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FLW Tour: Lake Travis, TX

FLW Tour Event # 1 of 6

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

Day 1: Wendlandt Leads FLW Tour on Lake Travis

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AUSTIN, Texas – Hometown favorite Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas, drew cheers from an appreciative crowd Thursday when he crossed the stage at Highland Lakes Marina with a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 3 ounces to lead day one of the $1 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour event presented by Kellogg’s on Lake Travis. Fishing for Team Kellogg’s, Wendlandt now holds a 3-pound, 13-ounce lead in the tournament featuring 200 pros and 200 co-anglers from 37 states, Australia, Italy, Japan and Spain.

“It’s a great start,” said Wendlandt, who is the tour’s only two-time Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year winner. “When things go right, things go right. I caught two big fish on my first spot this morning and everything went well from there. After I fished that spot, I just went practicing for the rest of the tournament. I wasn’t expecting to catch fish like I did today. There are a lot of fish in this lake, and I’m looking forward to what the rest of the event holds.

“It’s pretty awesome to be leading in front of a hometown crowd. I have always dreamed of fishing a big tournament with such high payouts here on my home water,” he said.

Wendlandt is fishing a combination of shallow and deep water, throwing an array of soft-plastics and jigs.

Bill Chapman of Salt Rock, W.Va., trails Wendlandt in the No. 2 spot with five bass weighing 13-6.

Rounding out the top five pros are team Banana Boat pro Kevin Vida of Clare, Mich. (five bass, 13-6); Jerry Green of Del Rio, Texas (five bass, 13-2) and Kellogg’s pro Dave Lefebre of Union City, Pa. (five bass, 12-13).

Green also earned the day’s $750 Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 5-pound, 1-ounce bass.

Overall there were 771 bass weighing 1,232 pounds, 12 ounces caught by 192 pros Thursday. The catch included 110 five-bass limits.

Pros are competing for a top award of $125,000 this week plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by Castrol in Hot Springs, Ark., Aug. 2-5, where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award. The top 40 pros after six qualifying events will advance to the Forrest Wood Cup.

Clint Bridges of Round Rock, Texas, leads the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 13-11 followed by Timothy Sisk of Cherryville, N.C., in second place with five bass weighing 11-4.

“These big fish are really rare,” said Bridges, a Lake Travis guide who is fishing in his first FLW Tour event. “I had my limit by noon and culled another limit by check-in. I’m excited about the rest of the event. I have a lot of confidence in this body of water and the baits I am throwing.”

Bridges caught his bass using a Carolina-rig while fishing with Fujifilm pro Sam Sweat of Covington, La., who is currently in 48th place with five bass weighing 8-2.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are John Cantale of Panama City, Fla. (five bass, 9-12); Mark Phillips of Fayetteville, Ark. (five bass, 9-8) and Rob Digh of Denver, N.C. (five bass, 9-6).

Bridges also earned $500 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to an impressive 7-pound, 11-ounce bass. If the bass holds up Friday as the biggest of the two-day opening round, Bridges will earn an additional $1,000.

Overall there were 434 bass weighing 627 pounds, 5 ounces caught by 162 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included 29 five-bass limits.

Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $25,000 this week.

Anglers will take off at 7 Friday morning from Highland Lakes Marina. On Saturday and Sunday, they will launch at 7 a.m. from Mansfield Dam. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at Highland Lakes Marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Austin Convention Center located at 500 E. Cesar Chavez Street in Austin beginning at 4 p.m.

Prior to the weigh-ins Saturday and Sunday, FLW Outdoors will host a free Family Fun Zone and outdoor show at the Austin Convention Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. The Family Fun Zone is a chance for fishing fans to meet their favorite anglers and review the latest products from Berkley, Lowrance, Ranger, Evinrude, Yamaha and other manufacturers while children are treated to fishing themed games and rides like the Ranger Boat simulator. The first 300 children 14 and under visiting the Family Fun Zone Saturday will also receive a free FLW Outdoors hat from KASE 101 FM. On Sunday, 98.1 KVET FM will give the first 300 children 14 and under visiting the Family Fun Zone a free rod and reel combo.

The full field competes in the two-day opening round for 10 slots in Saturday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Saturday’s weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Sunday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.

Results: http://flw.flwoutdoors.com/tournament.cfm?cid=1&t=results

Day 2: Lefebre Leads on Lake Travis

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AUSTIN, Texas. – Team Kellogg’s pro Dave Lefebre of Union City, Pa., caught a five-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 13 ounces Friday to capture the lead in the $1 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour event presented by Kellogg’s on Lake Travis with a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 26-10. He now holds a 1-pound, 1-ounce lead in the tournament featuring 200 pros and 200 co-anglers representing 37 states, Australia, Italy, Japan and Spain.
“This is great. I’m shocked at how my day went,” said Lefebre, who has 27 FLW Outdoors top-10s, including four wins, and $588,228 in career earnings since 2001. “In practice I had a lot of pressure on my main spots, but when competition started, I’ve had the whole place all to myself. My limit today happened real fast. I was practicing for the rest of the event by 8:30 this morning. I am catching them quick and leaving the area trying to save a few fish for the remainder of the tournament.”
Lefebre has been throwing small finesse jigs with ultra-light line in both deep and shallow water over the last two days to catch his quality-sized, tournament limits of bass.
“I’ve tried both shallow and deep over the last two days and they have both been productive. I have been finding what depth the fish are first thing in the mornings, and then I will run that pattern the rest of the day,” he said.
Also fishing for Team Kellogg’s, Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas, advanced to the final round of 10 pros in the No. 2 spot with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 25-9. On opening day, he led the tournament with a huge 17 pound, 3 ounce limit.
“This is probably the biggest two-day stringer I have ever caught in a tournament on this lake,” said Wendlandt, who is a two-time Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year Award winner. “I kind of changed my approach up today. I tried something totally different than what I did yesterday. I have a few places in mind that I haven’t even been to yet for the rest of the week. I just hope they weren’t beat up to bad. I am just glad I made it this far and look forward to tomorrow.”
Wendlandt, who was fishing mainly jigs on day one, made a switch for Friday to throwing crankbaits around shallow rock piles.
Rounding out the top five pros who will continue competition Saturday and Sunday are Jerry Green of Del Rio, Texas (10 bass, 24-3); Craig Dowling of Madison, Ala. (10 bass, 22-12); and Ron Shuffield of Bismarck, Ark. (10 bass, 22-6).
Also clearing the top-10 cut weight of 21 pounds were pros Ott Defoe of Knoxville, Tenn.; Darrel Robertson of Jay, Okla.; Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C.; Aaron Hastings of Middletown, Md., and Tracy Adams of Wilkesboro, N.C.
National Guard pro Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., earned the day’s $750 Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to an 8-pound, 12-ounce bass. The fish also earned him the tournament’s overall big bass award of $1,000.
All told, there were 679 bass weighing 1,058 pounds, 7 ounces caught by 191 pros Friday. The catch included 77 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing for a top award of $125,000 this week plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by Castrol in Hot Springs, Ark., Aug. 2-5, where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million – the sport’s biggest award. The top 40 pros after three $1 million qualifiers and three $1.5 million opens will advance to the Forrest Wood Cup.
Mark Phillips of Fayetteville, Ark., leads the Co-angler Division with an opening-round total of nine bass weighing 15 pounds, 10 ounces, followed by Shawn Stewart of Pflugerville, Texas, in second place with 10 bass weighing 14-5.
“I struggled a little bit today,” said Phillips, who has three top-10s in FLW Outdoors competition since 2003. “I was fishing deep water yesterday and shallow water today. I just had to adjust to what was working. Overall, I’m fishing really well and happy to be out here doing this. It is a real thrill to compete at this level.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Ken Murphy of Meridian, Miss. (10 bass, 14-3); Jess Caraballo of Danbury, Conn. (10 bass, 13-15) and Clint Bridges of Round Rock, Texas (five bass,13-11).
Also clearing the top-10 cut weight of 12 pounds in the Co-angler Division were Adam Lock of Metropolis, Ill.; Joan Arnal of Barcelona, Spain; Timothy Sisk of Cherryville, N.C.; Frank Divis Sr. of Fayetteville, Ark., and Doug Caldwell of Kane, Pa.
Chad Hicks of Rockville, Va., earned $500 for the day’s Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 7-pound, 11-ounce bass he caught while fishing with pro Matt Herren of Trussville, Ala.
Overall there were 369 bass weighing 529 pounds, 3 ounces caught by 159 co-anglers Friday. The catch included 16 five-bass limits.
Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $25,000 this week.
Anglers will take off at 7 Saturday and Sunday morning from Mansfield Dam Park followed by 4 p.m. weigh-ins at the Austin Convention Center located at 500 E. Cesar Chavez Street in Austin.
Prior to the weigh-ins, FLW Outdoors will host a free Family Fun Zone and outdoor show at the Austin Convention Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. The Family Fun Zone is a chance for fishing fans to meet their favorite anglers and review the latest products from Berkley, Lowrance, Ranger, Evinrude, Yamaha and other manufacturers while children are treated to fishing themed games and rides like the Ranger Boat simulator. The first 300 children 14 and under visiting the Family Fun Zone Saturday will also receive a free FLW Outdoors hat from KASE 101 FM. On Sunday, 98.1 KVET FM will give the first 300 children 14 and under visiting the Family Fun Zone a free rod and reel combo.
Sunday’s festivities will also include the CBS 42 Celebrity Challenge tournament featuring Austin area residents Linda Crelia, Weldon Klenke, Bonifacio Velasquez , Scott Morales and Ben Watkins fishing with FLW Tour pros and local celebrities, including CBS anchors Ron Oliveirs and Kim Miller, Texas Outdoor Zone host TJ Greaney and Spike from the Round Rock Express, to benefit Lake Travis conservation efforts. Crelia, Klenke, Velasquez, Morales and Watkins won a CBS 42 sweepstakes last week to participate in the event. The winner of the Celebrity Challenge will receive $500 and have $5,000 donated in his or her honor to the FishAmerica Foundation. Takeoff for the Celebrity Challenge is at 9 a.m. at Mansfield Dam Park with the weigh-in taking place at the Austin Convention Center at 3 p.m.
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 full field competes Thursday and Friday for 10 slots in Saturday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared Saturday, and co-angler competition concludes following Saturday’s weigh-in with the winner determined by the day’s heaviest catch. The top 10 pros continue competition Sunday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from Saturday and Sunday.
 

Day 3: Hastings Leads FLW Tour Event on Lake Travis

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AUSTIN, Texas – Aaron Hastings of Middletown, Md., caught a five-bass limit weighing 9 pounds, 15 ounces Saturday to take the lead after squeaking into the final round of the $1 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour event presented by Kellogg’s on Lake Travis. Hastings, who qualified as the ninth of 10 final-round competitors, now holds a 2-pound, 3-ounce lead over pretournament favorite Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas, heading into the final day of competition for a top award of $125,000.

“It feels good to be leading, but I’ll feel a whole lot better after tomorrow,” said Hastings, who is making his first top 10 appearance since joining the FLW Tour in 2006. “I didn’t know anything about the lake when I got here, but I did my homework. The whole key is to fish slowly. I think I managed my fish well this week, and I hope it pays off.”

Hastings has been fishing a drop-shot rig in 18 to 25 feet of water around contour breaks under floating docks.

Fishing for Team Kellogg’s, Wendlandt caught a five-bass limit weighing 7 pounds, 12 ounces skipping finesse jigs around boat docks to advance to the final round as the No. 2 seed.

“It feels great to be in second place, but I would rather be leading,” said Wendlandt, a two-time Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year award winner. “I still feel like I have a great chance to win this. I don’t have just one spot to key on, I have the whole lake. I just fish where it feels right.”

Rounding out the top 10 pros are Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C. (five bass, 7-6); Kellogg’s pro Dave Lefebre of Union City, Pa. (five bass, 6-8); Craig Dowling of Madison, Ala. (four bass, 5-8); PTSI pro Ron Shuffield of Bismarck, Ark. (two bass, 5-5); Ott Defoe (four bass, 4-12); BFGoodrich Tires pro Jerry Green of Del Rio, Texas (two bass, 3-8); Castrol pro Darrel Robertson of Jay, Okla. (one bass, 1-7) and BP pro Tracy Adams of Wilkesboro, N.C. (one bass, 1-6).

Overall there were 34 bass weighing 53 pounds, 7 ounces caught in the Pro Division Saturday. The catch included four five-bass limits.

Frank Divis Sr. of Fayetteville, Ark., won the Co-angler Division and $25,000 Saturday with five bass weighing 8 pounds, 11 ounces followed by Doug Caldwell of Kane, Pa., in second place with five bass weighing 6-14 worth $10,000.

Divis opened the tournament in 37th place Thursday with four bass weighing 5-8 while fishing with pro Fred Cantaoi of Lakeport, Calif. On Friday he jumped to ninth place on the strength of a five-bass catch weighing 6-9 while fishing with National Guard pro Jonathon Newton of Rogersville, Ala. He wrapped up his win while fishing with Aaron Hastings.

“It feels awesome,” said Divis, who is no stranger to the weigh-in stage after winning a Stren Series Championship in 1999 as well as another tour victory in 2001. “I had an overwhelming feeling coming into this event that I would win, but I barley made it into the top 10, and I was worried. I know what all these guys are capable of, and I knew that I could not afford to make too many mistakes.

“This is going to help me buy my daughter a new car, pay some bills and keep fishing. I have already qualified for the Forrest Wood Cup, so now I’m just here fishing for fun,” he said.

Divis won the tournament using a drop-shot rigged Bassmedics finesse worm in watermelon candy color. He qualified for the final round, however, using a PJ’s Finesse Baits 3/4-ounce football head jig – the same bait that has earned him more than $130,000 in his career. Divis fished the jig with a Net Bait Paca chunk trailer.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers are Gain angler Jess Caraballo of Danbury, Conn. (three bass, 3-7, $9,000); Timothy Sisk of Cherryville, N.C. (two bass, 3-3, $8,000); Ken Murphy of Meridian, Miss. (two bass, 2-6, $7,000); Castrol angler Mark Phillips of Fayetteville, Ark. (two bass, 2 pounds, $6,000); Joan Arnal of Barcelona, Spain (one bass, 1-1, $5,000); Adam Lock of Metropolis, Ill. (one bass, 14 ounces, $4,000); Shawn Stewart of Pflugerville, Texas (no bass, $3,000) and Clint Bridges of Round Rock, Texas (no bass, $2,000).

Overall there were 21 bass weighing 28 pounds, 8 ounces caught in the Co-angler Division Saturday. The catch included two five-bass limits.

Anglers will take off at 7 Sunday morning from Mansfield Dam Park. Sunday’s weigh-in will be held at the Austin Convention Center located at 500 Cesar Chavez Street in Austin beginning at 4 p.m.

 

Day 4: Hastings Wins FLW Tour Event on Lake Travis

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AUSTIN, Texas – Pro Aaron Hastings of Middletown, Md., caught a final-round total of 10 bass weighing 19 pounds, 9 ounces to win $125,000 in the $1 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour event presented by Kellogg’s on Lake Travis. Hastings topped his closest rival, Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., by more than 2 pounds to lead all FLW Tour pros in the chase for the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup in Hot Springs, Ark., where the winner will earn as much as $1 million – the biggest award in bass fishing – on Aug. 5.

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” said Hastings, who was competing in his first ever FLW Tour top-10. “I am totally pumped about this. I am also a pretty good rhythm fisherman, so hopefully I can carry over some of this momentum to Knoxville. I had total faith in my ability this week; I just had to keep my confidence up. I fished slow, stayed patient, got the right bites, and it all paid off.

“Winning such a prestigious event is great, but I would love to close my eyes right now and be home with my family in Maryland. Family is really what this sport is about,” he said.

Hastings opened the tournament Thursday in ninth place with five bass weighing 11-1. He then stayed in ninth place Friday with a five-bass catch weighing 10 pounds and advanced to the final round of 10 pros with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 21-1. On Saturday weights were cleared and Hastings caught five bass weighing 9-15 to advance to the final day of competition in first place. Hastings added another five bass weighing 9-10 to his final-round total Sunday to win his first FLW Tour title.

Hastings fished in the same area all week covering all the same water and structure everyday. The only thing he changed was his baits. In the first round, he was throwing tubes and jigs around contour breaks in 15 to 25 feet of water. In the final round his bite changed drastically, forcing him to fish smaller with drop-shot rigs and finesse worms.

Thrift caught a final-round total of 10 bass weighing 17-15 to claim second place and $50,000.

“This is awesome,” said Thrift, who was fishing floating boat docks all week with football head jigs and drop-shots. “I’m not greedy. I will settle for second place and $50,000.

“I am getting married July 21, so this money will definitely not go to waste, it will probably go toward a new house,” he said.

Rounding out the top 10 pros were Craig Dowling of Madison, Ala. (nine bass, 15-5, $40,000); Kellogg’s pro Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas (seven bass, 13-11, $30,000); PTSI Quality Transportation pro Ron Shuffield of Bismark, Ark. (seven bass, 13-8, $20,000); Ott Defoe of Knoxville, Tenn. (nine bass, 11-5, $19,000); Kellogg’s pro Dave Lefebre of Union City, Pa. (nine bass, 11-3, $18,000); Castrol pro Darrel Robertson of Jay, Okla. (six bass, 10-14, $17,000); BFGoodrich Tires pro Jerry Green of Del Rio, Texas (seven bass, 10-9, $16,000) and BP pro Tracy Adams of Wilkesboro, N.C. (six bass, 6-9, $15,000).

Overall there were 46 bass weighing 77 pounds, 1 ounce caught in the Pro Division Sunday. The catch included eight five-bass limits.

Sunday’s festivities also included the CBS 42 Celebrity Challenge tournament featuring Austin area residents fishing with FLW Tour pros and local celebrities. The team of Fujifilm pro Joel Richardson, Bonifacio Velasquez and Spike from the Round Rock Express won the Celebrity Challenge with a three-bass catch weighing 5-10. In honor of the team’s win, CBS 42 donated $5,000 to the FishAmerica Foundation to benefit Lake Travis conservation projects. Velasquez also received $500 for winning the tournament.

On Saturday, Frank Divis Sr. of Fayetteville, Ark., won the Co-angler Division and $25,000 with five bass weighing 8 pounds, 11 ounces followed by Doug Caldwell of Kane, Pa., in second place with five bass weighing 6-14 worth $10,000.

Divis opened the tournament in 37th place Thursday with four bass weighing 5-8 while fishing with pro Fred Cantaoi of Lakeport, Calif. On Friday he jumped to ninth place on the strength of a five-bass catch weighing 6-9 while fishing with National Guard pro Jonathon Newton of Rogersville, Ala. He wrapped up his win while fishing with Hastings.

Divis won the tournament using a drop-shot rigged Bassmedics finesse worm in watermelon candy color. He qualified for the final round, however, using a PJ’s Finesse Baits 3/4-ounce football head jig – the same bait that has earned him more than $130,000 in his career. Divis fished the jig with a Net Bait Paca chunk trailer.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were Gain angler Jess Caraballo of Danbury, Conn. (three bass, 3-7, $9,000); Timothy Sisk of Cherryville, N.C. (two bass, 3-3, $8,000); Ken Murphy of Meridian, Miss. (two bass, 2-6, $7,000); Castrol angler Mark Phillips of Fayetteville, Ark. (two bass, 2 pounds, $6,000); Joan Arnal of Barcelona, Spain (one bass, 1-1, $5,000); Adam Lock of Metropolis, Ill. (one bass, 14 ounces, $4,000); Shawn Stewart of Pflugerville, Texas (no bass, $3,000) and Clint Bridges of Round Rock, Texas (no bass, $2,000).

Coverage of the Lake Travis tournament will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing March 18 and 25. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to more than 350 million households in the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, making it the most widely distributed weekly fishing program 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.

The next FLW Tour stop, presented by BP, will be held on Fort Loudoun Lake in Knoxville, Tenn., March 29-April 1.

 

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Compiled by Brandon Shook