KISSIMMEE, Fla., March 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Professional
angler J.T. Kenney of Palm Bay, Florida, brought a five-bass limit
to the scale Friday weighing 22 pounds, 9 ounces to extend his lead
at the Walmart FLW Tour at Lake Toho presented by Mercury. Kenney's
two-day cumulative weight of 52-7 gives him a substantial 12-pound,
10-ounce lead over second-place pro Stacey King of Reeds Spring,
Missouri, who has a two-day weight of 10 bass worth 39-13 as the
tournament heads into the third day of competition. The field is
now cut to the top 20 in the four-day event that features 154 of
the best bass-fishing anglers in the world casting for the top cash
award of up to $125,000.
Link to photo of pro leader J.T. Kenney
"It was definitely a little tougher out there today," said
Kenney, who has three career victories in FLW competition. "I went
to a lot of the fish that I had marked and a lot of them didn't
bite. Luckily, 22 pounds of them still did."
Kenney said that his morning bite was extremely slow but
improved as the sun came out and the day progressed. He didn't fill
his limit until 11 a.m. today.
"I had five decent bass today, and I had two real good ones get
off," Kenney said. "I'm really doing some serious fish management.
I've got some back up stuff that's not spawning fish that I haven't
even touched yet. And I've got a lot more spawning fish marked that
I haven't gone to. I don't think I've got anything that will
produce another 30-pound bag like yesterday, but I'm going to catch
some more good ones."
The top 20 pros that made the Buck Knives Cut and will fish
Saturday on Lake Toho are:
1st:
|
J.T. Kenney, Palm
Bay, Fla., 10 bass, 52-7
|
2nd:
|
Stacey King, Reeds
Spring, Mo., 10 bass, 39-13
|
3rd:
|
Quaker State pro
Scott Canterbury, Springville, Ala., 10 bass, 38-14
|
4th:
|
Alex Davis,
Albertville, Ala., 10 bass, 34-14
|
5th:
|
Bridgford Foods pro
Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., 10 bass, 34-7
|
6th:
|
Ramie Colson Jr.,
Cadiz, Ky., 10 bass, 34-1
|
7th:
|
Shane Lehew,
Mooresville, N.C., 10 bass, 33-2
|
8th:
|
Stetson Blaylock,
Benton, Ark., 10 bass, 33-1
|
9th:
|
Brad Knight, Lancing,
Tenn., 10 bass, 32-15
|
10th:
|
Wesley Strader,
Spring City, Tenn., 10 bass, 32-15
|
11th:
|
Lionel Botha, Fort
Pierce, Fla., 10 bass, 32-12
|
12th:
|
Keystone Light pro
Jeff Sprague, Point, Texas, 10 bass, 32-10
|
13th:
|
James Biggs, Euless,
Texas, 10 bass, 32-0
|
14th:
|
Bridgford Foods pro
Randy Blaukat, Joplin, Mo., 10 bass, 32-0
|
15th:
|
Mark Daniels Jr.,
Tuskegee, Ala., 10 bass, 31-15
|
16th:
|
Zack Birge,
Blanchard, Okla., 10 bass, 31-13
|
17th:
|
Marshall Deakins,
Dunlap, Tenn., 10 bass, 31-9
|
18th:
|
Troy Morrow,
Eastanollee, Ga., 10 bass, 31-3
|
19th:
|
Travis Fox, Rogers,
Ark., 10 bass, 30-13
|
20th:
|
Bridgford Foods pro
Matthew Stefan, Junction City, Wis., 10 bass, 30-12
|
For a full list of results visit FLWFishing.com.
Colson won the Bridgford Big Bass Award on the pro side Friday
with a monster bass weighing 11 pounds even – tying the record for
the third largest bass ever weighed in FLW Tour competition – to
win the $500 prize.
Stefan was named the Buck Knives Cut winner and awarded the
limited edition FLW Buck Knife that is given to the 20th place pro
following the day two weigh-in at each FLW Tour event.
Overall there were 684 bass weighing 1,536 pounds, 9 ounces
caught by 152 pros Friday. The catch included 117 five-bass
limits.
David Smith of Del City, Oklahoma, was forced to withdraw
from the competition due to illness.
Bridgford Foods co-angler Chad
Randles of Elkhorn,
Nebraska, won the co-angler division and $20,000 Friday with a two-day total of 10 bass
weighing 29 pounds, 15 ounces, followed by Mark Holman of Cornelius, North Carolina, in second place
with nine bass weighing 27 pounds, 11 ounces worth $7,500.
"I'm ecstatic right now," said Randles. "I wasn't able to catch
a limit at all in three days of practice. I wasn't sure how my week
was going to pan out, but to come out here and get the win is just
awesome."
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st:
|
Chad Randles,
Elkhorn, Neb., 10 bass, 29-15, $20,000
|
2nd:
|
Mark Holman,
Cornelius, N.C., nine bass, 27-11, $7,500
|
3rd:
|
John Hunter,
Shelbyville, Ky., nine bass, 27-7, $5,000
|
4th:
|
Lee Black, Danville,
Ala., 10 bass, 23-13, $4,000
|
5th:
|
Billy Dehart,
Burlingame, Calif., eight bass, 23-8, $3,000
|
6th:
|
Joshua Weaver, Macon,
Ga., 10 bass, 22-5, $2,500
|
7th:
|
Brian Burgess, Palm
City, Fla., five bass, 21-15, $2,000
|
8th:
|
Sean Richards, Carson
City, Nev., 10 bass, 21-5, $1,800
|
9th:
|
Mike Devere, Berea,
Ky., nine bass, 20-11, $1,700
|
10th:
|
Josh Smith, Hamilton,
Ohio, nine bass, 20-10, $1,600
|
For a full list of results visit FLWFishing.com.
Burgess caught Friday's Bridgford Big Bass in the co-angler
division weighing 8 pounds, 6 ounces to win the $250 prize.
Overall there were 442 bass weighing 767 pounds, 12 ounces
caught by co-anglers Friday. The catch included 43 five-bass
limits.
In addition to casting for top awards of up to $125,000 cash in the pro division and up to
$25,000 cash in the co-angler
division, anglers are also competing this week for valuable points
in hopes of qualifying for the 2015 Forrest Wood Cup, the world
championship of bass fishing. The 2015 Forrest Wood Cup will be in
Hot Springs, Arkansas,
Aug. 20-23 on Lake Ouachita and is
hosted by Visit Hot Springs. The Forrest Wood Cup Champion could
win as much as $500,000 –
professional bass-fishing's richest prize.
Anglers will take off from Big Toho Marina located at 69
Lakeview Drive in Kissimmee at
7:30 a.m. on Saturday and at
7:45 a.m. on Sunday's final take off.
Saturday and Sunday's final weigh-ins will be held at the marina
beginning at 4 p.m.
Fans will also be treated to the FLW Expo on Saturday and Sunday
from noon to 4 p.m. at Big Toho
Marina prior to the final weigh-ins. The Expo includes a
Ranger boat simulator, the opportunity
to interact with professional anglers, enjoy interactive games,
activities and giveaways provided by sponsors, and learn more about
the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities. All activities
are free and open to the public.
In conjunction with the FLW Expo, the FLW "Get Outdoors.
Go Fish!" Youth Fishing Derby will
also be held at Big Toho Marina on Saturday from noon –
3 p.m. The derby is free and open to
area youth 15 years of age and younger. FLW Tour pros who are not
one of the top 20 anglers that make the Buck Knives Cut will be on
hand to assist the youth. Pros Rich
Dalbey and Todd Hollowell's
"Hooked on Helping" foundation will also be hosting a food drive to
benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. FLW fans who donate five or more
cans of food will be entered to win a $50 Walmart gift card.
Coverage of the Lake Toho
tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports
Network (NBCSN) when Season 20 of "FLW" premieres Sept. 28 from 7 p.m.-8
p.m. ET. The Emmy-nominated "FLW" television show airs on
NBCSN, the Pursuit Channel and the World Fishing Network and is
broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it
the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show
in the world.
For complete details and updated information visit
FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and
more, follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on
Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.
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. For more information about FLW visit FLWFishing.com
and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
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SOURCE FLW