Walmart FLW Tour Pros Eye Beaver Lake for Third Tournament of Season in Arkansas
OutdoorHub 03.28.13
The Walmart FLW Tour on Beaver Lake presented by Kellogg’s will return to Rogers, Ark., April 11-14 for the third event of its 18th season. Hosted by the Rogers Convention & Visitors Bureau, the tournament will feature a full field of the world’s best bass pros and co-anglers casting for top awards up to $125,000 cash in the Pro Division and up to $25,000 cash in the Co-angler Division.
“Last year when we were here the spawning phase had already finished,” said Folgers pro Scott Suggs of Bryant, Ark., who has career winnings of more than $1.6 million dollars in FLW competition. “It’s going to be a little different this year. We just had some snow down here last week, and we will definitely still be fishing major prespawn patterns when the tournament starts.”
Suggs suggested that fishing may be a little tougher than previous Tour visits to Beaver Lake, but that a good number of fish would still be caught. He said tournament anglers would be employing multiple different prespawn techniques and presentations to catch their bass. Jerkbaits, crankbaits, jigs and finesse fishing with shaky-head rigs are all expected to produce, and Suggs predicted that some anglers will definitely be opting for an umbrella rig.
“I’m not sure how much runoff they got from the snow last week, but the lake has been about five feet low lately. It’s slowly coming up, but that’s going to take some areas out of the mix. The standing timber will make it difficult to get to some banks,” Suggs said.
Suggs predicted that the winning angler would have a final weight right around 56 pounds with a daily average 14 pounds a day.
“Chances are someone is going to smash them and catch a big weight, especially on day one,” Suggs continued. “The key to winning will be finding fish that will replenish, though. A lot of times you will see an angler have a great day, and then go out the next day and be very disappointed. Find the areas that will replenish – that’s the whole deal to winning at Beaver Lake.”
In FLW Tour competition, anglers are also vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing. The 2013 Forrest Wood Cup will be in Shreveport, La., Aug. 15-18 on the Red River.
Anglers will take off from Prairie Creek Park located at 9300 N. Park Road in Rogers at 7 a.m. each morning. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will be held at Prairie Creek Park beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s final weigh-ins will be held at the John Q. Hammons Center located at 3303 Pinnacle Hills Parkway in Rogers beginning at 4 p.m.
Fans will be treated to the FLW Outdoors Expo at the John Q. Hammons Center on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. prior to the final weigh-ins. The Expo includes Ranger boat simulators, the opportunity to interact with professional anglers, enjoy interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by sponsors, and fans can learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities. All activities are free and open to the public. On Sunday the first 300 children 14 and under who are accompanied by an adult will receive a voucher to redeem for a free rod and reel combo courtesy of KMCK Power 105.7 FM after Sunday’s final weigh-in. Also on Sunday one lucky fishing fan will win a Can-Am ATV courtesy of KNWA. The ATV giveaway is free to enter but the winner must be present at the conclusion of Sunday’s final weigh-in to win
Coverage of the Beaver Lake tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs May 19 from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. ET. The Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show is hosted by Jason Harper and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.
