FLW Tour News

Lake Wheeler
February 2002

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Copyright 2002

Nixon Wins $110,000 in $550,000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour Bass Event at Lake Wheeler
Florence, Ala. (Feb. 16, 2002) - Chevy pro Larry Nixon, Bee Branch, Ark., proved why he ranks as one of bass fishing's all-time greats Saturday by winning his second Wal-Mart FLW Tour event in as many years. He won the event despite chilly conditions on Lake Wheeler that put anglers representing 34 states and Japan to the test.

"I got into a lull for about four or five years ago," said Nixon, who caught five bass weighing 16 pounds, 9 ounces to win $110,000 in the final round of the four-day tournament presented by Pepsi and Frito-Lay. "I just got complacent and didn't really care, but now I want to win. Right now I'm loving it."

Nixon entered Friday's semifinal round of 20 pros in fourth place with a two-day opening-round total of eight bass weighing 22 pounds. He then squeaked into Saturday's 10-man final round in 10th place after catching five bass weighing 5 pounds, 15 ounces that tied him with Mike Hawkes, Sabinal, Texas. Nixon broke the tie based on his fourth-place opening-round standing. Contestants in the final two rounds started from zero and fished for the heaviest five-bass limit each day.
Nixon caught his winning limit in First Creek using a 12-ounce black and blue Strike King jig with a pork trailer. He was the only angler fishing the south end of the lake during the final round.

"I started to fish the Elk River, but then I turned around," Nixon said. "I didn't want to go up there and die, so I decided to fish some totally new water."

Second place and $40,000 went to two-time top-10 finisher Aaron Martens, Castaic, Calif., for his four-bass catch weighing 8 pounds, 15 ounces. Yamaha pro Alton Jones, who led the first three days, finished third with three bass weighing 8 pounds, 9 ounces worth $24,500. Team Stanley pro Scott Martin, Clewiston, Fla., (five bass, 8 pounds, 8 ounces, $20,000) and Team Land O'Lakes pro Keith Williams, Conway, Ark., (five bass, 7 pounds, 10 ounces, $17,500) rounded out the top-five anglers.

Competition began Wednesday with a 350-angler field comprising 175 pros and 175 co-anglers who fish from the back of the pros' boats. Co-angler Doug Caldwell, a four-time top-five finisher and mayor of Kane, Pa., won $15,000 Friday plus a $1,000 Castrol bonus with three bass weighing 4 pounds, 12 ounces.

The next stop on the seven-event, $5.1 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour is Lake Ouachita near Hot Springs, Ark., March 13 to 16. Like Lake Wheeler, the tournament presented by Alpo features a $550,000 purse with $110,000 going to the winning pro.

At the end of the season, the top 48 pros and co-anglers advance to the Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship featuring a new, bracketed style format and an $800,000 cash purse. More than $300,000 was added to the championship purse for 2002. The winning pro receives $260,000 - the largest cash award of any professional bass fishing series.

Named after Ranger Boats founder, Forrest L. Wood, the Wal-Mart FLW Tour is run by FLW Outdoors, the world's leading marketer of competitive fishing tournaments. The organization operates 170 tournaments through the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, EverStart Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Circuit and Ranger M1. FLW Outdoors will award anglers up to $22 million in 2002.
 
Final Round Results - Feb. 16, 2002
Wal-Mart FLW Tour: Lake Wheeler, Florence, Ala.
Pro Division
Place Name City, State Caught Lbs. Ozs. Winnings Boat
1 LARRY  NIXON BEE BRANCH, AR 5 16 9 110000.00 Chevy
2 AARON  MARTENS CASTAIC, CA 4 8 15 40000.00 Snickers
3 ALTON  JONES WACO, TX 3 8 9 24500.00 EverStart
4 SCOTT R MARTIN CLEWISTON, FL 5 8 8 20000.00 Stanley
5 KEITH  WILLIAMS CONWAY, AR 5 7 10 17500.00 Land O'Lakes
6 MARK  ROSE MARION, AR 3 7 9 15000.00 Coleman
7 CLARK  WENDLANDT CEDAR PARK, TX 3 4 5 12500.00 Kellogg's
8 ERIC  HOLT GALENA, MO 3 3 12 11000.00 Stanley
9 WESLEY  STRADER SPRING CITY, TN 1 1 9 9500.00 Fujifilm
10 BASIL  BACON SPRINGFIELD, MO 1 1 0 8000.00 Conseco
                               
Jones Leads Top 10 Anglers in $550,000
Wal-Mart FLW Tour Event Governor Don Siegelman Attending Final Weigh-In

FLORENCE, Ala.--(BW SportsWire)--Feb. 15, 2002--Wal-Mart FLW Tour pro and Team Yamaha angler Alton Jones, Waco, Texas, continued his
dominating performance Friday on Lake Wheeler to lead the top-10 pros
into Saturday's final round with five bass weighing 12 pounds, 9
ounces. It was his third straight day atop the leader board.

If his streak continues in the $550,000 tournament presented by
Pepsi and Frito-Lay, he'll leave town with a check for $110,000 and
200 points in the coveted Land O'Lakes Angler of the Year race where
he currently is ranked 51st.

Jones, who returned to the Wal-Mart FLW Tour this season after a
two-year absence, advanced to Friday's semifinal round in first place
after a dominating 10-bass, 35-pound, 13-ounce performance in the
two-day opening round. The top-20 pros and co-anglers started from
zero Friday. The top-10 pros will start from zero again Saturday,
fishing for the heaviest one-day, five-bass weight.

"I have no way of knowing what Saturday will bring, so I'm not
going to worry about it," Jones said. "I'm just going to work my
hardest no matter what the conditions and stick with what got me this
far."

What got him this far? A Riverside jig that he is working around
outside creek-channel bends with heavy wood in Decatur Flats is the
secret to his success. Fishing the jig slowly, he says, is key to the
pattern.

Rounding out the top-five pros advancing to the final round are
two-time Land O'Lakes Angler of the Year and Team Kellogg's angler
Clark Wendlandt, Cedar Park, Texas (five bass, 12 pounds, 7 ounces);
Basil Bacon, Springfield, Mo. (five bass, 11 pounds, 7 ounces); Team
Fujifilm angler Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn. (five bass, 9
pounds, 15 ounces); and Team Land O'Lakes angler Keith Williams,
Conway, Ark., (five bass, 8 pounds, 3 ounces).

Co-angler Doug Caldwell won $15,000 Friday plus a $1,000 Castrol
bonus with three bass weighing 4 pounds, 12 ounces. He advanced to the
final day of co-angler competition in second place with a two-day,
opening-round total of nine bass weighing 13 pounds, 10 ounces.
Caldwell, a four-time top-five finisher, is the mayor of Kane, Pa.

Larry Dix, Bellavista, Ark., (three bass, 3 pounds, 10 ounces,
$6,000) and Luke Smith, Eddyville, Ky., (two bass, 2 pounds, 14
ounces, $4,000) rounded out the top-three co-anglers.

The original field of 350 anglers included 175 pros and 175
co-anglers representing 34 states and Japan.

Saturday's final takeoff from Joe Wheeler State Park located at
4401 McLean Drive in Rogersville starts at 6:15 a.m. The final
weigh-in, featuring a special guest appearance by Governor Don
Siegelman, starts at 2 p.m. at the Florence Wal-Mart on Hough Road. A
Family Fun Zone in the Wal-Mart parking lot will feature free
children's games and product samples from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

 
Kansan Kim Heuy leads Co-Angler Division
Jones Leads Wheeler's $550,000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour Event
 
Florence, Ala. (Feb. 13, 2002) - Wal-Mart FLW Tour anglers from 34 states and Japan searched every inch of Lake Wheeler's 67,100 acres Wednesday for a solid five-bass limit to start the season's second $550,000 tournament presented by Pepsi and Frito-Lay. At the end of the day, however, only 50-limits were caught despite remarkable fishing by 350 of the nation's top anglers. 

"It's textbook cold water fishing out there," said Team Yamaha Pro Alton Jones, Waco, Texas, who leads 175 pros vying for a $110,000 first-place award. "A lot of people are fishing too fast. If you do that, it doesn't matter if you have the right bait, you just aren't going to get the bites."

Jones, who is back on the Wal-Mart FLW Tour after a two-year absence, caught a 16-pound, 10-ounce limit. The catch gives him a 1-pound, 1-ounce lead over runner-up Jack Bell, Kane, Pa., who landed five bass weighing 15 pounds, 9 ounces.

"It always feels good to be in this position," Jones said. "There are 174 other anglers who would love to be sitting where I am, so that is rather humbling."

Marty Stone, Linden, N.C. (five bass, 13 pounds); Team Coleman pro Charlie Ingram, Santa Fe, Tenn. (five bass, 12 pounds, 11 ounces); and Aaron Martens, Castaic, Calif., (five bass, 12 pounds, 10 ounces) rounded out the top-five pro anglers.

Co-angler Kim Huey, Hutchinson, Kan., leads his division with four bass weighing 10 pounds, 12 ounces followed by W.D. "Hoot" Gibson, Bryant, Ark., (four bass, 8 pounds, 10 ounces) in second and Jim Short, Ocean Pines, Md., (five bass, 7 pounds, 8 ounces) in third.

The Co-angler Division features 175 competitors fishing from the back of the pros' boats for a top award of $15,000. Anglers in both divisions must place in the top 20 Thursday to qualify for the Friday's semifinal round. Co-angler competition wraps up after the semifinals while the top 10 pros advance to Saturday's finale.

Pro Robin Cummings, Cullman, Ala., earned bass honors and $750 with a 6-pound, 14-ounce bass. Gibson landed co-angler big bass honors and $500 with a 5-pound, 3-ounce bass. The angler catching the heaviest bass during the two-day opening round will receive the Snickers Big Bass award and $1,000. At the end of the seven-tournament season, Snickers will award another $5,000 to the angler who caught the heaviest opening-round bass at any Wal-Mart FLW Tour event. Currently that distinction belongs to pro Jim Carnell, Muskogee, Okla., who caught an 8-pound, 4-ounce largemouth at last month's season opener on Lake Okeechobee.

Wheeler's fluctuating water levels coupled with last week's cold snap will put anglers to the test this week. Steadily improving conditions, however, could lead to an impressive display of the lake's largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass during the final weigh-in, which will be broadcast live to more than 84 million households on PAX TV starting at 3 p.m. EST Saturday.

A total of 646 bass were caught Wednesday, and all of the bass were released. If the tour maintains a 98-percent live release rate throughout the season, Energizer will donate $25,000 to the Children's Miracle Network.

Competition on Lake Wheeler continues at 7 a.m. Thursday at Joe Wheeler State Park located at 4401 McLean Drive in Rogersville. Thursday's weigh-in at the park begins at 3 p.m. Friday's semifinal round weigh-in starts at 5 p.m. at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located at 3100 Hough Road in Florence. Wal-Mart is also hosting Saturday's final weigh-in at 2 p.m.

A Family Fun Zone in the Wal-Mart parking lot will feature free children's games and product samples from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Sponsors of the 2002 Wal-Mart FLW Tour are Wal-Mart, ALPO Pet Foods, BFGoodrich Tires, Castrol, Chevy Trucks, Coleman, Conseco, Eagle Electronics, Energizer, EverStart Batteries, Evinrude, Faded Glory, Frito-Lay, Fujifilm, Kellogg's, Land O'Lakes, Maxwell House, Minn Kota, Pepsi, Poulan, Ranger Boats, Shop-Vac, Snickers, Stanley Works, US Bank, Weed Eater and Yamaha Outboards. Associate sponsors are Abu Garcia, Act II, Berkley, David Sunflower Seeds, Eagle Claw, Laker, Plano and Solar Bat.

Opening Day Results ­ Feb. 13, 2002
Wal-Mart FLW Tour: Lake Wheeler, Florence, Ala.
Pro Division Place Name City, State Caught Lbs./Ozs.
1 ALTON  JONES WACO, TX 5 16 10
2 JACK D BELL KANE, PA 5 15 9
3 MARTY  STONE LINDEN, NC 5 13 0
4 CHARLIE  INGRAM SANTA FE, TN 5 12 11
5 AARON  MARTENS CASTAIC, CA 5 12 10
6 KIM  STRICKER HOWELL, MI 5 12 9
7 GEORGE E COCHRAN HOT SPRINGS NP, AR 5 12 5
8 CHAD  BRAUER OSAGE BEACH, MO 5 11 15
9 SAM  NEWBY POCOLA, OK 4 11 10
10 ERIC  HOLT GALENA, MO 5 11 5

Co-Angler Division
1 KIM  HUEY HUTCHINSON, KS 4 10 12
2 W D  GIBSON BRYANT, AR 4 8 10
3 JIM  SHORT OCEAN PINES, MD 5 7 8
4 DANNY L STRAND CHAMPAIGN, IL 3 7 2
5 CHUCK  LAWLESS PARK HILL, OK 3 7 1
6 DAVID  HUDSON JASPER, AL 2 6 15
7 RODNEY  CHMOLACK PHENIX CITY, AL 5 6 1
8 LARRY  DIX BELLAVISTA, AR 5 5 15
8 DOUG  CALDWELL KANE, PA 4 5 15
10 JAMES R GREEN LINCOLN, AL 5 5 12