fish.
James Christian of Dickson, Tenn., leads the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 16 pounds, 6 ounces.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Terry Chapman of Prosperity, S.C. (five bass 16 pounds, 4 ounces); Team Wal-Mart angler Trevor Jancasz of White Pigeon, Mich. (five bass 15 pounds, 5 ounces); Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C. (five bass 15 pounds) and Bill Guillory of Jasper, Texas (five bass 13 pounds, 13 ounces).
Guillory earned $375 and Snickers Big Bass honors in the Co-angler Division with a 5-pound, 15-ounce bass.
Overall, 1,254 bass weighing 3,080 pounds, 1 ounce were caught Wednesday, including 146 five-bass limits.
Anglers will take off at 6:30 each morning from Kentucky Dam Marina. Thursday's weigh-in will also be held at the Marina beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday's weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 310 West Fifth Street in Benton beginning at 4 p.m.
The community is invited to attend the free Family Fun Zone Friday and Saturday outside the weigh-in tent in the Wal-Mart parking lot. The Family Fun Zone, which opens at 2 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday, features interactive displays, product samples and games for the entire family to enjoy.
The full field competes in the two-day opening round for one of 10 slots in Friday's competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Friday's weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.
In FLW Tour competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers. The total purse for the Kentucky Lake tournament is $900,000, including $10,000 through 50th place in the Pro Division. In addition to this purse, Tyson has released three tagged "Power Bass" worth $5,000 each into Kentucky Lake. Any pro or co-angler competing in the tournament is eligible to catch these "Power Bass" and claim the cash award.
This is the most lucrative FLW Tour season to date with a $7.6 million purse, including four $900,000 events and two $1.25 million open events during the regular season. Each event leads up to the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship and Outdoor Show presented by Castrol, which will be held Aug. 2-5 on Logan Martin Lake in Birmingham, Ala. The prestigious championship hosted by Birmingham, Pell City and St. Clair County features 48 pros, 48 co-anglers and bass fishing's largest guaranteed cash award - a $500,000 first-place prize for the winning pro. Held in conjunction with the tournament is a world-class outdoor show featuring more than 140 exhibits.
Coverage of the Kentucky Lake tournament will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on June 25 and July 2 as part of the "FLW Outdoors" television program. "FLW Outdoors" airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. "FLW Outdoors" is also broadcast internationally to more than 350 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 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
Kellogg's will present the sixth and final stop of the FLW Tour's regular season on Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh, N.Y., June 21-24.

Day 2: Moynagh Leads FLW Tour Event on Kentucky Lake

BENTON, Ky. - Team Tyson Pro Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 40 pounds, 10 ounces to lead round one of the $900,000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour event on Kentucky Lake presented by Pedigree. The top 10 pros and co-anglers advance to Friday's round. Pros are competing for a top award of $100,000, which will be determined Saturday, while the co-angler first-place prize of $20,000 will be awarded Friday.
Moynagh, who has three wins and nine top-10 finishes on his tournament-fishing resume, caught his day-two leading bag, anchored by two largemouths weighing more than 6 pounds, by fishing jigs on ledge-type structure.
"I fished a 3/8-ounce jig shallow and a 3/4-ounce jig in the deep spots," said Moynagh, who finished second on Pickwick Lake earlier in the season. "I fished shallow points and ledge-like structure today and didn't go to my best two spots."
Moynagh, who has more than $600,000 in career earnings with FLW Outdoors, didn't go to his best fishing areas because he had a 4-pound smallmouth and a 6-pound, 12-ounce largemouth in the boat early and wanted to save his best areas for day three.
"With two good kicker fish in the boat, I didn't want to go to those fish," he said. "I went to new water I've never been to before, not even in practice, and caught another 6-pounder. I went to my secondary spots after that."
Berkley pro David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn., and Yamaha pro Terry Bolton of Paducah, Ky., both ended the day with 10 bass weighing 36 pounds, 7 ounces.
"It was tough fishing out there today," said Walker who has 30 top-10 finishes to his credit. "You couldn't move around a lot and when you did, someone else was fishing the spot. I thought the high winds would have kept the weights down."
Walker is fishing offshore like many other anglers, however, he's not fishing the deep portions of infamous Kentucky Lake ledges.
"I'm not fishing particularly deep. About 10 feet deep," said Walker who has earned more than $400,000 fishing FLW Outdoors events. "The little points are the key spots on the ledge. Spots like that hold multiple fish."
Walker said he's using crankbaits, Carolina-rigs and jigs to catch his fish.
"I'm doing a little bit of everything," he said. "My big fish today came on a crankbait, and a jig yesterday."
Rounding out the top five pros are Bolton; Toshinari Namiki of Mineola, Texas (10 bass 35 pounds, 11 ounces) and Steve Kennedy of Auburn, Ala. (10 bass, 34 pounds).
Moynagh also landed the Snickers Big Bass Award and $750 for his 6-pound, 12-ounce lunker.
Todd Lowe of Greensboro, Ga., leads the Co-angler Division with 10 bass weighing 26 pounds, 15 ounces.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark. (10 bass, 24 pounds, 11 ounces); Brian Hickey of Cadiz, Ky. (10 bass, 23 pounds, 13 ounces); George Polosky of Alliance, Ohio (nine bass, 22 pounds, 5 ounces) and Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C. (10 bass, 22 pounds, 4 ounces).
Chad Parks of Memphis, Tenn., earned $375 and Snickers Big Bass honors in the Co-angler Division with a 6-pound, 3-ounce bass.
Overall, 1,121 bass weighing 2,713 pounds, 6 ounces were caught Wednesday, including 125 five-bass limits.
Anglers will take off at 6:30 each morning from Kentucky Dam Marina. Friday and Saturday's weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 310 West Fifth Street in Benton beginning at 4 p.m.
The community is invited to attend the free Family Fun Zone Friday and Saturday outside the weigh-in tent in the Wal-Mart parking lot. The Family Fun Zone, which opens at 2 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday, features interactive displays, product samples and games for the entire family to enjoy.
The full field competes in the two-day opening round for one of 10 slots in Friday's competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Friday's weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.
In FLW Tour competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers. The total purse for the Kentucky Lake tournament is $900,000, including $10,000 through 50th place in the Pro Division. In addition to this purse, Tyson has released three tagged "Power Bass" worth $5,000 each into Kentucky Lake. Any pro or co-angler competing in the tournament is eligible to catch these "Power Bass" and claim the cash award.
This is the most lucrative FLW Tour season to date with a $7.6 million purse, including four $900,000 events and two $1.25 million open events during the regular season. Each event leads up to the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship and Outdoor Show presented by Castrol, which will be held Aug. 2-5 on Logan Martin Lake in Birmingham, Ala. The prestigious championship hosted by Birmingham, Pell City and St. Clair County features 48 pros, 48 co-anglers and bass fishing's largest guaranteed cash award - a $500,000 first-place prize for the winning pro. Held in conjunction with the tournament is a world-class outdoor show featuring more than 140 exhibits.
Coverage of the Kentucky Lake tournament will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on June 25 and July 2 as part of the "FLW Outdoors" television program. "FLW Outdoors" airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. "FLW Outdoors" is also broadcast internationally to more than 350 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 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
Kellogg's will present the sixth and final stop of the FLW Tour's regular season on Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh, N.Y., June 21-24.

Day 3: Bolton Leads FLW Tour Event on Kentucky Lake

BENTON, Ky. - Yamaha pro Terry Bolton of Paducah, Ky., caught a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 9 ounces to lead 10 finalist into the last day of the $900,000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour event on Kentucky Lake presented by Pedigree. If Bolton retains his lead Saturday, he will pocket $100,000 and collect valuable points leading toward a berth in the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship.
While some anglers' catches have fluctuated over the last three days of competition, Bolton has improved is catch by more than a pound each day. He weighed in 17 pounds, 2 ounces on opening day and 19 pounds, 5 ounces on day two.
"Today, when I first started, the wind was terrible," said Bolton, who has two FLW Outdoors wins and 32 top-10 finishes to his credit, including 19 on Kentucky Lake alone. "You have to have confidence and believe in what you are doing."
Bolton's efforts have been predominantly focused on ledges using a jig fished on heavy fluorocarbon line.
"There's one little sweet-spot on a ledge," he said. "I'm going to the places where I know there are fish."
Ranger pro Steve Kennedy of Auburn, Ala., ended the day in second place with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 15 ounces.
"I grew up fishing ledges on Eufaula and West Point," said Kennedy, who won the 2003 FLW Tour stop on Kentucky Lake. "We don't get too many opportunities to fish ledges, so I need to make the best of it."
Rounding out the top five pros are Yamaha pro Gary Yamamoto of Mineola, Texas (five bass 15 pounds, 2 ounces); Yamaha pro Curt Lytle of Zuni, Va. (five bass 13 pounds, 13 ounces) and Team Castrol pro David Dudley of Lynchburg, Va. (five bass 13 pounds, 6 ounces).
Tyrone Phillips of Little Rock, Ark., earned a $20,000 victory in the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 12 pounds, 15 ounces. The majority of his fish were caught on a Zoom paddle-tail worm while fishing with Yamamoto.
"We went into an area that made the wind obsolete," said Phillips, who also collected a $500 Wal-Mart gift card and $500 in Castrol products for his first FLW Tour victory. "We fished a 300-yard-long bank and only about 100 yards of it held fish. I caught three good ones and Gary got his limit there. We went to another area, and I caught one on a crankbait."
With only four fish in the livewell and time running out, Phillips' chances for a five-bass limit were looking bleak.
"We stopped just outside the check-in point on our way in," he said. "And I caught my last fish with 10 minutes left."
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C. (four bass 11 pounds, 10 ounces, $10,000); Brian Hickey of Cadiz, Ky. (five bass 10 pounds, 1 ounce $9,000); George Polosky of Alliance, Ohio (five bass 9 pounds, 1 ounce $8,000) and 18-year-old Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark. (two bass 4 pounds, 8 ounces, $7,000).
The 10 remaining pros will take off at 6:30 in the morning from Kentucky Dam Marina. Saturday's weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 310 West Fifth Street in Benton beginning at 4 p.m.
The community is invited to attend the free Family Fun Zone Saturday outside the weigh-in tent in the Wal-Mart parking lot. The Family Fun Zone, which opens at noon, features interactive displays, product samples and games for the entire family to enjoy.
The full field competes in the two-day opening round for one of 10 slots in Friday's competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Friday's weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.
In FLW Tour competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers. The total purse for the Kentucky Lake tournament is $900,000, including $10,000 through 50th place in the Pro Division. In addition to this purse, Tyson has released three tagged "Power Bass" worth $5,000 each into Kentucky Lake. Any pro or co-angler competing in the tournament is eligible to catch these "Power Bass" and claim the cash award.
This is the most lucrative FLW Tour season to date with a $7.6 million purse, including four $900,000 events and two $1.25 million open events during the regular season. Each event leads up to the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship and Outdoor Show presented by Castrol, which will be held Aug. 2-5 on Logan Martin Lake in Birmingham, Ala. The prestigious championship hosted by Birmingham, Pell City and St. Clair County features 48 pros, 48 co-anglers and bass fishing's largest guaranteed cash award - a $500,000 first-place prize for the winning pro. Held in conjunction with the tournament is a world-class outdoor show featuring more than 140 exhibits.
Coverage of the Kentucky Lake tournament will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on June 25 and July 2 as part of the "FLW Outdoors" television program. "FLW Outdoors" airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. "FLW Outdoors" is also broadcast internationally to more than 350 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 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
Kellogg's will present the sixth and final stop of the FLW Tour's regular season on Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh, N.Y., June 21-24.

Day 4: Kennedy Wins FLW Tour Event on Kentucky Lake

BENTON, Ky. - The final round of the $900,000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour stop on Kentucky Lake presented by Pedigree was an all-out battle between two of the hottest sticks in bass fishing - local favorite Terry Bolton of Paducah, Ky., who has earned 25 top-10 finishes on the lake and Steve Kennedy of Auburn, Ala., who has earned four top-five finishes in Bassmaster and FLW Tour competition this season.
Both men specialize in open-water ledge fishing, which turned out to be a crucial advantage this week. In the end, however, it came down to a last-minute catch and a costly penalty that gave Kennedy his second $100,000 FLW Tour victory on the lake.
To claim the win, Kennedy had to overcome a 4-pound, 10-ounce lead that Bolton established Friday. He did just that with a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 6 ounces Saturday that pushed his two-day total weight to 37 pounds, 5 ounces.
He caught all of his fish on ledges in 17 to 23 feet of water using a 3/4-ounce brown and purple football-head jig laced with a Kinami double-tail grub.
"Three of the five fish I weighed came off the same spot this morning," Kennedy said. By the afternoon, I was culling 3 1/2-pound fish. They just kept coming and coming."
His most critical catch of the day was a nearly 5-pound smallmouth that he caught with only five minutes left in the tournament. That fish, combined Bolton's 8-ounce penalty for an expired fish, gave Kennedy the win by a razor thin 4 ounces.
"Knowing (Terry) caught more than I did is a little tough to swallow," Kennedy said. "But when you catch fish deep, sometimes, they don't adjust so well."
Bolton led the tournament Friday with five bass weighing 20 pounds, 9 ounces and then added five more bass weighing 16 pounds, 8 ounces Saturday for a two-day total of 37 pounds, 1 ounce. If not for having an expired fish, his total weight would have been 37 pounds, 9 ounces - good for a 4-ounce victory instead of a 4-ounce defeat.
"That fish was hooked perfectly, right in the top of the mouth, and I did everything I could to keep it alive. It was the only fish I lost all week," said Bolton, who won $36,000 for his second-place finish. "It just wasn't my time to win."
Like Kennedy, Bolton fished jigs. He was also casting spinnerbaits and worms. Using his local knowledge of Kentucky Lake he was able to rotate through a series of holes to pick up solid five-bass limits all week.
"Things were going well for me," he said. "What really hurt was losing a 6 1/2- to 7-pound bass right at the boat, but when you use big jigs, it's real easy for the fish to throw them. I guess if you think about it, I lost this tournament twice."
Rounding out the top five pros are Gary Yamamoto of Mineola, Texas (10 bass, 30 pounds, $25,000); Chevy pro David Fritts of Lexington, N.C. (10 bass, 29 pounds, 4 ounces, $20,000) and Curt Lytle of Zuni, Va. (10 bass, 27 pounds, 8 ounces $18,000).
In FLW Tour competition the full field competes in the two-day opening round for one of 10 slots in Friday's competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Friday's weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.
This is the most lucrative FLW Tour season to date with a $7.6 million purse, including four $900,000 events and two $1.25 million open events during the regular season. Each event leads up to the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship and Outdoor Show presented by Castrol, which will be held Aug. 2-5 on Logan Martin Lake in Birmingham, Ala. The prestigious championship hosted by Birmingham, Pell City and St. Clair County features 48 pros, 48 co-anglers and bass fishing's largest guaranteed cash award - a $500,000 first-place prize for the winning pro. Held in conjunction with the tournament is a world-class outdoor show featuring more than 140 exhibits.
Coverage of the Kentucky Lake tournament will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on June 25 and July 2 as part of the "FLW Outdoors" television program. "FLW Outdoors" airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. "FLW Outdoors" is also broadcast internationally to more than 350 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 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
Kellogg's will present the sixth and final stop of the FLW Tour's regular season on Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh, N.Y., June 21-24.

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