BBY Covers the 2008 Wal-Mart FLW Series on Lake Champlain

Last Saturday was the final day of the Wal-Mart FLW Series pro bass tournament on Lake Champlain, and myself and Nick couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to meet some great anglers, event staff and experience the atmosphere that surrounds such a big time event in the angling community.

We headed out of Burlington on Friday night, via the Ferry at Grand Isle, and crashed in Plattsburgh. When we arrived at the America's Best Value Inn (hey, there was no availability at the Ritz!) we parked next to the BP Tahoe trailing a wrapped Ranger boat, followed by many more pickups - all pulling nice rigs. That set the tone for what the final day of the tournament would bring.

We started out on Saturday meeting up with Capt. Mickey Maynard of LakeChamplainAngler.com, and his son Marshall. He had got us the opportunity to head out to Point Au Roche to spend the morning meeting and interviewing David Dudley and Bobby Curtis of the Castrol Team. David Dudley is the 2008 FLW Angler of the Year, with over $2million in career earnings, and Bobby Curtis is a very accomplished pro angler that hails from Siloam Springs, AR. These two were spending their morning taking out a few of the teen anglers from the local bass club. This was exciting for the young guys to say the least, as they geared up and took off for a nice morning in Castrol wrapped Rangers sporting the Evinrude and Vmax motors.

Next we made our way back into town to meet up with Mickey, and there we found both the FLW main stage set up, as well as the Battle of Plattsburgh Celebration events taking place all around. Mickey brought us over to the National Guard exhibit, where we met Scott Martin, a legend-in-the-making small mouth bass angler. He won the FLW here on Champlain back in June of 2004, and has his own television show The Scott Martin Challenge, which airs on FSN and VS and will start up again in January. It was great getting a chance to speak with him and hear about his time on Champlain, as well as his thoughts about the FLW and what it's like to be competing in these tournaments.

We hung out with the anglers from the National Guard team for a little while longer, and then made our way over towards the main stage area where we ran into Dan Konkoski, President of the Plattsburgh Bass Club. He was eager to discuss all the new up and coming events, tournaments and membership of the club. He mentioned that things are going very well there, and we are going to take him up on his offer of stopping by for a day out fishing.

About an hour away from the final weigh in, Mickey introduced us to Charlie Evans, President & CEO of FLW Outdoors. I asked him if we could do an interview spot and without hesitation he was in front of the main stage with me, giving a recap of the series so far, and a summary of what to expect with the upcoming weigh in. Needless to say I was honored to have had this opportunity and appreciate Charlie's time.

Finally, the top ten anglers were pulling up the street with their five best fish. We got up close to the stage to watch the drama that was about to unfold as ounces turned into the difference between $25,000 and $125,000. It came down to the wire, and Charlie Evans stalled with some funny banter to add even more pressure to the final two anglers awaiting the results on the scale. As the crowd watched and cameras rolled, finally it was announced that Iams pro Chip Harrison from Bremen, Indiana was the 2008 Walmart FLW Series champion, winning by 12oz with three smallies and two large mouth, and taking home $125,000.

Covering the FLW this year was exciting and, as an angler, an experience I have always wanted to be a part of. The pros were extremely gracious in taking their time to speak with us about the tournament and what Lake Champlain means to them, as well as seeing all the staff and volunteers work vigorously to make sure everything went off without a hitch.

We'd like to thank Capt. Mickey Maynard especially, who went out of his way to contact the Castrol team and invited us to meet David Dudley and Bobby Curtis, and kept us informed of all that was going on so we wouldn't miss a thing. Thanks Mick!

We got a few hours of footage which we are editing now, so stay tuned and look for more on Burlington Boatyard's time at the 2008 FLW Series!

-Guy

Article submitted Saturday, September 20, 2008
This article has been viewed 1 times.