Home    Media    Fishermen will compete in Knoxville to win part of $1 million

Fishermen will compete in Knoxville to win part of $1 million

Get your bass boat, hooks and game face ready if you want to catch the largest bass in Knoxville's Fort Loudoun and Tellico lakes. Beginning at 6:30 a.m. from Thursday, June 19 to Sunday, June 22, men and women from 35 states and three countries will leave the Tellico Recreational Area ramp to compete in the 2008 Wal-Mart FLW Tour fishing tournament and try to hook the first place professional prize of $125,000!


On June 19-20, approximately 400 professional fishermen (also called "anglers") and co-anglers will participate in the tournament using their personal boats, and on June 21, the top 10 professionals and top 10 co-anglers will use FLW Tour Ranger Comanche bass boats.  The tournament will end June 22 with the top 10 professionals competing.  Professional anglers operate the boats and choose fishing spots, and "co-anglers" fish off the back of each boat.  Each competitor is restricted to five bass each day and specific sizes for each type of bass: 14" largemouth bass, 12" spotted bass and 18" small-mouth bass.


$1 million in prizes are available to competing fishermen, including a first place award of $125,000 in the Professional Division and  $25,000 in the Co-angler Division.


Weigh-ins during the tournament will take place at 3 p.m. at the Tellico Recreational Area ramp on June 19-20 and 4 p.m. at the Knoxville Convention Center on June 21-22.


Fox Sports Net's (FSN) "FLW Outdoors" television show will film during the four-day tournament and will air on Aug. 10 and Aug. 17 at 11 a.m. "FLW Outdoors" is also distributed through Matchroom Sport in international markets including Australia, Europe and China.


FLW stands for Forrest L. Wood, who is the founder of Ranger boats. The complete name of the organization is FLW Outdoors, which was founded in the mid 1990s. FLW Outdoors hosts bass, walleye and saltwater tours, and also publishes FLW Outdoors Magazine and produces an FSN television show, which airs on Sundays.


For more information, visit www.flwoutdoors.com or contact Sarah Malak at the KTSC at (865) 523-7263 or smalak@knoxville.org.