Desforges Wins Stren Series Event on 1000 Islands
Category: press release
Jul 18th, 2009 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Jul 18th, 2009 at 12:00 AM
CLAYTON, N.Y. (July 18, 2009) – Pro Mike Desforges of Burlington, Ontario, caught a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 10 ounces Saturday to win the Stren Series Northern Division tournament on 1000 Islands with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 63 pounds, 13 ounces. For his victory, Desforges earned $20,147 cash.
“I ran to my first spot today and pretty much started catching them as soon as I got there,” Desforges said. “I realized that today I was sharing a spot with my roommate and I caught about 17 pounds off of that spot before I moved on.”
Desforges said he caught his fish on a combination of baits – a jerkbait for active fish and a drop-shot rig or a tube for fish that followed the jerkbait but wouldn’t commit to bite. Desforges said he caught 20 fish throughout the course of the day – all of them keepers that weighed more than 3 pounds. Desforges said he fished five spots and only two didn’t produce a fish.
“You don’t get too many opportunities to win like this, so you have to take advantage of it when you’re in that position,” Desforges said. “I had a good bag the first day, and that put me in a pretty good position to win. Yesterday was a little tougher. I had to catch a lot of fish to get my 20 pounds and I thought I might have burned out a few of my spots, but it seemed like the big ones were back.”
Rounding out the top five pros were Chris Johnston of Peterborough, Ontario (15 bass, 60-7, $8,059); Rob Laframboise of Sault Ste Marie, Ontario (15 bass, 58-9, $6,447); Jeff Magee of Yarker, Ontario (15 bass, 57-4, $5,641); and Derek Strub of Elora, Ontario (15 bass, 55-12, $4,835).
Desforges caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Thursday – a 5-pound, 15-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s Folgers Big Bass award of $328.
Robert Sweeney of Baltimore, Md., won the Co-angler Division and a 177TR Ranger boat and trailer, with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 40-9.
Sweeney said he managed to catch his only four fish of the day Saturday on a slightly submerged spinnerbait.
Sweeney caught five bass weighing 14-1 Thursday while fishing with pro Steve Voros of Springfield, Ontario, to open the tournament in seventh place. On Friday he added five more bass weighing 12-9 to make the top-10 cut in third place while fishing with pro Douglas Kirkbride of Beaver Falls, N.Y. Finally, on Saturday, he sealed the win with four bass weighing 13-15 while fishing with Laframboise.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Larry Evans of Southpoint, Ohio (15 bass, 38-4, $3,345); J.C. Chandler of Tunnel Hill, Ga. (12 bass, 36-7, $2,509); Jon Newman of Chapel Hill, N.C. (13 bass, 35-13, $2,091); and George Yund of Albany, N.Y. (14 bass, 35-13, $1,882).
Doug Wiser of Brackney, Pa., caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday – a 5-pound, 4-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s Folgers Big Bass award of $164.
After four qualifying events are complete in each Stren Series division – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western – the top 40 pros and 40 co-anglers based on the points standings from each division advance to the Stren Series Championship on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala., Nov. 5-7 for a shot at $150,000 in the Pro Division and $60,000 in the Co-angler Division. The top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers from each division will also qualify for the 2010 Walmart FLW Tour® and Walmart FLW Series®, bass fishing’s top professional circuits. The highest-finishing pro and co-angler from each division at the Stren Series Championship also qualify for the $2.5 million 2010 Forrest Wood Cup, where anglers will compete for the $1 million grand prize – the most lucrative award in bass fishing
In Stren Series competition, pros supply the boats, fish from the front deck against other pros and control boat movement. Co-anglers fish from the back deck and compete against other co-anglers. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points that determine angler standings. Two hundred points are awarded to the winner, 199 points for second, 198 points for third, and so on. The full field competes on days one and two, with the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers advancing to day three based on their two-day accumulated weight. Winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all three days.
Total awards are based on a 200-boat field in every tournament.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.
FLWOutdoors.com