ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 13, 1997 TAG: 9704150015
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-12 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
The names on the scoreboard were a virtual who's-who of B.A.S.S. fishing.
David Fritts, the winner; Ricky Clunn, second; Jay Yelas, third; Ken Cook, fourth. All of them but Yelas have won the BASS Masters Classic, and Yelas, no piker himself, was the winner of the 1995 BASSMASTERS SuperStars Tournament.
But we aren't looking at the final standings of another B.A.S.S. tournament. The Fritts-Clunn-Yelas-Cook lineup was how the most recent Wal-Mart FLW Tour finished at Lake Eufaula in Alabama.
Many of the big names who have dominated the B.A.S.S. circuit are leading the new FLW tour. It should come as no surprise. When you offer $100,000-plus as a first-place prize, guys like Fritts and Clunn are going to show up to claim their share.
So the competition is fierce, and we aren't just talking about fisherman vs. bass or angler vs. angler, but B.A.S.S. vs. FLW (which stands for Forrest L. Wood, the man behind Ranger boats). The battle is for big-name sponsors, for TV ratings, for impressive payoffs, for the hearts of bass fishermen.
Introduced last year, FLW has attracted an impressive number of sponsors, including Wal-Mart, Pepsi, CITGO, Chevrolet and, most recently, Owens Corning.
B.A.S.S. officials recently countered by saying, ``We have sponsors, too.'' Among them are Chevrolet Trucks, Jerzees Activewear, Wrangler and Rubbermaid.
Both claim Evinrude and Johnson outboards and Ranger boats as backers, but competitive bass tournaments are able to offer big prizes by including sponsors outside the narrow circle of the fishing industry.
FLW is winning the money war by offering $3.1 million in cash prizes during its seven-event professional fishing series this season. The circuit includes an April 30-May 3 stop at Kerr Lake on the Virginia-North Carolina border. First place there is worth $100,000, which is what Fritts won at Eufaula.
In June, the FLW tour is offering a $1 million cash purse - the largest ever for professional fishing - during its Forrest Wood Open at Lake Minnetonka in the suburbs of Minneapolis. First place will be worth $200,000.
This is what pro anglers have been dreaming of for years, purses that equal what the golf pros win.
B.A.S.S. is increasing its purses, and has announced it will have a western division as part of its national tournament trail next season. Even so, it isn't matching the FLW tournament money. What it does offer in larger doses is prestige. The BASS Masters Classic first prize is $100,000, half what the Forrest Wood Open will pay, but the angler who wins the Classic will reap more fame and endorsements than the guy who takes home the $200,000 in the Forrest Wood Open. The Classic is known as the Super Bowl of fishing, a status that big money may not be able to buy.
Two Virginians, Woo Daves and Rick Morris, are in the running for a berth in the mid-August Classic in Alabama, and a third, David Dudley, has a chance to make it.
Daves, an aging pro from Spring Grove, is ranked ninth in the Angler of the Year standings and probably would make the Classic field even if he didn't show up for the final qualifying event May 15-17 on Alabama's Neely Henry Lake. Daves has fished 13 Classics, more than any other Virginian, but he has failed to qualify for the past two.
Morris, a 35-year old from Virginia Beach, is 23rd in the rankings.
``I am feeling pretty good about it,'' said Morris, who has been treated kindly by Neely Henry Lake in the past. ``I did pretty well down there last year. I had a limit every day. I figure I will have to be in the top 50 at Neely Henry'' to make the Classic cut.
Dudley, a 20-year-old from Lynchburg, is ranked 30th and will need to move up about five places to earn a spot in the Classic. That will require an exceptional finish at Neely Henry.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 linesby CNB