Special to the
Opelika Observer
Fishing League Worldwide (FLW), the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, announced Monday the complete professional angler roster for the upcoming 2019 FLW Tour season, the 24th season of the FLW Tour.
The field will be showcased along the 2019 FLW Tour, which features seven regular-season tournaments around the country with competition kicking off at Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Jan. 10-13, 2019 in Brookeland, Texas and culminating with the world championship of bass fishing’s FLW Cup at Lake Hamilton Aug. 9-11, 2019, in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Among the 170 professional anglers competing will be local angler Harry Moore of Valley, who will be competing in his seventh season on the tour. Moore has career earnings of more than $23,000 with FLW and will look to qualify for his first-ever FLW Cup.
There was enormous demand to compete on the 2019 FLW Tour, with 210 anglers registering for a slot on the prestigious tournament circuit in its final year of priority registration before switching to a strict qualifying process and a 150-pro field in 2020.
The top award at each tour event is $125,000, with $300,000 going to the winner of the FLW Cup. Since the final field exceeds the published payout basis of 150 pros, FLW will survey all 170 participating pros to finalize the 2019 payout structure.
“With the demand we saw this year to join the FLW Tour, we couldn’t be more eager to kick off another season at Sam Rayburn Reservoir in January,” said Bill Taylor, FLW’s Senior Director of Tournament Operations. “FLW has long been the home to some of the most decorated bass anglers in the sport, and with the expanded live coverage at all of our Tour events this year, we are more than ready to show off their skills at some of the best fisheries in the world.”
The 2019 FLW Tour roster is headlined by a stout contingent of bass-fishing heavyweights, including three-time Angler of the Year and 2003 FLW Cup champion David Dudley of Lynchburg, Virginia, 2015 AOY and 2011 FLW Cup champion Scott Martin of Clewiston, Florida and two-time Angler of the Year Bryan Thrift of Shelby, North Carolina. They will be joined by bass-fishing legends Jimmy Houston of Cookson, Oklahoma and Larry Nixon of Quitman, Arkansas, as well as three former FLW Cup champions – John Cox (2016), Brad Knight (2015) and Darrel Robertson (2002). The 2019 Tour will also feature 34 rookies from around the country.
The complete FLW Tour roster for 2019 can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Last week, the FLW announced an expanded FLW Live schedule for the 2019 season as part of its commitment to growing the sport of tournament bass fishing and bringing more publicity to the anglers who fish its circuits. The live on-the-water broadcast will air on days three and four of all FLW Tour regular-season events from the boats of the tournaments’ top pros.
Originally airing from 8 a.m. – noon during FLW Tour events, the FLW Live on-the-water program has been extended two hours and will now broadcast from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. Every weigh-in will be broadcast on FLWFishing.com.
Fans can watch any FLW Live broadcast – either from on the water or weigh-in – by logging on to FLWFishing.com and clicking on the FLW Live page link. On-the-water broadcasts will be simulcast on FLWFishing.com, YouTube.com/FLWFishing and Facebook.com/FLWFishing. All FLW Live broadcasts are free to watch.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the sport’s top anglers on the FLW Tour on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.
About FLW
FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2018 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct 286 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa and Spain. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.