Walmart FLW Tour Returns to Beaver Lake for Fourth Tournament of 2014 Season
OutdoorHub 03.28.14
The fourth event in the 19th season of the major leagues of professional bass-fishing, the Walmart FLW Tour, kicks off April 10-13 with the Walmart FLW Tour at Beaver Lake presented by Rayovac. Hosted by the Rogers Convention and Visitors Bureau, the tournament will feature a full field of the world’s best bass-fishing pros and co-anglers casting for top awards of up to $125,000 cash in the pro division and up to $25,000 cash in the co-angler division.
“I always look forward to going back to Beaver Lake,” said Walmart pro Mark Rose of West Memphis, Ark., an eight-time Forrest Wood Cup qualifier. “This tournament is going to be very different than our past few visits.”
The differences that Rose speaks of include the delayed bass spawn, and a rule change implemented by FLW in 2014 that bans the use of umbrella rigs on the FLW Tour.
“It’s been a really cold winter and in past seasons the fish would already be spawning,” Rose said. “The lake is so far behind right now that I’m predicting that this event will be a pre-spawn tournament.
“Not being able to throw an umbrella rig is definitely going to be a factor in this tournament,” Rose continued. “That bait and that profile really seems to catch the upper-class fish that are in Beaver Lake. It really showed off the quality of fish that live there. But, with the new rules, I think we may see a return to the days where catching 10 pounds is a pretty good day.”
Normal Beaver Lake pre-spawn tactics are expected to be employed by the tournament anglers. Jigs, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, Storm Wiggle Warts, swimbaits and shaky-head rigs are all expected to be popular baits thrown.
“I predict a four-day total of 49 pounds will win this event,” Rose went on to say.
In FLW Tour competition, anglers are also vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2014 Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing. The 2014 Forrest Wood Cup will be in Columbia, S.C., Aug. 14-17 on Lake Murray and is hosted by Capital City Lake Murray Country. Anglers could win as much as $500,000 – professional bass-fishing’s richest prize.
Anglers will take off from Prairie Creek Park Marina located at 9300 N. Park Road in Rogers at 7 a.m. each day of competition. 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 also be treated to the FLW 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. Also on Sunday, country music superstar Rodney Atkins will perform a free live concert on the Walmart weigh-in stage at 3 p.m.
Coverage of the Beaver Lake tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs June 14 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.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWOutdoors.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.
