The FLW tour schedule has been released and we wanted to give ya’ll the heads up on these events so that if you’re anywhere close, you can start making plans to witness some of them first hand. If you’ve never attended one of these tourneys, put this on your bucket list! They are something to see. The anglers are friendly, enjoy interacting with the fans and you have the opportunity to learn more than you can imagine when you’re there. So without any further ado, here is the complete schedule.

• The FLW Tour Majors will open on Lake Hartwell in Greenville/Anderson S.C. March 8-11 for the 2012 season.
• Next stop will be Table Rock Lake in Branson, Mo. March 29 – April 1.
• From there, the Tour swings into Rogers, Ark. for the event on Beaver Lake.
• May 17-20 the pro’s will have a go at the Potomac river out of National Harbor, Md.
• Famed Kentucky Lake out of Murray/ Gilbertsville, Ky. is set to host the fifth stop June 7-10.
• Later that month, June 28 – July 1, Lake Champlain, out of Plattsburgh N.Y., will be the scene for the final event before the battle for the cup.
• As it was in 2010, Lake Lanier out of Duluth/Gainesville, Ga., is the sight chosen for the 2012 Forrest Wood Cup.

There are also four opens on the schedule with one in February, the 9-12 on Lake Okeechobee out of Clewiston, Fla. The Detroit River out of Detroit, Mich., August 23-26, Lake Wheeler out of Decatur, Ala., Sept. 20-23, and the final open on Sam Rayburn Reservoir out of Lufkin, Texas October 11-14.

This 10 month schedule of fishing different types of water at various times of the year should make for some very interesting tournaments. The FLW pro’s aren’t going to have the luxury of relying on just a handful of baits and techniques given they want to be consistent throughout the year. The adjustments that they are going to have to make and various skills that they will need to master will be showcased as they go through the events. Man am I looking forward to seeing all of it!

See ya’ on the water …

The FLW tour rolled into Clear Lake California over the weekend, and saw Michael Tuck take home the top prize.

Over the course of three days, Tuck managed to bag 76 pounds, 9 ounces of Clear Lake largemouth. Tuck also had the distinction of weighing in the event’s largest one day bag, at 27-12.

All in all, tuck brought the trophy home with big fish, and a simple strategy.

The Winning Bait

Primarily, Tuck used a swimbait called the Trashfish by Little Creeper Baits to bring home the title. He rigged the four and six inch versions of the bait onto Owner Twist Lock hooks with quarter ounce belly weights.

While the bite started to become slightly infrequent due to an approaching cold front, the approach paid off big in the end.

Runner Up

Joe Uribe Jr. of Lake Forest California managed to bag an impressive 71-10 of his own using a Spook bait in the morning, then switching off to a Zoom Horny Toad later in the afternoon.

All in all, it was a fantastic tournament and both anglers have a lot to be proud of.

Another win for Ish

Ish Monroe grabbed an early lead, and never really looked back. Riding a frog bite, and mixing in some action with a prototype flipping bait, Ish brought 51 pounds, two ounces to the weigh in stage over three days. This proved to be more than two pounds more than his nearest competitor

Since he had already qualified for the 2012 Bassmaster classic, Ish was pretty much just having fun. All in all, he’s now won an Open, Elite Series, and Federation event. Not too shabby!

The Winning Baits

Ish was tossing one of his own signature baits, the Snag Proof Ish’s Phat Frog, on top of matted grass along the bank.

When things got windy, Ish switched to a prototype bait designed specifically for flipping. The full details have been a bit hush-hush, but one two details have come out—first, the bait was black and blue, and second, he used a River2Sea specialty flipping weight.

Hopefully, more details will start to become available soon.

Runner Up

Michael Simonton of Fremont, Ohio, made a hard charge at Ish, trying to make a tournament of it, but the lead just proved too much. Simonton had to settle for 2nd place, which is nothing to hang your head about.

We have talked in the past about how professional bass fishing seems to hold to values that are becoming more and more rare in other sports. Perhaps it’s just that the media can’t resist a story that pits one contestant against another both on and off the field of play. The drama that seems to have become the norm, with guys calling each other all manner of foul names and suggesting they do things that are physically impossible, has become mainstream fodder and seems to fill entire sports casts. [Read more…]