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HODGES
LEADS STREN SERIES EVENT ON
BENTON, Ky. (May 3, 2007) – Pro Andy Hodges of
Cadiz, Ky., caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 1 ounce Thursday to
retain the lead in the $275,225 Stren Series Central Division tournament on
Kentucky Lake. With a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 41-10, he now holds
a 3-pound, 2-ounce lead over second place pro Curt McGuire of Lawrenceburg,
Tenn., who managed to haul in a total of 10 bass weighing 38-8 during the
first two days of competition.
“I had to make adjustments today,” said Hodges,
who said he covered a lot of water on
Hodges said he got nervous about his approach
and then altered his plan. While he started the day on
“There were a lot more logs floating in the
middle of the lake today, so I thought the water level was a little bit down
from yesterday,” Hodges said. “To be honest with you, I’m not really sure
where the fish went. I do know they moved, though. They weren’t where I
caught them yesterday.”
Hodges said he caught eight keepers throughout
the course of the day.
“I’m not worried about catching keepers
tomorrow,” Hodges said. “I’m worried about catching bigger quality fish.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Team Gain
pro Koby Kreiger of
Robert Robinson of
Overall there were 750 bass weighing 1,887
pounds, 14 ounces caught by pros Thursday. The catch included 108 five-bass
limits.
Pros are competing for as much as $65,000,
including a 519VX Ranger powered by Evinrude or Yamaha if contingency
guidelines are met, and valuable points
toward qualifying for the $1 million Stren Series Championship in
Stephen Smith of
“I fished with Craig Powers, and he was fishing
real tight to the brush and covering water very thoroughly,” Smith said. “I
was just trying to find places he hadn’t thrown and places he was avoiding.
He’s pretty much a vacuum cleaner out there, but an awesome guy to fish
with. He told me he would make sure I had my limit before we left.
“Sure enough, I was just picking up strays, but I managed to squeak out a limit,” Smith added.
Rounding out the top five
Frank Divas of Fayetteville, Ark., earned $150
for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a
5-pound, 3-ounce bass he caught.
Overall there were 408 bass weighing 951
pounds, 11 ounces caught by co-anglers Thursday. The catch included 25
five-bass limits.
The top 40 co-anglers from each Stren Series
division will also advance to the championship, where they will fish for as
much as $70,000. The highest-finishing co-angler from each division at the
championship will then advance to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.
Anglers will take off at 6:30 each morning from
Moors Resort & Marina located at 570 Moors Road in Gilbertsville, Ky.
Friday’s weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s
weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 310 W. 5th
St. in Benton, Ky., beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and
open to the public.
Stren Series tournaments are four-day events consisting of two rounds. The
entire field competes Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. At the conclusion of
Friday’s weigh-in, the field is cut to the top 10 pros
FLW Outdoors historically maintains a 98 percent live release rate in all of
its bass tournaments.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger
Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour,
Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart
Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Ranger Owners Tournament
Championship Series, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League,
Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW
Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer
combined purses of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.
Wal-Mart and many of
