FLW announces pro field for 2017 FLW Tour
Jan 10th, 2017 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Jan 10th, 2017 at 12:00 AM
Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) announced today the complete professional angler roster of 165 for the upcoming 2017 FLW Tour season, the 22nd season of the FLW Tour. The 2017 FLW Tour will feature seven regular-season tournaments with competition kicking off Feb. 2-5 at Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama.
The 2017 FLW Tour roster is headlined by three-time reigning Angler of the Year (AOY) Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tennessee, and 2016 Forrest Wood Cup champion John Cox of DeBary, Florida. They’ll be joined by nine former FLW Tour AOY winners, six former Forrest Wood Cup champions, and 30 Tour rookies in 2017.
Also making their FLW Tour debut at Lake Guntersville in February will be former Bassmaster Elite Series competitors Carl Jocumsen, Billy McCaghren, Matt Reed, Casey Scanlon and Dennis Tietje. Those newcomers bring a combined 33 top-10 finishes and career earnings of more than $1.6 million to the Tour.
“The talent level of the professional anglers on the 2017 FLW Tour roster is second to none,” said Bill Taylor, Senior FLW Tournament Director. “We are extremely excited to kick off the season next month at Lake Guntersville and I anticipate that this season will be one of the most competitive seasons that we have ever had in FLW Tour history.”
The top 100 pros and top 10 co-anglers from the 2016 FLW Tour, the top 10 pros from each of the five 2016 FLW Series divisions, the 2016 TBF National Champion, and the 2016 BFL All-American champion all received priority invitations to join the Tour.
In addition to the $125,000 paycheck that is awarded to FLW Tour winners, FLW will pay out at least $10,000 to pros down to 50th place along with one additional payout of $4,000 per boat over a 160-boat field. The season opener on Lake Guntersville, scheduled to fish 165 boats, will pay out 55 places.
In FLW Tour competition anglers are vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2017 Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing. The 2017 Forrest Wood Cup will be in Columbia, South Carolina, Aug. 11-13 on Lake Murray and is hosted by the Capital City Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com.