Category Archives: FLW Tour

Guntersville FLW Fantasy Fishing Picks

I finished the ESPN BASS Fantasy season super strong, moved into 7th over all out of thousands and thousands of participants.  Looks like I won prizes from ESPN and other leagues I was in, now I hope to finish FLW Fantasy strong as well.

Conflicting schedules, we were not able to put together a podcast show for this week, so here are my FLW picks for this week!
Randal Tharp winning with 78lbs
David Dudley
Andy Morgan
Stetson Blaylock
Greg Pugh
Michael Bennet
Scott Canterbury
Bryan Thrift
Brent Ehrler
Shin Fukae

Little local flavor, some studs and some young guns!

Stay tuned, think I am going fishing Friday and Saturday this week!

New Favorite FLW Pro

We recently did a great interview with FLW Pro Angler Bryan Thrift, he is a great interview and I think I may be a Yankee version of him in the making.  Take a listen and let me know what you think!  Bryan breaks down how he won the FLW Lake Norman tournament and some great bass fishing tips.

His comments about pre-tournament reasearch and dock fishing are particularly interesting!  Find some more great podcasts here – http://twincitylimits.podbean.com

On another note, I have yet to get out fishing even though the ice off the lakes, maybe I will get out on Friday afternoon.  If  you are looking for some tips on saving some bassin bucks, take a look here.

Also looking for something to do this weekend, see below!  St Jude Fundraiser is a good time and a great cause!

My FLW Lake Norman Fantasy Fishing Picks

Better late then never,  here is my lineup this week, being a bit of a homer this tourney:
Jim Moynagh – Winner – 59lbs
Brent Ehrler
Shin Fukae
Mark Rose
Michael Bennet
Greg Pugh
David Walker
David Dudley
Scott Cantebury
Andy Morgan

Sounds like we are talking about unusually dirty water for Norman and a strong pre-spawn bite.  Should throw a few wrinkles into things compared to previous April FLW Tourneys.  Also, I got some prizes for Table Rock coming, stay tuned!

To hear all my reasoning and thoughts on my picks, check out the embedded podcast!

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Red River FLW Fantasy Fishing Lineup

Reports from the Red River are of high, muddy and cold water, which usually means tough fishing.  Expect many anglers to struggle, but some will find the right kind of water and you will likely still see some hefty pre-spawn sacks.  So as of now, here is my Fantasy lineup for the Red River.

RIch’s Red River Roster Adjust Team Tour Stats

Selected Anglers Winner Winning
Weight
Tournaments
Fished
Earnings Missed
Cuts
Avg
Finish
Top
3
Top
10’s
Top
25’s
Wins
   DAVID WALKER 92 $ 547,509 72 52 0 17 33 0
 MARK ROSE 68 $ 519,200 59 66 3 8 15 0
 ROB KILBY 86 $ 513,150 76 55 3 7 23 0
 ISHAMA MONROE 13 $ 71,000 13 80 0 0 2 0
 EDWIN EVERS X 67lbs 7oz 0
 DAVID DUDLEY 90 $ 1,348,100 73 45 7 16 35 2
 GREG PUGH 54 $ 376,500 45 67 0 8 13 0
 JASON CHRISTIE 13 $ 99,500 10 78 0 3 3 0
 RANDALL THARP 6 $ 26,000 6 67 0 0 1 0
 ANDY MORGAN 93 $ 768,354 78 48 3 13 31 1

To find out the details and logic behind my lineup, listen to the following podcast in which host Greg Huff and I break down our Fantasy Fishing picks, plus we interview FLW Champion angler Luke Clausen on the 2nd half of the show which you can listen to here or on iTunes.

Still time to join my league and win free prizes for the Red River and all the events!

FLW Fantasy Fishing starts Monday

With all the controversy over the sale of Genmar, I kind of wondered if FLW Fantasy Fishing would see big changes or possibly be gone all together. Fortunately it is not gone, but there are some major changes.  Payouts have been decreased by about 95% when it comes to cash payouts this year over last year.  Don’t get me wrong, they are still paying out some great prizes for a free game!

Winners each week can earn $5,000 and overall winner can win $50,000, plus many other prizes including Cabela’s gift cards and a trip to El Salto!

I always thought that it seemed insane the money that they were giving away, guess somethings are too good to last!  See full press release here.

Either way, I will be hosting a league again where I will give away prizes for each event and for the season.  Check back early next week for sign up information.
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Too Busy….

Traveling the past two weeks, so this blog entry will try to get me all caught up in one shot.  I was home last weekend between trips, my buddy Ryan Brant decided to fish the Celebration OUtdoors tournament on Lake Marion kind of last minute.  Neither of us had fished Marion since last summer, but we thought it would be fun none the less.  We did not get to practice at all, so we had a couple ideas and decided to start on one of our favorite deeps spots.  We fished the area pretty good and only had 1 missed bite.  We then tried  a few shallow areas, we caught a couple shorts and then I got a good bite on my favorite 3/8oz Green Pumpkin/Brown Tru-Tungsten jig using a 3″ Green Pumpkin Chigger craw as a trailer, it ended up being about 3.5lbs.  Definitely a good first fish! The next are we fished was a mid-depth area that usually has good coontail clumps, after a few casts I got a decent 2lb fish on my jig and that was the only bite we got there.  The next area was shallow again and I popped 3 keepers pretty quick on my jig, nothing special by any means, we would need to cull several of them to contend on Lake Marion.  Shorty after that, Ryan caught a nice almost 3lb bass on a frog out of a small clump of pads.  Then we jumped to another shallow area and I stuck a another nice 3.5lbs bass.  We tried two more deeps areas without a single bite and then made a decision to spend the last two hours dedicated to shallow water.  Ryan caught a few more fish on jigs, but none that helped, on my last cast I got broke off by what felt like a good bite on a dock.  We though we had around 13-14lbs for 5 fish, which on Lake Marion normally is not that great, but we optimistic to at least make the bottom end of the checks.  We were the last boat to weigh-in, and as we watched and watched the small bags, we were in disbelief, with us and one other boat to weigh, the leader was only 12lbs.  We knew we had more then that, but the bag just before us ended up being a whopping 21lb plus bag.  So we ended up at 13.91lbs and 2nd place, so Ryan and I got a nice $700 check to split and some spiffy little trophies.  Not bad for no practice or effort of preparation.  Regardless, it was fun fishing a team event with a good buddy!


Here are our 2 biggest from Lake Marion Celebration Tourney

Congrats to Greg Hackney on his Forrest Wood Cup championship on Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers.  A great victory for a guy that had traditionally not shown well in season end championships like th FLW Cup and Bassmaster Classics.  I also like that fact that he kind of stuck it to FLW a bit, because they would have obviously preferred it if one of their main FLW pros would have won, not a traditional BASS guy.  THis is quite evident based on the coverage of the FLW Series East-West fish-off on Lake Falcon, where Hackney destroyed the field and almost broke a 4 day weight record in 3 days, and Hackney got almost no TV coverage when that program aired.  Hackney used several baits en route to his win, but he gives credit to a 1/4oz Pro-Model Spinnerbait in Golden Shiner and a Strike Kingd Ocho rigged on a Tru-Tungsten Flea Flicker jig to catching many of his key fish.

Watch for a preview to Oneida Fantasy Fishing lineup for next week.  Tomorrow night I leave for Escanaba, MI to fish the Federation Nation northern divisional on Lake Michigan.  It is a tad intimidating to tackle 120,000 acres of wide open water and at the same time very excited to tackle some big great lake smallmouth bass.  Not to mention, this being my 4th Northern Divisional, I am really focused on trying to make it to the Fed Nationals from this tournament.

Wish me Luck!
Rich
RichLindgren.com 
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

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Setting a FLW Fantasy Fishing Lineup for Kentucky Lake

Kentucky Lake is in a big time upward cycle right now and kicking out a ton of fish and some real big ones.   Both big smallies & largemouth could likely factor in during this event. 

Fishery Details:

Type of water: Kentucky – Tennessee River (TVA) impoundment,
Barkley – Cumberland River impoundment
Surface area: 160,000 acres for Kentucky, 58,000 acres for Barkley
Shoreline: 2,064 miles for Kentucky, 1,004 for Barkley
Average depth: 20 feet for Kentucky, 12 feet for Barkley
Max depth: Approximately 60 feet on both lakes
Primary structure/cover: rock, grass, bushes, lay-downs, points, off-shore ledges, brush
Species: largemouth, smallmouth, spotted bass
Length minimum: 15″ for largemouths, 18″ for smallmouths, 12″ Spotted bass 

All indications is that this tournament will be a full on ledge bite. 

Here are my other anglers to watch:
Dan Moorehead
Jim Moynagh
George Geane, Jr.

Basically I am sticking with the strategy to keep littering my lineup with anglers that are hot right now and have past experience and lots of wins & top 10’s this week.

Finally, my FLW fantasy fishing picks:

 

Kentucky/Barkley Lake Roster Tour Stats
  Selected Anglers Events Earnings Missed
Cuts
Avg
Finish
Top
3
Top
10’s
Top
25’s
Wins
 1  TERRY BOLTON       84 $ 422,100 77 65 2 7 25 0
 2  ANDY MORGAN       90 $ 747,854 75 48 3 13 31 1
 3  DAVID DUDLEY       88 $ 1,348,100 71 43 7 16 35 2
 4  DAVID FRITTS       79 $ 836,548 64 69 7 14 21 5
 5  BRENT EHRLER       31 $ 789,000 26 47 1 5 13 1
 6  RAMIE COLSON JR       29 $ 143,000 26 87 0 2 7 0
 7  DAVID YOUNG       34 $ 84,200 33 81 1 1 4 0
 8  MICHAEL BENNETT       32 $ 1,401,850 26 52 3 6 13 2
 9  STETSON BLAYLOCK       34 $ 302,975 28 48 3 6 12 2
 10  SHINICHI FUKAE       38 $ 645,650 27 47 2 10 17 2

It’s not too late to join my group, prizes will be awarded at every tournament and year end.

Sign up today!
Play Fantasy Fishing for Millions

Best regards,
The Commissioner
RichLindgren.com 
Bass Fishing Today
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Bass Tackle Depot - Free Shipping $50 Orders - Great spot for hard to find Bass Fishing Gear!! 

Pool 2 early practice results

Well let’s get right to the point!
 
Yep, no fish…..  I did have two very good bites on a tube, they were either both pike or I had bad spots in my line on both hooksets, tough to say.  I may have had a couple bites on a Rapala Fat 3 and a SWL Quickstrike spinnerbait, but tough to say.  I spent most of the day alternating between a tube & a white swim jig.  I also threw crankbaits, jerkbaits, spinnerbait and jigs.  Kind of amased I could not get bit on reaction baits with water in the main channel at 54 degrees.

To add insult to injury, I snapped my transducer off my trolling motor and my FLW fantasy did not fall in the right order, so no big prizes this week.

I am hoping to get back out on Pool 2 this Saturday.  Congrats to KVD for being a stud and winning on an unlikely body of water (Smith Mtn) for him and Stetson Blaylock had a great win on Lake Norman, former co-angler phenom, now FLW tour pro winner!  Too bad Mr. Moynagh could not make surge today and get a big win.

Also look for announcements on group winners for my Fantasy Fishing leagues, I have got some new prizes this week!

RichLindgren.com 
Bass Fishing Today
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Bass Tackle Depot - Free Shipping $50 Orders - Great spot for hard to find Bass Fishing Gear!! 

Setting a FLW Fantasy Fishing Lineup for Lake Norman

Lake Norman is the largest man made lake in North Carolina, it definitely seems to be a more of a numbers lake with both Largemouth & Spotted Bass.  Widely known as a dock lake, also has a fair amount of rock & wood.  Unlike Table Rock, most bass are likely to come fairly shallow.   It is similar in the respect there is not much for grass, like the first tournament on Lake Guntersville.

Type of water: lowland impoundment of Catawba River
Surface acres: 32,500 acres
Shoreline: 520 miles
Average depth: approximately 30 feet
Max depth: 110 feet
Primary structure/cover: docks, piers, pilings, grass, stumps, lay-downs, rocks
Species: largemouth, spotted bass
Length minimum: 14 inches for all species

All indications is that this tournament will again be a combination of spawn & post-spawn fish.  Shad spawn could play a roll as well for the top finishers.  If you look to my previous post about how BassFan.com identified some Lake Norman studs, they are likely to play a large role in my angling, team, and maybe a little local flavor.  BASS has fished Norman, but its been awhile, so I am skipping that research this time.

Remember Kim Bain suggested Brian Thrift & Alvin Shaw when I interviewed her….

Here are my other anglers to watch:
Brian Travis
Scott Cantebury
Jacob Powroznik

Basically I littered my lineup with anglers that are hot right now and have past experience and lots of wins & top 10’s this week.  I think Jim Moynagh is due for a big win!

Finally, my lineup:

Rich’s Lake Norman Roster Tour Stats
  Selected Anglers Tournaments Earnings Missed
Cuts
Avg
Finish
Top
3
Top
10’s
Top
25’s
Wins
 1  JIM MOYNAGH       76 $ 749,650 67 63 5 9 21 1
 2  MICHAEL BENNETT       30 $ 1,377,850 24 54 3 6 12 2
 3  BRENT EHRLER       29 $ 753,000 25 50 1 4 11 1
 4  ANDY MORGAN       88 $ 679,854 74 49 2 12 29 1
 5  SHINICHI FUKAE       36 $ 631,650 25 48 2 10 16 2
 6  CRAIG POWERS       68 $ 536,950 59 66 5 9 15 1
 7  DAVID DUDLEY       86 $ 1,343,100 69 43 7 16 35 2
 8  GREG PUGH       49 $ 323,500 42 69 0 6 11 0
 9  DAVID WALKER       87 $ 486,509 69 52 0 16 32 0
 10  BRYAN THRIFT       19 $ 250,700 13 39 1 6 11 0

Its not too late to join my group, prizes will be awarded at every tournament and year end.

Sign up today!
Play Fantasy Fishing for Millions

Best regards,
The Commissioner
RichLindgren.com 
Bass Fishing Today
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Bass Tackle Depot - Free Shipping $50 Orders - Great spot for hard to find Bass Fishing Gear!! 

Old Guys still getting it done!

Seems like every time you start hearing guys talk about how professional bass fishing has become a young man’s game, then we have a weekend like this last weekend.  Tommy Biffle lays down a convincing win at Wheeler and Guido Hibdon use his wisdom to top a 200 boat field at Lake Eufala.  While these guys are not competing for AOY titles anymore, they still prove at any given tournament they are a threat to not only make final cuts, but bring it all home!  The most exciting part of this, is that you may have a lot longer then you think to chase down your dream as a professional tournament angler.

Over the past few years, Denny Brauer, Guido Hibdon, Paul Elias, Tommy Biffle & David Fritts have all won tour events, some of these guys have won multiple times.  This definitely is one of the many things that makes bass fishing exciting to follow and what a lot of avid bass anglers can relate to.  One thing that seems apparent, is that when these guys do win, they seem to do it when conditions line up to their strengths.  These guys don’t seem to win tournaments anymore by junk fishing and flying by the seat of their pants like they may have done in the past.  Brauer’s victory on Champlain came courtesty of a strong bite flipping his signature jig, Elias claimed the all time heavy weight record at Falcon with the Kneel & Reel, and Fritt’s victories came largely on his DT Series crankbaits.

Photo: ESPN Outdoors/Seigo Saito

This past weekend on Wheeler, Biffle found a flooded creek to himself and flipped his key area to death with 3 primary baits:
> A 3/8 oz Lunker Lure Rattleback jig (black/blue) tipped with a Gene Larew Super Salt Biffle craw (black/blue w/ sapphire-blue claws)

> A Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (black/red), Texas-rigged with a 5/16 oz Tru-Tungsten Worm weight & 4/0 Reaction Innovations BMF hook, & pegged with a Tru-Tungsten Smart Peg.

> An 8.5″ Gene Larew Biffle-O lizard (black-neon), which is a hollow-body & hollow-tail lizard. He Texas-rigged it with the same weight & pegging system, but upsized to a 5/0 Owner hook.   Find Gene Larew Salt Craws & Biffle-O Lizards @ Basspro.com


Photo courtesty of BassFan.com
Guido Hibdon is a great finesse fisherman, but also an all time grinder, ecspecially when targeting post-spawn fish.  He ended up targeting some small areas and had to wait the fish out, sometime making 30-40 casts to the same rock before igniting the bite. Here are the 3 techniques & baits that Guido relied on:
> Crankbait gear: 7′ medium-action JB Custom jig rod, Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris Signature Series baticaster (6.3:1 ratio), 17- & 20-lb Berkley Trilene XT, Lucky Craft RC 2.5 (BPS exclusive) or C Flash 22 Cal. crankbait (chartreuse/black).  Noted the bigger fish would not bite crankbaits with rattles in them.

> Jig gear: Same rod & reel, Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line, 1/4 oz Luck “E” Strike jig (brown-red), Luck “E” Strike Guido Bug trailer (brown/purple flake).

> Carolina rig gear: Same rod and reel, 20 lb Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line, 3/4 oz bullet weight, 3 glass beads, small barrel swivel, 14 lb Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon leader (18″), 3/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook, Luck “E” Strike Shakey Tail worm (chartreuse/green-pumpkin). – Find Luck “E” Strike lures @ Basspro.com

Moral of the story, you can still learn plenty from the old timers of the sport and don’t take them for granted, because they can still flat catch’em!

RichLindgren.com 
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Bass Tackle Depot - Free Shipping $50 Orders - Great spot for hard to find Bass Fishing Gear!!