ROGERS -- For the 18th time in 21 years, FLW will visit Beaver Lake today through Sunday for the third bass tournament of the FLW Tour.
Hosted by Visit Rogers, the tournament will feature 167 of the world's best bass-fishing professionals and co-anglers competing for top awards of up to $125,000 in the pro division and up to $25,000 in the co-angler division.
At A Glance
WHAT FLW Tournament
WHERE Beaver Lake
WHEN Today through Sunday. Takeoffs will be at 6:30 a.m. at Prairie Creek Marina. Weigh-ins will be at 3 p.m. today and Friday at Prairie Creek Marina. Weigh-ins Saturday and Sunday will be at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart in Rogers, at 2110 Walnut St.
WHO The field will consist of 167 pro anglers and 167 non-boater co-anglers. The entire field will fish today and Friday, and the co-angler champion will be crowned after the second round. The field will cut to the top 20 pros for Saturday’s third round,. The top 10 pros will fish Sunday in their championship round.
MONEY The pro champion will win $125,000. The co-angler champion will win $25,000.
To honor Wal-Mart, FLW's title sponsor, Beaver Lake is the only permanent venue on the FLW Tour's schedule. Matt Arey of Shelby, N.C., who won the Beaver Lake event in 2014-15, said conditions on the lake suit the strengths of almost every angler in the field.
"You can fish the shallow, stained water in the river targeting bushes and wood, or you can fish the clean water in the lower end and see 20 feet deep," Arey said. "It's a great pattern lake, and you can really fish your strengths."
Beaver Lake's biggest strength in April is that bass are in all stages of the spawn, so anglers can catch them almost anywhere with almost any tactic. The upper part of the lake warms quickest, so bass are more likely to be spawning in the White, War Eagle and Hickory Creek arms. Bass will be in various stages of spawn and pre-spawn in the middle section from Prairie Creek to around Lost Bridge.
Near the dam, smallmouth bass are also spawning, which will add another dimension to the competition.
"The smallmouth tend to always be a wild card in this tournament," Arey said. "I'm a firm believer that you can't win there without catching largemouth, but it seems like somebody always sneaks into the top 10 by targeting the smallmouth."
After 17 visits to Beaver Lake, there's no secret to the baits the tour pros use. Those fishing the lower lake near Beaver Dam will catch most of their fish on drop-shot rigs, swimbaits, grubs and jerkbaits. The same baits will play in the mid-lake area as in the lower end, but some pros will speed up with spinnerbaits and Storm Wiggle Warts on staging banks or around wood cover.
Upstream, they'll catch bass off brush with buzzbaits, Texas-rigged creature baits and swimbaits.
Arey said that 56-60 pounds probably will be enough weight to win.
Travis Fox of Rogers concurred and said anglers probably can make the cut to fish in the third round Saturday by catching 12-13 pounds a day for the first two days.
The entire field will fish today and Friday. The 20 anglers with the heaviest combined two-day weights will fish Saturday. The 10 anglers with the heaviest combined three-day weights will fish Sunday in the championship round.
Takeoffs will be at 6:30 a.m. at Prairie Creek Marina. Weigh-ins will be at 3 p.m. today and Friday at Prairie Creek Marina. Weigh-ins Saturday and Sunday will be at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart in Rogers, at 2110 Walnut St.
Sports on 04/14/2016