The first tournament of the 21st season of the Walmart FLW professional anglers Tour kicks off Feb. 4-7 with the Walmart FLW Tour at Lake Okeechobee presented by Ranger Boats. The tournament will feature 169 of the world’s best bass-fishing professionals and co-anglers casting for top awards of up to $125,000 cash in the pro division and up to $25,000 cash in the co-angler division -- including two northeast Georgia fisherman gunning for the top.
Jason Johnson and Jason Meninger of Gainesville will be among the 170 anglers competing on the FLW Tour this season. 2016 will mark Johnson’s second and Meninger’s seventh season fishing as professionals on the FLW Tour.
One of the anglers competing against the North Georgia quartet is 16-year FLW Tour veteran Scott Martin, the defending FLW Tour Angler of the Year, who lives on Lake Okeechobee and is considered an early favorite.
“I think that this Tour event is going to be a fantastic tournament,” said Martin. “The fish will have adjusted to the colder temperatures and I believe we are going to see a lot of fish caught. Water levels are up and it has really opened up a lot of new areas, which is very interesting. The water coming up 6 inches on Lake Okeechobee is a lot. The fish are much further back than they normally would be and with the right warming trend we could see a lot of those fish spawning in areas they haven’t been to in years.
“It’s tough to try to predict a winning weight due to the unpredictable weather we’ve been having, but I believe that the winner will most likely weigh in a four-day total of more than 80 pounds."
Fishing fans that can’t make the trek to Florida can still follow along with all of the tournament action at FLWFishing.com. Live on-the-water tweets, photos, updates and videos will be posted throughout the four days of competition as well as a live streaming video feed of the weigh-in held at 3 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
In FLW Tour competition, anglers are also vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing. The 2016 Forrest Wood Cup will be on Wheeler Lake in Huntsville, Ala., Aug. 4-7.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/1/365395/two-gainesville-anglers-will-gun-for-top-in-flw-tour