CLEWISTON, Fla. (Jan. 27, 2016) – The first tournament of the 21st season of the Walmart FLW Tour, the most competitive Tour in professional bass-fishing, kicks off Feb. 4-7 with the Walmart FLW Tour at Lake Okeechobee presented by Ranger Boats.
Hosted by Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina & Resort and the Hendry County Tourism Development Council, the tournament will feature 169 of the world’s best bass-fishing professionals and co-anglers 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.
Local professional anglers Terry Bolton and Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ramie Colson Jr. of Cadiz, Dalton Cooksey of New Concord and Brandon Hunter of Benton, will be among the 170 anglers competing on the FLW Tour this season. 2016 will mark Bolton and Morehead’s 21st, Colson’s 12th, Cooksey’s second and Hunter’s fourth season fishing as professionals on the FLW Tour.
One of the anglers competing against the western Kentucky contingent is 16-year FLW Tour veteran Scott Martin, the defending FLW Tour Angler of the Year, who lives on Lake Okeechobee and is considered an early favorite.
“I think that this Tour event is going to be a fantastic tournament,” said Martin. “The fish will have adjusted to the colder temperatures and I believe we are going to see a lot of fish caught. Water levels are up and it has really opened up a lot of new areas, which is very interesting. The water coming up 6 inches on Lake Okeechobee is a lot. The fish are much further back than they normally would be and with the right warming trend we could see a lot of those fish spawning in areas they haven’t been to in years.”
Martin said that standard springtime Okeechobee baits would be in play for tournament anglers. He divulged that he’ll be flipping a Tightlines UV Punch with a big 1½- or 2-ounce weight and throwing a Bruiser Baits Super Swimmer swimbait.
Martin also mentioned that he would have various topwater and prop baits rigged up along with moving baits like lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits, Z-Man ChatterBaits and swim jigs.
“It’s tough to try to predict a winning weight due to the unpredictable weather we’ve been having, but I believe that the winner will most likely weigh in a four-day total of more than 80 pounds,” Martin went on to say.
Fishing fans that can’t make the trek to Florida can still follow along with all of the tournament action at FLWFishing.com. Live on-the-water tweets, photos, updates and videos will be posted throughout the four days of competition as well as a live streaming video feed of the weigh-in held at 3 p.m. EST on Thursday and Friday and 4
p.m. EST on Saturday and Sunday.
In FLW Tour competition, anglers are also vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing. The 2016 Forrest Wood Cup will be on Wheeler Lake in Huntsville, Alabama, Aug. 4-7 and is hosted by the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau.
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.