FLW Outdoors announced the 2011 FLW Tour schedule Tuesday. The 2011 FLW Tour will expand to 10 tournaments, plus the Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing.

“We are excited to expand the FLW Tour,” said Charlie Evans, President & CEO of FLW Outdoors. “We have a long history of offering the best paybacks in the sport, and our new expanded schedule, with stops on some of the nation’s top fisheries, will bring even more opportunity and visibility to our anglers, corporate supporters and for our fans.”

The 2011 FLW Tour will consist of six FLW Tour Majors and four FLW Tour Opens. FLW Tour Majors, which will feature a 150-boat field, are open to professional anglers who enter all six tournaments. Pros fishing the FLW Tour Majors will receive priority when entering FLW Tour Opens and pros that enter all four FLW Tour Opens will receive priority over individual entrants. FLW Tour Opens will also feature a 150-boat field. Complete details regarding registration requirements will be available in the near future at FLWOutdoors.com or you can call (270) 252-1000.

The 2011 FLW Tour season is listed below and can be viewed at FLWOutdoors.com.

                                                              2011 FLW Tour Schedule

            Date                   Fishery                   Location                      Tournament

            Feb. 2-5             Lake Okeechobee  Clewiston, Fla.                FLW Tour Open

            March 2-5          Falcon Lake             Zapata, Texas               FLW Tour Major

            March 23-26      Lake Hartwell            Greenville, S.C.            FLW Tour Major

            April 13-16         Lake Chickamauga   Chattanooga, Tenn.     FLW Tour Major

            May 4-7             Table Rock Lake       Branson, Mo.                FLW Tour Major

            May 18-21         Red River                  Shreveport, La.             FLW Tour Major

            June 1-4            Potomac River           National Harbor, Md.     FLW Tour Open

            June 15-18        Kentucky Lake           Murray, Ky.                   FLW Tour Major

            Aug. 11-14        Lake Ouachita          Hot Springs, Ark.        Forrest Wood Cup

            Aug. 24-27        Lake Champlain          Plattsburgh, N.Y.         FLW Tour Open

            Oct. 19-22         Lake Guntersville        Guntersville, Ala.         FLW Tour Open

The prestigious Angler of the Year title for 2011 will be determined over the 10 events. The top 30 pros and co-anglers from the FLW Tour Majors will qualify for the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup, which will consist of 58 pros and co-anglers. In 2012, the top 35 pros and co-anglers from the FLW Tour Majors, along with the top five from the 2011 FLW Tour Opens, will qualify for the 2012 Forrest Wood Cup.

The full field will compete the first two days of each FLW Tour event. On day three, the top 75 pros and co-anglers will compete with the co-angler winner being crowned based on cumulative weight from all three days. Day four will feature the top five pro anglers with the winner determined by cumulative weight from all four days.

Pro anglers will compete for up to $125,000 and co-anglers will be vying for up to $25,000 in each tournament. With a full field, the paybacks will be $10,000 through 50^th place on the pro side and $1,000 on the co-angler side. Entry fees are unchanged for 2011 at $4,000 per tournament for pros and $700 per tournament for co-anglers. For additional details regarding paybacks, visit FLWOutdoors.com.