I haven't made it down to Kentucky Lake for bass fishing in several years. The last time I was there was to take pictures of the NBAA National tournament there and the floodwaters were raging. How has the bass fishing been lately?

FLW Outdoors News

Troy Anderson wins co-angler title

BUCHANAN, Tenn. (Oct. 30, 2011) – Prevacid pro Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 19 pounds, 5 ounces Sunday to win the EverStart Series Championship on Kentucky Lake with a four day total of 20 bass weighing 61 pounds, 4 ounces. For his victory, Morehead earned $50,000 plus a 198VX Ranger boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor.

"I've been waiting since 10:30 to weigh my fish," said an overzealous Prevacid pro Dan Morehead who was looking for his first championship title. "I am tickled to death with what I did. A lot of people thought this tournament would be won down south, but Kentucky Lake is Kentucky Lake and I had to go north to my home waters.

"I caught most of my fish with the Alabama rig," Morehead continued. "Let me tell you, nothing triggers suspended fish quite like this rig. I have never felt the bass strike the way they do as on an Alabama rig. I had three rods on my deck. Two had the Alabama rig. One had four, 4 ½ inch Berkley Hollow Belly Swimbaits surrounding a 5 ½ inch swimbait. On the other I had five, 5 ½ inch Berkley swimbaits and would switch to the bigger bait rig after I had caught my limit and wanted to go for the bigger bass. On the first day when the weather was so nasty I caught two of my better fish using a Zara Spook. But for the rest of the tournament it was all Alabama rig.

"This is just awesome to be able to win in front of all my friends and family," Morehead added.

 2nd: Jeff Hippert, Hamburg, N.Y., 20 bass, 56-14, $16,800
 3rd: Lendell Martin Jr., Nacogdoches, Texas, 19 bass, 55-12, $8,450 
 4th: Kellogg's pro Jim Tutt, Longview, Texas, 20 bass, 55-2, $7,600
 5th: Koby Kreiger, Okeechobee, Fla., 20 bass, 54-14, $6,750
 6th: Chad Prough, Chipley, Fla., 20 bass, 52-13, $5,900
 7th: Brad Knight, Wartburg, Tenn., 20 bass, 52-7, $5,050
 8th: Jess Caraballo, Danbury, Conn., 18 bass, 51-6, $4,200
 9th: Todd Castledine, Nacogdoches, Texas, 20 bass, 51-2, $3,400
10th: Mike McDonald, Randleman, N.C., 18 bass, 46-11, $2,600

Troy Anderson of Galesville, Wis., won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger boat with an Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor plus $5,000 with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 42 pounds, 3 ounces.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:

 2nd: Richard Peek, Centre, Ala., 14 bass, 35-6, $4,200
 3rd: Hale White, Franklin, Tenn., 14 bass, 35-2, $2,950
 4th: Beecher Strunk, Somerset, Ky., 10 bass, 34-2, $2,100
 5th: Russell Lohman, Pineville, La., 11 bass, 33-10, $1,875
 6th: Eric Richey, Paradise, Texas, 13 bass, 30-12, $1,675
 7th: Vince Denina, Willis, Texas, 12 bass, 30-8, $1,475
 8th: Doug Caldwell, Kane, Pa., 11 bass, 29-1, $1,275
 9th: Jeff McCarnan, Henderson, Ky., 11 bass, 28-2, $1,075
10th: David Underwood, Waco, Texas, 10 bass, 27-4, $875

The EverStart Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Each division consists of four qualifying events. The top 40 pros and co-anglers from each respective division qualified for this championship event and were fishing this week on Kentucky Lake.

Coverage of the EverStart Series Championship on Kentucky Lake will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS. "FLW Outdoors" will air Dec. 18 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. "FLW Outdoors," hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to more than 500 million households worldwide.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWOutdoors.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the EverStart Series on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWEverStartSeries and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWOutdoors.

ABOUT FLW OUTDOORS
FLW Outdoors is the best in fishing, on and off the water. Anglers worldwide can compete for millions over the course of 191 tournaments in 2011. FLW Outdoors has taken fishing mainstream with the world's richest fantasy sports game, FLW Fantasy Fishing presented by Straight Talk, where competitors can play for free as well as sign up for Player's Advantage to gain an edge. For more information about FLW Outdoors and FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FLWOutdoors.com or FantasyFishing.com.

FLW Outdoors News

Walmart Bass Fishing League LBL Division To Host Event On Kentucky/Barkley Lakes

Bass changing patterns amidst seasonal transition

GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (Sept. 1, 2011) – The Walmart Bass Fishing League is headed to Kentucky/Barkley Lakes Sept. 10-11 for its fifth and final stop in the LBL Division. This will be a two-day super tournament where as many as 400 boaters and co-anglers will be competing for top awards up to $11,000 and $4,500, respectively.

"I think it's going to be typical fishing on our lakes," said Prevacid pro Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky. "I'm not going to say the fish are going to be in full-blown fall pattern yet by any means, but the bait fish are starting to move around and relocate.  They will be spread out a lot more, which makes everything harder.

"Jigs, worms and crankbaits will come back into play now that the fish are moving up shallower, and there might be some topwater action early in the morning, but that won't last long," Morehead added.  "I don't think it's going to take a huge weight to do well in the tournament, but at the same time we still have one of the best lakes in the country, so if someone busts off a 20 pound stringer one day, I'm not going to be surprised.  I'd say 34 to 36 pounds will win the tournament."

Takeoffs will be at Kentucky Dam Marina located at 446 Marina Drive in Gilbertsville at 6:30 a.m. each morning. Saturday's weigh-in will be at the marina beginning at 2:30 p.m., and Sunday's final weigh-in is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Walmart located at 310 West 5th St. in Benton.  Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

The Kentucky/Barkley Lakes BFL tournament is being hosted by the Marshall County Tourist Commission.

The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, offering bigger prizes to those who qualify for regional championships and those who make it to one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the EverStart Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the BFL on Facebook at Facebook.com/BassFishingLeague. For news surrounding FLW Outdoors on Facebook, follow Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWOutdoors.

ABOUT FLW OUTDOORS
FLW Outdoors is the best in fishing, on and off the water. Anglers worldwide can compete for millions over the course of 191 tournaments in 2011. FLW Outdoors has taken fishing mainstream with the world's richest fantasy sports game, FLW Fantasy Fishing presented by Straight Talk, where competitors can play for free as well as sign up for Player's Advantage to gain an edge. For more information about FLW Outdoors and FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FLWOutdoors.com or FantasyFishing.com.

FLW Outdoors News

Grigsby Wins Walmart FLW Tour On Kentucky Lake Presented By Kellogg's

Peek wins co-angler title, $20,000

MURRAY, Ky. (June 19, 2011) – Goodwill pro and father of two Chad Grigsby of Maple Grove, Minn., caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 13 ounces Sunday to earn a Father's Day win and $125,000 at the Walmart FLW Tour on Kentucky Lake presented by Kellogg's with a four-day catch of 20 bass weighing 73-3.

The catch gave him the win by a solid 6-pound, 8-ounce margin over Kevin Snider of Elizabethtown, Ky., who caught a total of 20 bass weighing 66-11 and earned $33,287.

"This is what everybody strives for," said Grigsby, who notched his first FLW Tour win in his 10 seasons as a pro. "You've got bars you strive for — make the top 20 and make the top 10. And I've bombed in some top 10s. But that's because my whole goal is to fish to try to win it. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

"I wasn't going to go out and stay on the bank and try to catch 12 pounds and see where I ended up," Grigsby added. "I wasn't going to do that."

Grigsby opened the tournament in 10th place Thursday with five bass weighing 19-11. On Friday he added another five bass weighing 14-10 to move up to seventh place. He then caught five bass weighing 16-1 Saturday to make the crucial top-10 cut in third place.

Grigsby said he fished spots around the Paris area as well as around Moors Resort and Marina on Kentucky Lake. The Paris area consisted of a channel swing that featured turns in it. Grigsby said he targeted bass in 19 to 21 feet of water in that area with a worm on a jighead. Grigsby said he started the first two days of competition there to catch a quick limit and then ran north in search of bigger fish.

Grigsby said he caught about eight keepers Sunday; his key area was near a creek in front of Moors.

"There's a ditch that goes through it and then drops back to 15 or 16 feet," Grigsby said. "And the top where the ditch comes back up is where the big shell bed is. That's where I caught every one of them.

"Everybody was talking about catching 50 and 60 (fish) and whatever, but I didn't get in on that," Grigsby added. "If I caught a bunch of little ones I wouldn't stay, because I've found if you catch a bunch of little ones you don't usually catch very many big ones. So if I caught one 3 (pounds) or better, that would be the area I would focus on."

Grigsby's setup for the week included a ¾-ounce Secret Lures football-head jig as well as a jighead with a homemade worm on it. Grigsby also employed the use of a Strike King XD6 deep-diving crankbait. Grigsby used a 7-foot, 10-inch All-Star cranking rod to cast the crankbait far enough to get it to dive to its maximum depth.

Grigsby said he was relieved to get his elusive first Tour victory behind him.

"I knew this day was coming," he said. "I thought it would have been here by now. It wears on you a little bit when you get close and you can't seal the deal. Everything just worked out.

"I wasn't really on anything, but I could scrounge around and catch a couple of big ones every day, and today I happened to catch four of them," Grigsby added.

The remaining top 10 pros finished the tournament in:
3rd: Chevy pro Jay Yelas of Corvallis, Ore., 20 bass, 62-10, $28,520
4th: Ramie Colson Jr. of Cadiz, Ky., 17 bass, 61-4, $25,003
5th: Tom Monsoor, La Crosse, Wis., 20 bass, 59-6, $18,987
6th: National Guard pro Mark Rose, Marion, Ark., 19 bass, 58-4, $16,127
7th: Tom Mann Jr., Buford, Ga., 20 bass, 57-13, $15,173
8th: Cody Bird, Granbury, Texas, 18 bass, 54-13, $14,220
9th: Diet Mt. Dew pro Jason Christie, Park Hill, Okla., 15 bass, 50-6, $13,267
10th: Cheez It pro Shinichi Fukae, Palestine, Texas, 15 bass, 45-2, $12,313

Fukae was involved in a one-boat accident during Sunday's competition and unable to attend weigh-in as a result. Fukae was treated for minor injuries and released and his cameraman was taken to a Nashville hospital for further observation.

A complete list of results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.

Overall there were 40 bass weighing 108 pounds, 13 ounces caught by pros Sunday. The catch included seven five-bass limits.

Richard Peek of Centre, Ala., won the Co-angler Division and $20,000 Saturday with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 47 pounds, 2 ounces followed by Tony Dumitras of Winston, Ga., in second place with 14 bass weighing 46-14 worth $7,134.

In FLW Tour competition, pros and co-anglers are vying for valuable points that could help them qualify for the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup presented by Walmart, where they could win up to $600,000 – the sport's biggest award – and $60,000 respectively. This year's Cup will be in Hot Springs, Ark., Aug. 11-14 on Lake Ouachita.

Pros and co-anglers are also competing for the prestigious Walmart FLW Tour Angler of the Year presented by Kellogg's in 2011 that will be determined by the most points accumulated over the six Tour Majors. The pro winner will receive $100,000, while the co-angler title holder will win a new Ranger 198VX with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.

The Kentucky Lake event presented by Kellogg's was hosted by the Murray Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Marshall County Tourist Commission, and was the seventh of 10 Walmart FLW Tour tournaments of the 2011 season. The Walmart FLW Tour on Pickwick Lake presented by AMP Energy will be the next tournament and will be held July 21-24 in Florence, Ala. The event will be hosted by Florence/Lauderdale Tourism and boats will launch from McFarland Park in Florence. For a complete schedule, visit FLWOutdoors.com.

Coverage of the Kentucky Lake tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS. "FLW Outdoors" will air Sept. 4 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. "FLW Outdoors," hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to more than 500 million households worldwide.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow FLW Outdoors on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWOutdoors.

ABOUT FLW OUTDOORS
FLW Outdoors is the best in fishing, on and off the water. Anglers worldwide can compete for millions over the course of 191 tournaments in 2011. FLW Outdoors has taken fishing mainstream with the world's richest fantasy sports game, FLW Fantasy Fishing presented by Straight Talk, where competitors can play for free as well as sign up for Player's Advantage to gain an edge. For more information about FLW Outdoors and FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FLWOutdoors.com or FantasyFishing.com.

Bob Luellen of Worldwide Marine Underwriters talks at the NPAA conference 2011 about making sure you are properly covered for liability, and to protect your boat, motors, electronics and fishing equipment.

Hi Guys and Ladies. First off, I just want to say "hi" and that I have the same problem that you do. I love to fish. I have been in the marine insurance business for over 15 years, and I represent over 20 insurance companies. I can write in 48 states. We have developed special programs designed by fishermen for fishermen.

I will be able to show you not only a way to save money, but also how to get the best coverages possible. I am here to help all of you understand what you have now and what I can do for you.

I am willing to answer any questions you may have. I have noticed there may be a few of you who think you were not treated properly when you had a claim. If your policy was written correctly, there should be no issues in the event of a claim. Please give me a call and I will be happy to discuss your policy with you.

If you need a boat loan or have boat loan questions, please contact us - RecLending.com. We are experts in the business of helping you get the boat (RV or watercraft) you want.

Here is our contact info.
Our website is www.reclending.com
email - tsmfinance@yahoo.com
         - ken@reclending.com
Office phone = 517-543-6921
Office fax = 734-795-4115

Let us hear from you.  We are here to help.

This is a good place to talk about warranties and service contracts.  If you have a question or comment, maybe we can help.

The number one question we get when people are buying used boats is "can I get more warranty?" The answer is often times yes. We also sell service contracts for engines you own at great prices. We would rather see people get extra coverage than worry about making a big profit. Let us know what you have and we will quote a price.

Our website is www.reclending.com
email - tsmfinance@yahoo.com
         - ken@reclending.com
Office phone = 517-543-6921
Office fax = 734-795-4115

Let us hear from you.  we are here to help.

Thanks, Ken, Todd & Chris

NBAA owner Jim Sprague talks about all the boats and other great prizes to be given way by NBAA to tournament anglers during the 2011 tournament season. Three new boats already given away at the April NBAA national championships on Kentucky Lake!

Walmart Bass Fishing League LBL Division To Host Event On Kentucky/Barkley Lakes

High water level could pose challenge

HARDIN, Ky. (May 4, 2011) – The Walmart Bass Fishing League is headed to Kentucky/Barkley lakes May 14 for the fourth of five stops in the LBL Division. As many as 400 boaters and co-anglers will be competing for top awards up to $9,500 and $3,000, respectively.

"They're biting if you can get to them," said Prevacid 24 Hour pro Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky. "It's more of a game of hunting right now rather than fishing. The lake is 14 feet above pool and there's so much water in the woods and timber you can't get to the bank."

Morehead said anglers will need to use caution during the tournament because of hidden obstacles that are not visible because of the high water level, but the anglers who do find fish will be able to catch them.

"If it was me I'd be power fishing," Morehead said. "You can catch them flipping right now, but you can't cover enough water. I'd just use a spinnerbait or chatterbait and cover a lot of water."

Takeoffs and weigh-ins will be at Kenlake Marina located at 888 Kenlake Marina Ln. in Hardin, Tenn. Takeoff is scheduled for 5:30 a.m. while weigh-in will begin at 1:30 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

The Kentucky/Barkley lakes BFL tournament is being hosted by the Marshall County Tourist Commission.

The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, offering bigger prizes to those who qualify for regional championships and those who make it to one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the EverStart Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the BFL on Facebook at Facebook.com/BassFishingLeague. For news surrounding FLW Outdoors on Facebook, follow Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWOutdoors.

ABOUT FLW OUTDOORS
FLW Outdoors is the best in fishing, on and off the water. Anglers worldwide can compete for millions over the course of 191 tournaments in 2011. FLW Outdoors has taken fishing mainstream with the world's richest fantasy sports game, FLW Fantasy Fishing presented by Straight Talk, where competitors can play for free as well as sign up for Player's Advantage to gain an edge. For more information about FLW Outdoors and FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FLWOutdoors.com or FantasyFishing.com.