photo by Brett Carlson / FLWOutdoors.com
Pro Chad Prough of Chipley, Fla., still leads after three days of competition after adding a five-bass limit
weighing 20 pounds, 8 ounces Saturday on Lake Okeechobee, advancing to the final
day of competition as the No. 1 seed. With a three-day catch of 15 bass
weighing 87-15, he now holds a 5 pound, 1 ounce lead in the tournament.
"If I don’t catch anything tomorrow, I’ll still go home
happy,” said a still shaking Prough who is looking for his first FLW
Outdoors win. “This has been such a phenomenal week of fishing, I feel
like I am living a dream.
"Today was my slowest day of fishing so far,” Prough said. “I lost a 5 or 6-pounder at the end that might really come
back to haunt me tomorrow. My area definitely saw some pressure, a lot
of local pressure and there were a few other tournament guys there that I
hadn’t seen all week. I will probably have to go to my secondary spot
first tomorrow. The big females weren’t moving up in my area today, I
think because of all the pressure. There are plenty of bucks in there,
but to win this tournament I am going to have to find those big females
looking for beds.
“I did about half sight-fishing and about half
throwing long casts. The wind picked up today and that really hurt the
sight-fishing.
“It’s a little nerve-racking to fish in first
place, but now that I made the final top-10 some of the pressure is off.
Tomorrow I am just going to go out and have fun!”
In yet another day of phenomenal fishing, Lake
Okeechobee was described as alive and well. All 20 pro anglers caught a
five-bass limit with nearly half of them weighing more than 20 pounds. Every
angler that walked on stage said that they have never seen Lake
Okeechobee fish this well.
Pete Thliveros of Saint Augustine, Fla., advanced to
the final round of 10 pros in the No. 2 spot with a three-day total of
15 bass weighing 82-14. His 33-14 was the biggest limit of the day by far and the third largest of the tournament taking him from 9th place all the way to second place, just a 5-pounder behind Prough.
“I made a mistake yesterday by not going to the area I
started in today,” said Thliveros, who has two top-10 finishes on Lake
Okeechobee in FLW Tour competition. “The females are moving up on beds
and they are big.
“It’s amazing to me that the amount of pressure this
one mile stretch of bank has seen and is still producing the amount of
big fish that we have seen cross this stage today. It has been under
tremendous pressure and there are still big ones out there daring to be
caught."
Rounding out the top-10 pros and advancing to the final day of competition are:
3rd: EverStart pro Randall Tharp, Gardendale, Ala., 15 bass, 81-4
4th: Brandon McMillan, Belle Glade, Fla., 15 bass, 81-3
5th: Terry Scroggins, San Mateo, Fla., 15 bass, 77-8
6th: Duracell/Gillette pro Jacob Powroznik, Prince George, Va., 15 bass, 76-14
7th: Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 15 bass, 73-2
8th: Jake Morris, McKee Ky., 15 bass, 72-13
9th: Fred Roumbanis, Bixby, Okla., 15 bass, 72-4
10th: Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 15 bass, 69-8
Final results for the remaining field can be found at FLWOutdoors.com
Overall there were 100 bass weighing 393 pounds, 12
ounces caught by 20 pros Saturday. The catch included 20 five-bass
limits.
Pros are competing for a top award of up to $125,000
this week plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the 2012
Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing. The top five
anglers in the points standings from the four Walmart FLW Tour Open
tournaments will qualify.
Aymon Wilcox of Lauderdale Lakes, Fla., won the
Co-angler Division and $20,000 Saturday with a three-day total of 15
bass weighing 55 pounds, 14 ounces followed by George Kapiton of
Inverness, Fla., in second place with 15 bass weighing 53-10 worth
$7,625.
“I’ve been close so many times that it feels real
good to finally win one,” said Wilcox, who has six previous FLW Outdoors
top-10 finishes in the last six years. “It was a great week of fishing.
Basically I used Tuscaroran Stick Bait, frogs and NetBait Paca Craw all
week long to catch all my fish.
“It was a little slow today, I was pretty nervous, but
then about 1 p.m. I caught my 4-pounder and I relaxed just a little.”
Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers are:
3rd: Anthony Hunt, Tamarac, Fla., 15 bass, 51-9, $5,000
4th: Nick Hensley, Cumming, Ga., 15 bass, 47, $4,000
5th: Chip Brooks, Bradenton, Fla., 15 bass, 46-15, $3,000
6th: Spencer Shuffield, Bismarck, Ark., 15 bass, 46-12, $2,500
7th: Clent Davis, Montevallo, Ala., 15 bass, 46-8, $2,000
8th: Marlon Crowder, Tampa, Fla., 15 bass,45-1, $1,800
9th: Ron Buck, Port Saint Lucie Fla., 15 bass, 44-3, $1,700
10th: Skip Bennett, Mt. Vernon, Ill., 15 bass, 42-13, $1,600
Final results for the remaining field can be found at FLWOutdoors.com
Overall there were 97 bass weighing 213 pounds caught
by 20 co-anglers Saturday. The catch included 19 five-bass limits.
