Desforges wins Stren Series event on 1,000 Islands
Category: press release
Aug 25th, 2008 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Aug 25th, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Desforges wins Stren Series event on 1,000 IslandsRichardson wins co-angler title, $5,000CLAYTON, N.Y. – Pro Mike Desforges of Burlington, Ontario, caught a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds Saturday to win the Stren Series Northern Division tournament on 1,000 Islands with a four-day total of 20 bass weighing 77-01. For his victory, Desforges earned $25,000 cash. “I planned on going to some new spots today, but when I got to the mouth of Lake Ontario, it was too rough to try to get to those spots, so I turned around and went fishing on the St. Lawrence River,” Desforges said. “I started out fishing for largemouth with a Mizmo Senko-type bait.”Desforges said caught a limit of largemouth before going fishing for smallmouth today, and ended up weighing in two largemouth and three smallmouth bass.”I caught the smallmouth on a jerkbait and a Mizmo tube,” Desforges said. “This is the first time I’ve won a Stren Series event. I really wanted to win pretty bad.”Desforges opened the tournament in seventh place Wednesday with five bass weighing 19-06 that. On Thursday he added another five bass weighing 21-03 using a tube baits to capture his lead. He then caught five bass weighing 19-08 on a jerkbait and spinnerbait Friday to make the crucial top 10 cut in first place.Rounding out the top five pros are Joseph Sancho of New Windsor, N.Y. (20 bass, 73-05, $7,005 plus $5,000 Ranger bonus); Derek Strub of Elora, Ontario (20 bass, 71-07, $6,305); Matthew Martin of Chittenango, N.Y. (20 bass, 70-12, $5,604); and Trevor Jancasz of White Pigeon, Mich. (20 bass, 70-02, $4,904).Martin caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Friday – a 5-pound, 13-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s Snickers Big Bass award of $211.Overall there were 49 bass weighing 146 pounds, 6 ounces caught by 10 pros Saturday. The catch included 9 five-bass limits. James Richardson Sr. of Harrison, Ohio, won the Co-angler Division and $5,000, including a 198VX Ranger boat, with a four-day total of 19 bass weighing 62-11.”I had a two great days, catching 19 on Wednesday and 22 pounds today,” said Richardson, who has had 14 top-10 finishes in FLW Outdoors competition. “I caught them all drop-shotting a Berkley Gulp! 3-inch Fry in green-pumpkin. I literally caught one on the very last cast that I actually picked up a pound on when I culled.”I’ve been fishing these tournaments for a while, and this is the first one I’ve actually gotten number one. I’ve had several seconds, thirds, fourths, and so on, but I’m so tickled to finally ‘git-r-done’ this time,” Richardson added.Richardson caught five bass weighing 19-05 Wednesday while fishing with pro Thomas Moleski of Elkhart, Ind., to open the tournament in third place. He then caught four bass weighing 10-07 Thursday while fishing with pro Scott Lakey of Augusta, Mich., to maintain his lead. On Friday he added five more bass weighing 10-09 to make the top-10 cut in ninth place while fishing with pro Randy Yarnall of Womelsdorf, Pa. Finally, on Saturday, he sealed the win with a five-bass catch weighing 22-06 while fishing a Berkley Gulp! 3-inch Fry in green-pumpkin with pro Joseph Sancho of New Windsor, N.Y. Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Dustin Edwards of Ellington, Conn. (20 bass, 61-13, $3,021); Jeff Zeisner of Arva, Ontario (20 bass, 61-01, $2,454); Mark Keniston of Camden, N.Y. (20 bass, 56-09, $1,888); and Zackery Seal of Eldred, Pa. (20 bass, 54-14, $1,510).Brian Wisniewski of South Amboy, N.J., caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday – a 6-pound, 9-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s Snickers Big Bass award of $113.Overall there were 41 bass weighing 117 pounds, 8 ounces caught by 10 co-anglers Saturday. The catch included 7 five-bass limits. The next Stren Series Northern Division event, hosted by Vance County Tourism Department, will be held Sept. 17-20 on Kerr Lake in Henderson, N.C. Boats will launch from Satterwhite Point Recreation Area in Henderson and the final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart located at 200 North Cooper Road in Henderson. After four qualifying events are complete in each of the Stren Series’ five divisions, the top 40 pros from each division will advance to the $1 million Stren Series Championship in Branson, Mo., Nov. 5-8 for a shot at $140,000. The highest-finishing pro from each division at the championship will also earn a spot in the $2 million 2009 Forrest Wood Cup, where they will compete against top pros from the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series®, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League® and TBF (The Bass Federation) for bass fishing’s biggest prize – $1 million.Tournament anglers aren’t the only ones winning big this season. With the introduction of FLW Fantasy Fishing™, FLW Outdoors offered anyone the opportunity to enter for their chance to land the catch of a lifetime with the opportunity to win $7.3 million in cash and prizes. Players could become a virtual pro angler by signing up for Player’s Advantage, which provided them with exclusive insider information that could have guided them to a $100,000 victory at every Wal-Mart FLW Tour stop and the Forrest Wood Cup. Player’s Advantage gave them an edge over the competition and increased their shot for the $1 million cash grand prize awarded to the FLW Fantasy Fishing cumulative points winner. Visit FantasyFishing.com today to find out more information and to register for next season.The top 40 co-anglers from each Stren Series division will also advance to the championship, where they will fish for as much as $70,000. The highest-finishing co-angler from each division at the championship will then advance to the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup. FLW Outdoors historically maintains a 98 percent live release rate in all of its bass tournaments. FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. In 2008 alone the organization is offering more than 90,000 anglers the chance to win over $40 million through 230 tournaments in 10 circuits targeting bass, walleye, redfish, kingfish and striped bass. FLW Outdoors is also taking fishing mainstream with the largest cash awards in the history of fantasy sports, $7.3 million.For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.