KELSEYVILLE, Calif. (Feb. 25, 2009) – The $6.5 million Stren Series™is headed to Clear Lake March 5-7 for a $275,225 bass tournament. As many as 400 pros and co-anglers will be competing in the first Western Division tournament of the season for top awards of $65,000 and $35,000, respectively.
“Two years ago the bite was crazy during the Stren Series event,” said Cody Meyer of Redding, Calif., who finished eighth in the April 2008 Stren Series event on Clear Lake. “Weights for last year’s Stren event were down from the previous year. That being said, I think it will take 20 pounds a day to win this tournament and 16 to 17 pounds a day just to make the cut to Day 3.”
Meyer said that Clear Lake’s water level has been down recently, but abundant rains have raised the level and added color to the water.
“It’s muddied up a bunch,” Meyer said. “It’s come up quite a bit lately with all of the water that’s dumped into it. I went out last weekend and had to finesse some fish. It was pretty tough.”
Meyer predicts anglers will find success with finesse baits such as shaky-head rigs and jigs and reaction baits such as spinnerbaits and shallow-water crankbaits. Meyer said anglers will want to target grass and rock piles — anything anglers can find in clear water.
Anglers will take off from Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa located at 8727 Soda Bay Rd. in Kelseyville at 6:30 each morning. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will be held at the marina beginning at 2:30 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Walmart store located at 15960 Dam Rd. in Clearlake, Calif., beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
The Clear Lake Stren Series tournament is hosted by the Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa.
Pros will fish for a top award of $25,000 plus a 198VX Ranger powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard and equipped with a Minn Kota trolling motor and Lowrance electronics if Ranger Cup guidelines are met. If the winner is not a Ranger Cup participant, Ranger will award $7,500 to the highest-finishing Ranger Cup participant in the contingency program.
Co-anglers will cast for a top award of a 177TR Ranger powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard and trailer. If the co-angler meets the Ranger Cup guidelines, they will earn an additional $5,000. If the winner is not a Ranger Cup participant, Ranger will award $2,500 to the highest-finishing Ranger Cup participant in the contingency program.
Competitors will also be vying for valuable points that could earn them a trip to the Stren Series Championship on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala., Nov. 5-7 for a shot at $150,000 in the Pro Division and $60,000 in the Co-angler Division. After four qualifying events are complete in each Stren Series division – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western – the top 40 pros and 40 co-anglers based on the points standings from each division will advance to the championship. The top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers from each division will also qualify for the 2010 Walmart FLW Tour® and Walmart FLW Series®, bass fishing’s top professional circuits. The highest-finishing pro and co-angler from each division at the Stren Series Championship will also qualify for the $2.5 million 2010 Forrest Wood Cup, where anglers will compete for the $1 million grand prize – the most lucrative award in bass fishing.
In Stren Series competition, pros supply the boats, fish from the front deck against other pros and control boat movement. Co-anglers fish from the back deck and compete against other co-anglers. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points that determine angler standings. Two hundred points are awarded to the winner, 199 points for second, 198 points for third, and so on. The full field competes on days one, two and three, with the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers advancing to day four based on their three-day accumulated weight. Winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.
Total awards are based on a full field of 200 boats in every tournament.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2009 alone the organization is offering more bass and walleye anglers from coast to coast the chance to win more than $33 million through 231 tournaments. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, 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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