3 Day, 92 lbs. catch nets local angler $25,000 and a new boat.
ZAPATA, TX Jan. 17, 2009 -- Pro Joe Don Setina of Pittsburg, Texas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 38 pounds, 14 ounces Saturday to win the Stren Series Texas Division tournament on Falcon Lake with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 92-02. For his victory, Setina earned $25,000 cash and a fully equipped 198VX Ranger boat.
Setina’s 38-14 was the second-heaviest day-three catch in the history of FLW Outdoors, regardless of circuit. It also ranks fourth all time as the heaviest single-day catch in company history.
“This was my first time to fish Falcon Lake,” said Setina, who has amassed more than $172,000 in career earnings with FLW Outdoors. “I have read about Falcon Lake since I was young and out of all the places that I have fished I always wanted to go to Falcon. I dreamed about one day fishing on Falcon Lake and it certainly lived up to its reputation.”
Setina said that Falcon Lake fits into his style of fishing which is focusing on deep structure. He stated that any lake that has a deep water bite and big fish is his kind of place.
Setina opened the tournament in ninth place Thursday with five bass weighing 27-15. He then caught five bass weighing 25-05 Friday to make the crucial top 10 cut in seventh place.
“On the first day of the tournament I didn’t feel any pressure, I just planned on going fishing,” Setina said. “Other anglers seemed to be overwhelmed with the bushes but it didn’t bother me. When I started to prepare for the tournament I looked at several aerial photos and I knew that it would be overwhelming if I focused on bushes because they all look like they had fish in them. I really focused on fishing the bottom contours of the lake and trying to find other things besides bushes to fish.
“I felt really good after the first day. I felt like I could catch over 30 pounds a day, even though I came up a little short,” he said. “On the second day of the tournament I didn’t get as many bites and I lost a few big ones that really hurt my weight. It wasn’t the location that was the problem it was pulling the big fish into the boat. I fished the same spot for all three days. There was no need to go anywhere else.”
Setina worked the intersection of a creek channel and a road bed on the extreme south end of the lake near the dam. More specifically, it was Salinas Creek located on the Mexican side of the lake near the dam. At the intersection, the fish were holding tight to the bottom between 17 and 26 feet. ”The fish were either on the top edge of the creek channel or down in the creek. This location was so full of fish that all I had to do was sit in one spot and cast at a radius.”
Setina went into the final day of competition not expecting to win. He said that on Saturday he didn’t have any pressure since he was so far out of the lead. He went back to his key location and used the same baits as he had all week- a 10-inch Berkley Power Worm and a ¾-ounce Santone flipping jig and watermelon Sweet Beaver trailer.
Rounding out the top five pros are Richard Cathey of San Antonio, Texas (15 bass, 92-02, $10,000); Charles Haralson of Laredo, Texas (15 bass, 89-12, $8,000); Jerry Green of Cullman, Ala. (15 bass, 86-11, $7,000); and Dan Schoonveld of Mansura, La. (13 bass, 81-09, $6,000).
Schoonveld, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Friday – a 11-pound, 5-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s big bass award of $450.
Dean Kreuzer of Mesa, Ariz., won the Co-angler Division and a 198VX Ranger boat and trailer, with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 78-00.
Kreuzer caught five bass weighing 34-03 Thursday while fishing with pro Jimmy Lancaster of Keller, Texas, to open the tournament in first place. On Friday he added five more bass weighing 25-14 to make the top 10 cut in first place while fishing with pro Justin Haynes of Tulsa, Okla. Finally, on Saturday, he sealed the win with a five-bass catch weighing 17-15 while fishing with pro Schoonveld.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Keith Honeycutt of Temple, Texas (15 bass, 77-12, $4,000 plus a $2,500 Ranger Cup bonus); Timothy Achee of Hemphill, Texas (14 bass, 68-04, $3,000); Kenneth Pellerin of Pasadena, Texas (12 bass, 59-07, $2,500); and Chris Pennington of San Diego, Calif. (12 bass, 59-06, $2,250).
Kenneth Wilson of Pineville, La., caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday – a 10-pound, 4-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s big bass award of $225.
The next Stren Series Texas Division event, hosted by the City of Jasper, will be held March 19-21 on Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Jasper, Texas. Boats will launch from The Umphrey Family Pavilion in Sam Rayburn and the final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart located at 800 W. Gibson Street in Jasper.
After four qualifying events are complete in each Stren Series division – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western – the top 40 pros and 40 co-anglers based on the points standings from each division will advance to the Stren Series Championship on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala., Nov. 5-7 for a shot at $150,000 in the Pro Division and $60,000 in the Co-angler Division. The top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers from each division will also qualify for the 2010 Walmart FLW Tour® and Walmart FLW Series®, bass fishing’s top professional circuits. The highest-finishing pro and co-angler from each division at the Stren Series Championship will also qualify for the $2.5 million 2010 Forrest Wood Cup, where anglers will compete for the $1 million grand prize – the most lucrative award in bass fishing
In Stren Series competition, pros supply the boats, fish from the front deck against other pros and control boat movement. Co-anglers fish from the back deck and compete against other co-anglers. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points that determine angler standings. Two hundred points are awarded to the winner, 199 points for second, 198 points for third, and so on. The full field competes on days one, two and three, with the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers advancing to day four based on their three-day accumulated weight. Winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.
Total awards are based on a full field of 200 boats in every tournament.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.
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