It was an exciting finish at the recent FLW Tour event on the Detroit River that finalized the roster for the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup to be held August 14-17 on Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina.
     The field will be made up of 77 Pros and 77 Co-Anglers who qualified through various arenas:
FLW Tour – 40
FLW Series – 30
FLW Strens – 5
BFL – 1
TBF – 1
To view the completed roster and for more information click here.

     Over this past weekend there were a couple of significant happenings in the world of tournament bass fishing.
Alvin Shaw Wins The Chevy Open In Detroit

photo credited: Rob Newell / FLW Outdoors
   Kellogg’s Pro, Alvin Shaw won FLW’s Chevy Open this past weekend in Detroit. He defended his day 3 lead with a day 4 sack that weighed 18-13 lbs. earning him the $200,000 payday. His 4 day total of 80-14 lbs. beat out 2nd place finisher and local Pringles Pro, Vic Vatalaro by just 3 ounces.
   Shaw used tube baits ripped from grass in the “Miles Road” area of …read more

     After day 1 of the final event of the FLW Tour regular season, a new FLW Tour record was set with a new total day weight. Pros and Co-Anglers combined, hauled in 5,137 pounds and 6 ounces of bass breaking the previous weight record set on Lake Champlain in 2006 by 262 pounds. Most of the bigger bags are coming out of Lake St. Clair rather than Lake Erie.
     Local Pro and favorite, Vic Vatalaro caught the big bag of the day with 21-11 lbs. “I couldn’t get Erie to do the job so I changed up and went to St.Clair …read more

     BassFan recently reported on the possibility of the FLW Outdoors sanctioned Stren Series reducing it tournaments from a 4 day format to a 3 day format. When I read the report I took notice of the fact that the events would be speculated to go from Thursday to Sunday and change to a Thursday to Saturday schedule. Let me just quickly throw my two cents in on this.
     I am not exactly sure why or how the consideration to reduce the day format started. If I had to guess, I would assume that it was an effort to help reduce resource costs on FLW’s part while …read more

     As of current, here is the roster of anglers who have qualified for the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup to be held August 14-17 on Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina. The roster will be completed once the FLW Tour pro are added concluding their final event on the Detroit River this weekend. To see the current Tour Standings and find out who is on the bubble click here.
Current Qualifiers:

Professional Field
Qualifier(s) from Wal-Mart FLW Series BP Eastern
KEVIN BISHOP
GEORGE COCHRAN
DAVID DUDLEY
DAVID FRITTS
DION HIBDON
STEVE KENNEDY
JT KENNEY
KOBY KREIGER
DAVE LEFEBRE
KYLE MABREY
SCOTT MARTIN
LARRY NIXON
DEREK REMITZ
JOEL RICHARDSON
MARK ROSE
CLARK WENDLANDT
Qualifier(s) from Wal-Mart FLW Series National Guard Western …read more

*photo credited: FLW Outdoors     
     With a 4 day total of 29-11 lbs, Lynchburg, VA native David Dudley earned his 5th win this weekend on the Fort Loundon Tellico Lakes. “This win means a lot to me because I did it using what used to be my biggest weakness and that’s deep cranking”, Dudley said.
     Dudley cranked his way to victory coming from a 4 and a half pound deficit over three day leader Art Ferguson, earning him a $125,000 payday. His key area was a ledge with a boulder type area sticking out the side of it into the main river …read more

     The 4th season of Ultimate Match Fishing is set to start airing on July 4th and looking at the 2008 lineup, it’s sure to be a great one. If you are unfamiliar with Ultimate Match Fishing, host Joe Thomas takes anglers from both the BASS and FLW and pairs them in a one on one tournament bracket style format eliminating them all the way down to a champion. The Champion will receive $50,000 and the UMF Title Belt.
     Joe will also be again joined by Referee Mark Randolph. The show will premier on Friday night at 9:30 anchoring the Friday Night …read more

*Photo credit: flwoutdoors.com    
     In a tournament where limits proved difficult, it was Vienna, VA’s Shayne Berlo and his 4 day total of 20-12 lbs. that helped earned him the All-American title and $100,000 on Hot Springs, AR’s Lake Hamilton. Berlo used a 3/8 oz rootbeer/pumpkin pepper jig which he helped design for Hunter Creek Baits. “I had plenty of confidence in this bait. It is just awesome”, Berlo told FLW media.
     Berlo’s victory was set-up in a dramatic fashion by past All-American champion Kim Carver. Carver entered the stage to weigh-in the final bag of the day. Needing around 4 lbs. …read more

    
     FLW Outdoors released the site of the 2009 Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League All-American championship event for 2009. The honor was given to the Quad Cities and their Mississippi River in Iowa.
     Having hosted numerous other FLW sanctioned events in the past to include the 1998 Forrest Wood Cup, the tournament will offer $1 million in cash and prizes to the nation’s best weekend anglers.
     To read the full release story go to: http://www.flwoutdoors.com/article.cfm?id=148595

 
     I guess you can only make so much money on a lure before it’s presence is known. I am sure that is the case with Sebile’s Magic Swimmer. After Kenyon Hill won on Clark’s Hill with it earlier this year, the buzz is out and much sooner than it took the general public to get the inside on the last years prized Basstrix Paddle Tail Tube Swimbaits which accounted for huge successes with Steve Kennedy and an Angler of the Year title as credited by Jay Yelas. Regardless, there is one single common denominator here and that is swimbaits. Unfortunately …read more