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 FLW Tour: Lake Murray, SC

Tour Event # 2 of 6

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Preview: FLW Tour to Visit Lake Murray

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COLUMBIA, S.C. - The $7.6 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour will stop in Columbia, S.C., Feb. 8-11 for the $1.25 million Chevy Open, the tour's second regular-season event. Hosted by Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board, the tournament features 400 anglers from 37 states, Japan and Canada, with 200 of the world's best bass pros fishing for a top award of $200,000 cash. Two hundred co-anglers will compete for a top award of $40,000 cash.
Though a February date for any tournament north of Florida often means sluggish bass and cold-water fishing patterns, the relatively mild winter up to this point has kept the waters of Lake Murray unseasonably warm. "The report lately is that the fish are biting really well," said pro Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C. "Fishing is better now than I would have anticipated because of all the warm weather we've had."
Gagliardi predicted good fishing and the need for heavy limits if a pro is to be competitive at the Chevy Open. "The water is warm and the fish are up on the banks. Provided we don't get any really cold weather between now and then, the guy who wins it will probably catch over 20 pounds on the last two days."
The water level is low at this point in Lake Murray, and Gagliardi said many areas of the lake are stained. "You can catch them on whatever you want to throw. Spinnerbaits and shallow-running crankbaits should be good, and flipping will work if you can find some cover."
Anglers will take off at 7 each morning from Jake's Landing. Wednesday and Thursday's weigh-ins will also be held at Jake's Landing beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday's weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 2401 Augusta Road in Columbia 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.
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 Chevy Open tournament will be broadcast to 78 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on March 12 and March 19 as part of the "FLW Outdoors" television program. "FLW Outdoors" airs Sunday mornings at 11 a.m. Eastern time. "FLW Outdoors" is also broadcast internationally to more than 300 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 naval ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
The third regular-season tour event will be a stop presented by A&W Root Beer March 1-4 on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala., followed by the Wal-Mart Open powered by Tyson on Beaver Lake in Rogers, Ark., April 5-8. Kentucky Lake in Benton, Ky., will host the fifth tour stop, presented by Pedigree, May 10-13 followed by a stop presented by Kellogg's on Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh, N.Y., June 21-24.

Day 1: Carroll Leads Chevy Open on Lake Murray

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COLUMBIA, S.C. - With temperatures hovering near freezing at takeoff early Wednesday morning, a majority of the 200 pros fishing the $1.25 million Chevy Open on Lake Murray headed straight for main-lake points and deep-water rock piles in search of big bass. At the end of the day, however, the biggest bite belonged to Tim Carroll of Owasso, Okla., who led the field with a staggering five-bass limit weighing 28 pounds, 1 ounce.
The impressive catch is tied as the fourth heaviest one-day weight in FLW Tour history. The other 28-pound, 1-ounce catch also came from Lake Murray during the tour's last visit in March 2003 and was caught by pro Stanley Mitchell of Fitzgerald, Ga. During that same tournament, Castrol pro Darrel Robertson of Jay, Okla., set the tour's opening-round weight record at 10 bass weighing 49 pounds, 8 ounces after leading the tournament with 26 pounds, 13 ounces on opening day. Robertson's record, which topped the previous record set by Peter Thilveros on Kentucky Lake in 1998, now appears to be in serious jeopardy.
"I feel awesome right now," said Carroll, who needs 21 pounds, 8 ounces to break Robertson's record. "You don't get chances like this very often. I practiced 15 days for this tournament, and for three consecutive days, I had over 29 pounds. I also had a 9-pounder each day and one over 11 pounds one day. I'm defiantly going after them again tomorrow to make sure I make the top 10."
In 2003, it took 35 pounds even to make the cut under similar low-water conditions. The one exception this time around, however, is that there is no grass in the lake.
"The majority of anglers were fishing grass last time we were here," said Robertson, who is currently in 60th place with fie bass weighing 11 pounds, 13 ounces. "I fished the same areas up river that I fished in 2003, and so did a lot of other boats, but the quality fish were not there. It was a rough day, but you can make up a lot of ground on this lake because there are a lot of 20-pound limits swimming around."
Carroll caught his limit shallow early then started fishing deep, ultimately catching a total of 10 bass. His biggest fish, a 7-pound, 14-ounce largemouth, came off a deep water rock pile, but he understandably declined to comment on the bait he his using.
"The fish are in schools," he said. "When you catch one good one, there are several more with it. Three of my fish came on back to back casts."
Carroll said he has five spots that he feels can produce 20-pound-plus limits, and he only hit one of those spots on opening day.
Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C., and Jay Yelas of Tyler, Texas, trail Carroll by 1 pound, 3 ounces and 1 pound, 9 ounces, respectively.
"I couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this," said Gagliardi, who calls Lake Murray his home water. "People talk about the local jinx, but the way I practice, I always look for something new, and that is what I've done here."
Gagliardi caught five bass weighing 26 pounds, 14 ounces after hitting 25 spots with a black, 1/2-ounce All-Terrain jig. Like Carroll, he also put in about two weeks of practice.
Yelas, who weighed in five bass that tipped the scale to 26 pounds, 8 ounces, estimates his catch to be the third heaviest of his 19-year career.
"When you catch a 7-pounder and an 8-pounder on what was really a pretty tough day of fishing, it's just one of those days where everything goes right," Yelas said. "It's a thrill to catch one of the biggest stringers of my career in one of the biggest tournaments of the year."
Unlike Carroll and Gagliardi, who are fishing deep, Yelas is fishing in less than five feet of water. With $200,000 on the line, however, his lure and specific presentation will remain a secret for now. "It's really a big fish technique, and I was fortunate to catch five of them," Yelas said. "It's mostly an early bite and the lure is key."
Rounding out the top five pros are Terry Segraves of Kissimmee, Fla. (five bass, 22 pounds, 3 ounces) and Katsutoshi Furusawa of Tokyo, Japan (five bass, 21 pounds, 11 ounces).
Danny Correia of Marlborough, Mass., landed the day's Snickers Big Bass award and $750 in the Pro Division with a 9-pound, 5-ounce largemouth.
Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., leads the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 19 pounds, 7 ounces followed by Judy Israel of Clewiston, Fla., with five bass weighing 18 pounds, 14 ounces.
Israel, the first woman to ever win an FLW Tour event and the tour's leading female money winner, earned Snickers Big Bass honors and $500 in the Co-angler Division with an 8-pound largemouth that she caught on a trick worm while fishing with Gagliardi.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are David Brunaugh of Carbondale, Ill. (five bass, 16 pounds, 4 ounces); Mike Bell of Nampa, Idaho (four bass, 14 pounds, 2 ounces) and John Manis of Tullahoma, Tenn. (three bass, 14 pounds, 1 ounce).
Overall, 1,274 bass weighing 2,907 ounces were caught Wednesday, including 155 five-bass limits.
Anglers will take off at 7 each morning from Jake's Landing. Thursday's weigh-in will also be held at Jake's Landing beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday's weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 2401 Augusta Road in Columbia 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.
Pros are competing on the 50,000-acre lake for $200,000 cash and valuable points that could qualify them for a trip to the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship in Birmingham, Ala., for a shot at $500,000 cash - the sport's biggest award. Two hundred co-anglers are competing for a top award of $40,000 cash and a trip to the championship. Overall, 37 states, Japan and Canada are represented.
Anglers compete 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.
Coverage of the Chevy Open, hosted by Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board, will be broadcast to 78 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the "FLW Outdoors" television programs airing March 12 and March 19. "FLW Outdoors" airs Sundays at 11 a.m. Eastern time. "FLW Outdoors" is also broadcast internationally to more than 300 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.
 

Day 2: Carroll Leads 10 Pros into Finals on Murray

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COLUMBIA, S.C. - Lake Murray didn't disappoint Thursday, as 200 pros and 200 co-anglers representing 37 states, Japan and Canada continued their parade of 7-, 8- and 9-pound bass in front of a huge crowd at Jakes Landing. At the end of the day, however, only 10 pros and 10 co-anglers brought in enough weight to advance to the final round of the $1.25 million Chevy Open, and Tim Carroll of Owasso, Okla., held on to his lead with an opening-round total of eight bass weighing 44 pounds, 9 ounces.
The incredible catch is just 5-pounds shy of breaking the 49-8 record set by Castrol pro Darrel Robertson of Jay, Okla., during the tour's last stop on Lake Murray in 2003, and Robertson had 10 bass.
"I didn't go to my best water, and I struggled a little bit," said Carroll, who caught five bass weighing 28-1 Wednesday and three bass weighing 16-8 Thursday. "But, I found a new spot and it coughed up a 9-10, and I think it will cough up some more."
That big bass came at about 10 o'clock and was Carroll's first fish of the morning. "The way I'm fishing, I think it's just going to get better," Carroll said. "This pattern has held up for two weeks now."
So with $200,000 on the line what is the pattern? "Deep with a football head jig," Carroll said. A 3/4-ounce PJ's football head jig fished on 17-pound fluorocarbon to be a bit more specific. Finding the right structure is also a key part of the equation Carroll said.
Carroll's opening day weight, anchored by a 7-pound, 14-ounce largemouth, tied with another Lake Murray limit, caught by pro Stanley Mitchell of Fitzgerald, Ga., during the tour's last visit, as the fourth heaviest in tour history.
"This is my first top 10 in the FLW Tour, and it was a goal of mine to do it, if not win," Carroll said. "The place I have the most confidence in I haven't even fished yet."
Hometown favorite Anthony Gagliardi also posted big numbers in the opening round, advancing as the No. 2 seed with 10 bass weighing 41-14.
"I felt like I had a good opportunity coming into this tournament, and I'm glad that I didn't disappoint," Gagliardi said. "To be able to do this on your home lake is just great. You don't get to many opportunities like that."
Like Carroll, Gagliardi is catching deep-water fish on a jig. He is also drop-shotting a 4-inch finesse worm.
Terry Segraves of Kissimmee, Fla., also broke the 40-pound mark with 10 bas weighing 40-14 that he caught cranking a 1/4-ounce Luhr Jensen Speed Trap. Unlike Carroll and Gagliardi, Segraves fish are coming out of shallow pockets off the main lake. "It's surprising how shallow some of these fish are," he said. "The wind really brought them up."
Rounding out the top five are Benton, Ark., pros Jeremiah Kindy (10 bass, 39-9) fishing for Team Land O'Lakes; and Brennan Bosley (nine bass, 37-10) fishing for Team Wet Ones.
Also clearing the top-10 cut weight of 34-pounds, 9-ounces in the Pro Division were Katsutoshi Furusawa of Tokyo, Japan; Clifford Pirch of Payson, Ariz.; Matt Herren of Trussville, Ala.; David Smith of Del City, Okla.; and David Wolak of Warrior Run, Pa.
Ralph Laster Jr of Lees Summit, Mo., landed 34-9 but lost a tiebreaker to Wolak, who had the heavier one-day catch.
Bosley earned the Energizer Keeps on Going Award of $500 for coming from behind to make the cut after finishing 74th on opening day with four bass weighing 11 pounds, 5 ounces.
Kelly Jordon of Mineola, Texas, landed the day's Snickers Big Bass award and $750 in the Pro Division with a 9-pound, 14-ounce largemouth. He also earned the tournament's overall Snickers Big Bass award of $1,000 and will likely win the season's big bass award of $5,000.
Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., leads the Co-angler Division in the chase for a top award of $40,000 with an opening-round total of nine bass weighing 33-6. He caught five bass weighing 19-7 to lead the field Wednesday then added four bass weighing 13-15 to his total Thursday.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are David Brunaugh of Carbondale, Ill. (nine bass, 23-12); Mike Devere of Berea, Ky. (eight bass, 23-5); Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C. (10 bass, 21-10) and Charles Ward of Greer, S.C. (10 bass, 21-6).
Also clearing the top-10 cut weight of 19 pounds, 4 ounces in the Co-angler Division were Matthew Parker of Whitesburg, Ga.; Judy Israel of Clewiston, Fla.; Sondra Rankin of Paducah, Ky.; Ken Murphy of Meridian, Miss.; and Mark Cummings of Pembroke, N.C.
Homer Stephens of Noblesville, Ind., caught 19-4 but lost the tiebreaker to Cummings, who had the heavier one-day catch.
Thrift, a newcomer to the FLW Tour, won the Stren Series season opener on Lake Okeechobee while fishing as a pro. A few weeks later, he fished his first FLW Tour event and finished sixth in the Co-angler Division.
Israel is the first woman to ever win an FLW Tour event and the tour's leading female money winner.
Randy Clark of Mobile, Ala., earned the day's Snickers Big Bass award of $375 in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 8-pound, 4-ounce largemouth.
Overall, 1,190 bass weighing 2,852 pounds, 3 ounces were caught Thursday, including 143 five-bass limits.
Anglers competing in the tournament hosted by the Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board will take off at 7 each morning from Jake's Landing. Friday and Saturday's weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 2401 Augusta Road in Columbia 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.
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.
Coverage of the Chevy Open will be broadcast to 78 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the "FLW Outdoors" television programs airing March 12 and March 19. "FLW Outdoors" airs Sundays at 11 a.m. Eastern time. "FLW Outdoors" is also broadcast internationally to more than 300 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.
 

Day 3: Bosley Grabs Lead in Chevy Open

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COLUMBIA, S.C. - Opening round leader Tim Carroll of Owasso, Okla., wowed the crowd with a 9-pounder and hometown favorite Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C., drew thunderous applause, but neither man could fend off Brennan Bosley of Benton, Ark., who finished atop the leaderboard Friday with a healthy limit of 3- and 4-pound bass weighing 20 pounds, 15 ounces. If he retains his lead Saturday, Bosley will pocket $200,000 in the $1.25 million Chevy Open on Lake Murray.
Here's the rub. Carroll only caught two fish, and he weighed in 14 pounds, 11 ounces to advance as the No. 3 seed. He also caught several 9-pounders in practice. His pattern could be slipping while Bosley's is improving, but only time will tell. Gagliardi isn't likely to go down without a fight, either, as he has posted solid numbers all week, including five bass weighing 19 pounds Friday, to retain the No. 2 spot. Each of the top-three contenders has brought more than 26 pounds to the scale at least once this week.
"There are so many fish out there in the 6 to 8 pound range that someone could zero today and still win this thing," said Bosley, a fourth-year pro who fishes for Team Wet Ones. "I would not be surprised at all to see a limit over 40 pounds come in. I just hope it's me."
Bosley is cranking a Bomber Deep Flat A on 10-pound-test fluorocarbon while Gagliardi and Carroll are using jigs to catch bass in deep water. Gagliardi is also drop-shotting a 4-inch finesse worm.
"Every bite I get is a reaction bite," Bosley said. "The bait runs about 7 feet deep, bumps the top of a rock in 8 or 9 feet, and I get a strike."
In an interesting twist, Gagliardi won the tour's 2004 stop on Kentucky Lake after trailing Bosley on opening day of the final round. Terry Segraves of Kissimmee, Fla., who is currently in ninth place, also finished in the top 10 on Kentucky Lake in 2004.
Bosley's journey into the final round got off to a shaky start Wednesday when he caught just four bass weighing 11-5 and finished the day 74th. He jumped into fifth place Thursday, however, with five bass weighing 26-5 that pushed his opening-round total to nine bass weighing 37-10. Bosley also earned the Energizer Keeps on Going Award of $500 for coming from the furthest behind to make the top-10 cut.
Rounding out the top five pros are David Wolak of Warrior, Pa. (five bass, 12-12) and Clifford Pirch of Payson, Ariz. (four bass, 10-2).
Charles Ward of Greer, S.C., captured the co-angler title and $40,000 Friday with five bass weighing 10 pounds, 6 ounces that he caught behind Bosley. He caught the bass on a 1/4-ounce J & M Custom Lures shaky-head jig rigged with a Zoom green pumpkin finesse worm on 10-pound-test fluorocarbon line.
"Today I was the best water I've seen all week," said Ward, who has earned three FLW Tour top-10s since 2002. "It was deep and conducive for a co-angler to fish. I grew up in Columbia and have fished Lake Murray for years. At one point we fished in an area where I caught my first bass ever over 6 pounds."
Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Sondra Rankin of Paducah, Ky. (three bass, 8-6, $20,000); Mark Cummings of Pembroke, Ky. (two bass, 5-13, $10,000); Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C. (one bass, 5-4, $9,000); and Mike Devere of Berea, Ky. (two bass, 4-13, $8,000).
Overall, 55 bass weighing 154 pounds, including five five-bass limits, were caught Friday by the 10 pro and 10 co-angler finalists.
The 10 remaining pros competing in the Chevy Open hosted by the Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board will take off at 7 Saturday morning from Jake's Landing. Saturday's weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 2401 Augusta Road in Columbia beginning at 4 p.m.
The community is invited to attend the free Family Fun Zone 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.
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.
Coverage of the Chevy Open will be broadcast to 78 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the "FLW Outdoors" television programs airing March 12 and March 19. "FLW Outdoors" airs Sundays at 11 a.m. Eastern time. "FLW Outdoors" is also broadcast internationally to more than 300 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 members stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
 

Day 4: Gagliardi Breaks Record, Wins Chevy Open

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (Feb. 11, 2006) - Ten bass, 47-pounds, 4-ounces. Put it in the record books. It's the heaviest final-round catch in Wal-Mart FLW Tour history, and it belongs to Prosperity, S.C., pro Anthony Gagliardi, who captured the Chevy Open title on Lake Murray Saturday, winning $200,000.
The single-day weight record of 29 pounds, 6 ounces also fell Saturday when Tim Carroll of Owasso, Okla., placed five bass weighing 30-15 on the scale. If a record were kept for the most 8- and 9-pounders in a single tournament, Carroll would likely own that, too, after weighing bass over 8 pounds on three out of four days. The big bass were not enough to fend off Gagliardi, however, as the hometown favorite placed a 28-pound, 4-ounce limit on the scale Saturday to win his second FLW Tour title.
Lake Murray now owns the tour's opening round weight record of 49-8, set by Castrol pro Darrel Robertson of Jay, Okla., during the tour's last stop there in 2003, and the final-round record, set by Gagliardi Saturday. Gagliardi's final-round total topped the previous record of 47-1, set by David Fritts of Lexington, N.C., on Lake Eufaula in 1997.
Gagliardi started the tournament with a limit weighing 26-14 to place second behind Carroll, who caught a limit weighing 28-1. On day two, Gagliardi added five bass weighing 15 pounds to his opening-round total to advance to the finals as the No. 2 seed with 10 bass weighing 41-14. Once again, he trailed Carroll, who advanced in the No. 1 position with eight bass weighing 44-9.
Day three was Brennan Bosley's turn to shine, as the Team Wet Ones pro from Benton, Ark., grabbed the lead with five bass weighing 20-15. Once again, Gagliardi finished second with five bass weighing 19 pounds, and Carroll slipped to third with three bass weighing 14-11.
"I really lost this tournament on day three," said Carroll, a fourth-year pro making his first top-10 appearance in FLW Tour competition. "I had several fish pull off Friday, and any one of those would have been a $200,000 fish. That's easy to say in hindsight, but going down in the record books for the heaviest one-day weight in history is truly amazing."
Carroll advanced to the final round using a 3/4-ounce PJ's football head jig tied to 17-pound-test fluorocarbon. After missing several fish on Friday, however, he switched to a Texas-rigged 8-inch Yamamoto grub in watermelon color to set a new record Saturday. He used a 3/8-ounce weight and worked the grub down a secondary point that dropped dramatically from 17 feet to 30 feet and then from 30 feet to 40 feet. The point was situated off the main lake and was cluttered with stumps and other structure. Despite his record setting performance, Carroll finished the tournament in third and collected $50,000 with a two-day total of eight bass weighing 45-10.
Gagliardi, who has earned five top-10 finishes, including Saturday's win and a win at the FLW Tour stop on Kentucky Lake in 2004, used a variety of baits, including a Brian's Bee model B10 crankbait in chartreuse and root beer color, to set the final-round record and come from behind for the biggest win of his career. He also used a black 1/2-ounce All-Terrain jig and a Spot Remover jig tipped with a Reaction Innovations green pumpkin flirt. He ran the crankbait through 9 feet of water on a secondary point and fished the jigs in 18 to 30 feet of water around brush and rock piles.
"Kentucky Lake was my first win, but there is no comparison," Gagliardi said. "All those big fish coming out of the livewells at the same time today had my nerves worked up. To break the final-round weight record and win the tournament at the same time is an amazing feeling."
Bosley slipped to second and collected $100,000 with a final-round total of 10 bass weighing 45-12. He caught five bass weighing 24-13 Saturday. His bass came on a Bomber Deep Flat A tied to 10-pound-test fluorocarbon. He was bumping the bait off rocks in 8 to 10 feet of water to trigger reaction bites.
Rounding out the top five pros were Dave Wolak of Warrior Run, Pa. (10 bass, 25-1, $40,000) and Land O'Lakes pro Jeremiah Kindy of Benton, Ark. (eight bass, 21-12, $30,000).
Charles Ward of Greer, S.C., captured the co-angler title and $40,000 Friday with five bass weighing 10 pounds, 6 ounces that he caught behind Bosley. He caught the bass on a 1/4-ounce J & M Custom Lures shaky-head jig rigged with a Zoom green pumpkin finesse worm on 10-pound-test fluorocarbon line.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Sondra Rankin of Paducah, Ky. (three bass, 8-6, $20,000); Mark Cummings of Pembroke, Ky. (two bass, 5-13, $10,000); Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C. (one bass, 5-4, $9,000); and Mike Devere of Berea, Ky. (two bass, 4-13, $8,000).
Overall, 42 bass weighing 156 pounds, 13 ounces, including six five-bass limits, were caught Saturday by the 10 pro finalists.
The next FLW Tour stop will be a $900,000 tournament presented by A&W Root Beer on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala., March 1-4. The $1.25 million Wal-Mart Open powered by Tyson will visit Beaver Lake in Rogers, Ark., April 5-8, then it's off to Kentucky Lake May 10-13 for a $900,000 tournament presented by Pedigree. The final regular-season stop, a $900,000 tournament presented by Kellogg's, runs June 21-24 on Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Each tournament takes the world's best anglers a step closer 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 Chevy Open, featuring 400 anglers representing 37 states, Japan, Canada and Australia, will be broadcast to 78 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the "FLW Outdoors" television programs airing March 12 and March 19. "FLW Outdoors" airs Sundays at 11 a.m. Eastern time. "FLW Outdoors" is also broadcast internationally to more than 300 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.

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Compiled by Brandon Shook