Nixon Leads Walmart FLW Tour Event on Kentucky/Barkley Lakes

Nixon Leads Walmart FLW Tour Event on Kentucky/Barkley Lakes

Laster leads field of Co-Anglers

MURRAY, Ky., June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Team Chevy pro Larry Nixon of Bee Branch, Ark., weighed in a five-bass limit that weighed 24 pounds, 3 ounces during the first day of competition at the Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Pringles on Kentucky/Barkley Lakes and ended the day with a slim 6-ounce lead. The event features anglers from all across the United States, Mexico, Canada and Japan.

"There's a lot of good fish out there," said Nixon, who is third on the all-time career money list at more than $2.7 million. "There's a lot of good holes. It's just hard to get to them for all the boats around. If you can get to one that nobody's on and the fish are really in there, just hang on to your rod and reel, I can tell you that."

Nixon remained tight-lipped about his methods that produced, although he did admit he caught them on the bottom. Nixon said he hit six or seven spots during the course of the day and estimated he caught another limit of fish during the day that would have weighed 19 pounds.

"I caught enough big fish in practice to know if I did everything right I could catch 30 pounds," said Nixon. "My problem today was I was culling too many 4-pounders. I'd leave a spot and go somewhere else and catch another big one. I didn't want to burn them all up. You can't sit there and gamble on another one to cull when you've already got 25 pounds.

"I feel pretty good about it," Nixon added. "If things went right, I could win this one pretty easy. I know what the big ones are doing and I can make them bite."

Rounding out the top five places are Terry Bolton of Jonesboro, Ark. (five bass, 23-13); Jimmy Milsaps of Canton, Ga. (five bass, 22-1); Travis Fox of Springdale, Ark. (five bass, 21-15); and Keith Williams of Conway, Ark. (five bass, 21-12).

Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky., earned the day's $750 Folgers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 6-pound, 13-ounce bass.

Overall there were 676 bass weighing 2,037 pounds, 4 ounces caught by 153 pros Thursday. The catch included 112 five-bass limits.

Pros are competing for a top award of $125,000 this week plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by BP and Castrol, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pa., where they could win as much as $1 million -- the sport's biggest award.

Eddie Laster of Morton, Miss., leads the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 20-13 followed by Todd Lee of Jasper, Ala., in second place with five bass weighing 19-14.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Lynn Baciuska Jr. of Afton, N.Y. (five bass, 19-0); Scott Gibson of Wiggins, Miss. (five bass, 18-15) and Rodney Brown of Eddyville, Ky. (five bass, 18-11).

Mike Reid of Gilbertsville, Ky., earned the day's $500 Folgers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 7-pound, 15-ounce bass.

Overall there were 462 bass weighing 1,185 pounds, 15 ounces caught by 139 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included 50 five-bass limits.

Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $25,000 this week.

Anglers will take off at 6:30 a.m. each day from Kentucky Dam Marina located at 466 Marina Drive in Gilbertsville. Friday's weigh-in will also be held at Kentucky Dam Marina beginning at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday's weigh-ins will be held at the Regional Special Events Center at Murray State University located at 1401 State Route 121 North in Murray, Ky., beginning at 4 p.m.

In conjunction with the weigh-ins Saturday and Sunday, FLW Outdoors will host a free Family Fun Zone and outdoor show at the Regional Special Events Center starting at noon each day. The Family Fun Zone offers fans a chance to meet their Fantasy Fishing team anglers face-to-face and review the latest products from Berkley, Lowrance, Ranger, Evinrude, Yamaha and other sponsors while children are treated to giveaways, fishing themed games and rides like the Ranger Boat simulator. Children 14 and under visiting the Family Fun Zone on Sunday will receive a free rod and reel combo courtesy of WPSD while supplies last. One lucky member of the audience will even win a new Ranger boat during the final 4 p.m. weigh-in Sunday, June 14. Admission is free, and you must be present to win.

In FLW Tour competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers. The full field competes in the two-day opening round for one of 10 slots in Saturday's competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Saturday's weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Sunday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.

Coverage of the Kentucky/Barkley Lakes tournament, hosted by the Rogers Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Bentonville Convention & Visitors Bureau, will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS, the network which brings anglers the best fishing programming on television featuring the most-trusted authorities on the water. The Emmy-nominated "FLW Outdoors," will air Aug. 2 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET. "FLW Outdoors," hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide, including internationally through agreements with WFN (World Fishing Network) and Matchroom Sport to such countries as Canada, Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world.

The FLW Tour will award more than $8 million cash to the world's top bass anglers in 2009. Regular season competition includes three qualifiers and three opens. Each event takes anglers a step closer to the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by Castrol, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pa. The prestigious championship and outdoor show hosted by Visit Pittsburgh will feature 77 pros, 77 co-anglers and bass fishing's largest cash award -- a potential $1 million first-place prize for the winning pro.

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors has also taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player's Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player's Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.

FLWOutdoors.com

Source: FLW Outdoors

CONTACT: Chad Gay, public relations manager, FLW Outdoors,
+1-270-703-3346, cgay@flwoutdoors.com

Web Site: http://www.flwoutdoors.com/

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