In addition to scaling back FLW Tour and FLW Series fields from 200 boat fields to 150 boat fields, FLW Outdoors announced that FLW Tour events will no longer be open to pros entering just one tournament. Pros must commit to fish all six FLW Tour qualifiers.
Top payouts in FLW Tour qualifiers will remain $125,000 for pros and $25,000 for co-anglers, including Ranger Cup bonuses of $25,000 and $5,000, respectively. The same top awards apply to all FLW Series qualifiers, while top FLW Tour open payouts remain $200,000 and $40,000, respectively, including Ranger Cup bonuses of $50,000 and $10,000.
Payouts of $10,000 will extend through 50th place on the pro side in every FLW Tour and FLW Series tournament.
Officials also announced that the purse for the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup will increase from $2 million to $2.5 million and that every pro who qualifies will earn at least $7,000.
The FLW Series Fish-off will be dropped in 2009. Instead, the top 20 pros and co-anglers from the FLW Series BP Eastern Division and the top 20 pros and co-anglers from the FLW Series National Guard Western Division will advance directly to the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup for a shot at winning $1 million, the sport’s largest award. Pro entry fees for 2009 are $4,000 for FLW Tour and FLW Series qualifiers and $5,000 for FLW Tour opens. Co-angler entry fees are unchanged at $700 for FLW Tour and FLW Series qualifiers and $800 for FLW Tour opens.
It was also announced that Stren Series tournaments will be cut from four days to three days in an effort to help anglers feeling the pressure of higher fuel prices and increased expenses. Top awards on the pro side remain unchanged at $25,000 plus a Ranger Cup bonus of a 198VX bass boat powered by a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard. Top awards on the co-angler side will increase dramatically from $5,000 to a new Ranger 177TR powered by a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard plus a $5,000 Ranger Cup bonus.
Walmart Bass Fishing League anglers will also benefit from increased paybacks, as top awards jump from $5,100 on the boater side to $6,000 in qualifiers and from $7,650 to $9,000 in Super Tournaments. Top co-angler payouts remain unchanged at $3,000 in qualifiers and $4,500 in Super Tournaments. Ranger will also award a $2,000 Ranger Cup bonus to the winning boater in each tournament if the winner is Ranger Cup qualified. If the winner is not Ranger Cup qualified, the highest finishing Ranger Cup boater will win $1,000.
Additional details on the College Fishing circuit announced earlier this year were also revealed. Full time students enrolled in four year colleges or universities are eligible to participate in the events, which will be organized around the five Stren Series Divisions. Schools in each division can send two-person teams to each of the four Stren Series qualifying events in a division, with each event limited to a maximum of 40 teams, and have an opportunity to win $10,000 for first and $2,000 through fifth place. The prize money will be split evenly between the winning team’s club and the school they represent. The tournaments are free to enter, boats and drivers will be provided and all collegiate teams will receive a travel allowance. The top five teams in each of the qualifying events will advance to one of five televised three-day Regional Championships.
Each school represented in a televised Regional Championship will have team shirts and boats provided by Ranger.
The purse for each Regional Championship will be a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard wrapped in school colors for the winning club and $25,000 for the school they represent. Awards of $7,500 will also extend through fifth place for the club and school to split evenly.
The College Fishing National Championship will be a three-day televised event hosting the top five teams from each regional, 25 total teams. The teams will be provided with team shirts and wrapped Ranger boats towed by Chevy trucks for this competition. The purse for the championship will range from $25,000 cash and a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard wrapped in school colors plus $25,000 for the winning club and $50,000 for the school they represent to $15,000 for fifth, split between the club and school.
The winning team will be declared the FLW Collegiate National Champion and will qualify for the $2.5 million Forrest Wood Cup in 2010. The winners will also receive use of a wrapped Ranger boat and Chevy truck for the Forrest Wood Cup.
More detailed information regarding FLW Outdoors College Fishing will be released soon.
Officials also announced that as resources are being reallocated to enhance the 2009 bass tournament programs, including College Fishing and Fantasy Fishing; the saltwater tours, which include the Redfish Series, Kingfish Tour, Kingfish Series and Striper Series, will be discontinued following the 2008 season.
“We are very excited about the future of our bass tournament circuits based on the changes we have made for the 2009 season and the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup,” said FLW Outdoors President/CEO Charlie Evans. “We are always looking for ways to enhance our programs, and we chose to refocus our resources on our core bass-fishing business, college fishing and getting young adults and youth participating in the wonderful sport of fishing.”
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2008 alone the organization is offering more than 90,000 anglers the chance to win over $40 million through 230 tournaments in 10 circuits. FLW Outdoors is also taking fishing mainstream with the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $7.3 million in cash and prizes.
For more information regarding FLW Outdoors, tournament formats, prizes, entry fees or rules, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.
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