Joe Opager, chief of communications for Fishing League Worldwide, tells us that the official attendance for the FLW Cup and outdoor expo Friday through Sunday at Bank OZK Arena and the Hot Springs Convention Center was 67,453.
I attended the expo and weigh-ins all three days, and I can attest that a whole bunch of people enjoyed the events. The final day was, as always, the apex, when Bank OZK Arena was full to the rafters.
Country music artist Trace Adkins played a free concert Sunday before the weigh-in, but most of the audience stayed to watch Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., win his first FLW Cup. Thrift is one of the great guys in professional bass fishing, and it was good to see him add a major championship to his already garish resume.
It is fair to say that Thrift supplanted Andy Morgan as the greatest FLW angler. Morgan, who now competes in Major League Fishing, was known as the G.O.A.T. -- Greatest of All Time -- but he never won an FLW Cup. Thrift's victory establishes him as Mr. FLW, and he embodies everything that the FLW represents.
[Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZa-iLm2FTM]
Legend honored
On Friday, the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame posthumously awarded its Meritorious Service Award to the late Ronnie Everett at Horner Hall in the Hot Springs Convention Center.
Everett was the longtime director of the Mr. Bass of Arkansas Pro-Am circuit. In that position, he tirelessly promoted bass fishing in Arkansas and nurtured the careers of many Arkansas anglers.
Everett was one of the first people I consulted when I became outdoors editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 2005. He explained the bass fishing landscape in Arkansas and gave me a list of the anglers to watch. One was Billy McCaghren of Mayflower, who competed in the 2019 FLW Cup. Another was Duke Gunnell, whose name Everett pronounced without a break between the first and last name, with the accent on the last syllable. "Dukinelle."
I finally asked Everett to write it down. It's actually pronounced like gunwale, the upper edge of a boat hull.
Doug Howell, Bass Fishing Hall of Fame president, said: "Without people like Ronnie Everett, I'm not sure we would see the success on the national level for tournament organizations like B.A.S.S., FLW and Major League Fishing."
Everett was as good as they come, and he was worthy of the honor.
FLW to Russellville
FLW deleted Beaver Lake as an annual tour stop after 2017, but the FLW Tour will visit Lake Dardanelle on May 14-17.
That will be the sixth stop of the 2020 FLW Tour, and it should be a great tournament. Because of flooding for most of the peak 2019 fishing season, Dardanelle got a break from its usual oversaturation of tournaments. Its fishing should be outstanding in early May.
Lake Dardanelle has not hosted a Tour event, but it hosted an FLW Costa regional championship and FLW Bass Fishing League regional championship in 2016. It also has hosted multiple Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments and two Bassmaster Elite 150 tournaments in 2004-05.
Expo notes
The FLW Outdoor Expo is a giant fishing fair where you can find everything you need to gear up for a lifetime of fishing.
Rods and reels were plentiful from many vendors from around the state and region. There was a vast selection among brands such as Lew's, Shimano, Daiwa, KastKing, Enigma, Denali and many, many more.
Available from KastKing were baitcasting reels with blazing fast 8.1:1 and 9.3:1 retrieve ratios. They are ideal for winching big bass from heavy cover when using jigs, flukes or plastic frogs.
There was also a guy selling Lucky Craft crankbaits and stickbaits for $5 each, which was a steal. Ron Wong of Memphis -- co-producer of Larry Rea Outdoors and a bass-fishing authority -- said they were the old-style Lucky Crafts, the really good ones.
The vendor said he obtained a huge shipload of closeouts, and those at the show were what he had remaining.
Among the many bait vendors were Tightlines UV and Tackle HD. Tightlines UV baits are unique for the ultraviolet elements infused into their soft plastics that supposedly make the lures glow underwater. They also have interior rattles and movement-inducing "whiskers." Check them out in the video that accompanies this column.
Tackle HD offers some soft hellgrammite and crawfish baits that have phenomenal actions. They are designed for smallmouth fishing, and since we are eternally in search of new and better smallmouth baits, we added a few to our arsenal.
Sports on 08/15/2019