Lufkin, U.S.A. — Phil Marks of Dallas, Texas, marked his spot in the FLW record books by catching a 32-pound, 12-ounce sack on the final day of competition at the Walmart FLW Tour Open on Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Mercury giving him a 16-pound, 5-ounce margin of victory, the third largest in FLW Tour Open history. EverStart pro Randall Tharp of Gardendale, Ala., holds the current record for largest margin of victory, 23-9, which he set at the 2012 season opener on Lake Okeechobee.

Marks’ five-bass limit Sunday gave him a total weight of 82 pounds to win the tournament and $125,000. The catch gave him the win in impressive fashion over Keith Combs of Huntington, Texas, who caught a total of 20 bass weighing 65-11 and earned him $25,710.

Marks started the day with a mere 14-ounce lead over Combs, and he knew he needed a monster bag to claim victory. He believed the tournament would be won offshore and knew the early-morning bite was his most prolific all week, so he was confident all he needed was some wind and rain to turn on his fish, and Mother Nature obliged.

“The old man had a couple of tricks left,” said Marks. “I knew the wind and rain would fire up my bite, and it did. I had four or five spots in a one-mile circle, and that’s where all my fish came from today. I could see all the activity on my Lowrance unit, and this morning it was on fire.

“I was fishing a pattern all week,” Marks went on to say. “I was targeting ditches with main-lake flats, looking for subtle changes within the flats. During practice I discovered a high spot in the middle of the drain, and yesterday I caught a 5- and 7-pounder in back-to-back casts. This morning I caught four bass in 20 minutes in that same area.

“I have had a couple of dream days like this in the past, but none of this magnitude. After I caught my third fish I knew I had about 20 pounds and thought I probably had a good chance of winning and could relax a little. But then I started to think about it and realized that days like this just don’t come very often, so I kept fishing. I had what I weighed today by about 10 or 10:30 a.m.

“My key baits this week have been the Strike King 6XD and a prototype Strike King 10XD. The 10XD has the frame design of the 5XD and is designed to give off a lot of rattle and displace a lot of water. It’s a big bait designed to catch big bass. Four of my 20 bass were caught with the 10XD. Today I caught three bass on the Strike King crankbaits and two on the Strike King 1-ounce football (head) jig. My 8-pounder came on the 10XD.”

Marks referred to Sam Rayburn as a gem and said he has been fishing the lake for more than 20 years. Despite the high pressure the lake gets year after year, he said that his sack today was more typical of what Rayburn is capable of giving up on a regular basis. He also added that the 10XD is scheduled to be out in stores, including Walmart, in February.

Final top-10 pros standings:

A complete list of results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.

Overall there were 49 bass weighing 138 pounds, 15 ounces caught by 10 pros Sunday. The catch included nine five-bass limits.

Clint Farris of Joshua, Texas, won the co-angler division and $25,000 Saturday with a three-day total of 13 bass weighing 33 pounds, 15 ounces followed by Jeff Gengler of Fort Collins, Colo., in second place with 13 bass weighing 33-14 worth $5,657.

The Tour stop on Sam Rayburn presented by Mercury was hosted by Lufkin Convention and Visitors Bureau, and was the final FLW Tour tournament of the 2012 season.

In FLW Tour Open tournaments, pros and co-anglers were competing for valuable points that ultimately helped them qualify for the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup which is being held at the Red River in Shreveport, La., August 15-18. The top five pro and co-anglers in the 2012 point standings from the four FLW Tour Open tournaments that qualified for the 2013 championship event are:

Coverage of the Sam Rayburn Reservoir tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs November 18 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. “FLW” is hosted by Jason Harper and is broadcast to more than 559 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWOutdoors.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

Image Courtesy of  FLWOutdoors.com

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Rockville, U.S. — Goodwill Industries International and FLW, the world’s leading tournament fishing organization, presented the inaugural Forrest L. Wood Sportsmanship and Community Leadership Award at the Forrest Wood Cup in Duluth, GA, this past weekend. The cup was sponsored by Walmart, and the award celebrates the five-year partnership between Goodwill and FLW.

Mark Rose of Marion, AR — one of the anglers competing in the tournament — received the award for exemplifying the ideals of sportsmanship, leadership and community service during 2012 as well as his role as an upstanding member of his community. The award recognizes Rose’s character and his commitment to ethical behavior, selflessness, kindness, conservation efforts and much more, both on and off the water.

“Goodwill is pleased to once again work with FLW during this tournament, and to join in presenting this award celebrating the sportsmanship and community strengthening that Mark Rose has exhibited in his personal and professional life,” said Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. “We are hopeful that this award will encourage community members to volunteer their time and resources to influence positive change in their local communities.”

The same values that brought Goodwill and FLW together as partners inspire the high standards of this award. By recognizing Rose as an outstanding athlete and individual who set a high standard with his approach on and off the water, both Goodwill and FLW hope to set the tone for tournament fishing and to pass those values on to its anglers, sponsors, fans, and host communities.

“FLW is honored to have Goodwill as a partner, and to be able to facilitate this award,” said Kathy Fennel, president, FLW Operations Division. “We are proud that the anglers who fish in our tournaments uphold the high standards that this award seeks to recognize, and we hope this acknowledgment will serve as an inspiration for our anglers, sponsors, fans, and host communities to promote the high standards of sportsmanship and community service.”

Applicants for the award had to be registered FLW Tour pro anglers; exhibit profound respect and civility for all competitors, fisheries and staff; demonstrate an ability to accept victory and defeat with dignity and grace; uphold the highest level of humility and integrity; prove a commitment to conservation; and show dedication to community service work and volunteerism.

ABOUT GOODWILL INDUSTRIES INTERNATIONAL Goodwill Industries International is a network of 165 community-based agencies in the United States and Canada with 14 affiliates in 13 other countries. Goodwill agencies are innovative and sustainable social enterprises that fund job training programs, employment placement services and other community-based programs by selling donated clothing and household items in more than 2,700 stores and online at shopgoodwill.com.

Local Goodwill agencies also build revenue and create jobs by contracting with businesses and government to provide a wide range of commercial services, including packaging and assembly, food service preparation, and document imaging and shredding. To find a Goodwill location near you use the online locator at www.goodwill.org, or call (800) GOODWILL. Find us on Facebook: GoodwillIntl or follow us on Twitter: @GoodwillIntl.

ABOUT FLW FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing unparalleled fishing resources and entertainment to our sponsors, fans and host communities. FLW is offering anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2012 over the course of 191 tournaments across five tournament circuits, each providing an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup.

FLW is committed to providing a lifestyle experience that is the “Best in Fishing, On and Off the Water,” through a variety of platforms including tournaments, outdoor expos and the world’s richest fantasy sports game – FLW Fantasy Fishing. For more information about FLW and FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FLWOutdoors.com or FantasyFishing.com and look for FLW on Twitter and Facebook.

Image Courtesy of  FLW Outdoors

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For most people in the Unites States, February is when slightly warmer days begin to appear in place of fading winter. But for the best bass pros on the planet February means a hot bite, big bass and the beginning of another exciting FLW Tour season.

The Walmart FLW Tour on Lake Okeechobee presented by Evinrude will visit Clewiston, Fla., Feb. 9-12for the first tournament of its 17th season. Hosted by Roland & Mary Ann Martins Marina & Resort, the tournament will feature a full field of the world’s best bass pros and co-anglers casting for top awards up to$125,000 cash in the Pro Division and up to $25,000 cash in the Co-angler Division.

FLW Tour anglers haven’t competed on Lake Okeechobee since the February 2011 season opener, and National Guard pro Scott Martin is eagerly anticipating this year’s kickoff. The Clewiston resident has fished these waters for years and knows them like the back of his hand. Martin also has some tournament momentum behind him, as well. He won the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup and $600,000 in August on Lake Ouachita in Hot Springs, Ark.

“The fishing has been phenomenal since the day we left (last year),” said Martin, who owns five top-10 finishes and one victory on Lake Okeechobee. “The fishing got better. And it stayed better all throughout the spring and the summer time, and it never slowed down, and now we’re back into the springtime again and the fish are just bigger. There seems to be more of them and more 30-pound bags weighed in at local events right now than I’ve ever seen. The potential for having some of the records fall is very likely.

“I’m in shorts and a T-shirt as we speak,” Martin added. “The water temperatures have been very consistent. We haven’t had a big cold front at all, so these fish are really going to start spawning and really be active this week.”

Martin said he expects the tournament to focus on spawning bass and flipping baits, however, he added that anglers will be presented with opportunities to use a variety of techniques and baits. When asked about the Alabama rig, the hot-topic controversial bait system that took the tournament world by storm at last year’s Lake Guntersville Tour event, Martin offered his opinion with no hesitation.

“I don’t think the Alabama rig will be a factor,” Martin said.

As the reigning Forrest Wood Cup champion, one might think that he has a target on his back and every angler in the field will be looking to dethrone him, but Martin doesn’t think that’s the case.

“This is Lake Okeechobee,” Martin said. “There’s so many good places to fish right now on this lake and so many different ways to catch them that I’m going to really have to put my thinking cap on and buckle down and find the winning pattern and the winning fish. There’s going to be lots of guys catch them.

“Tournaments are tournaments,” Martin added. “These guys aren’t focusing on beating me. Fishing is fishing. You’ve got to beat the fish. That’s what it always boils down to. I don’t think I have a target on my back to say the least. Everybody’s going to be going against the fish. The guys who fish against the fish are the guys that are going to do well. The guys that fish to try to beat some other angler … that’s the wrong attitude.”

In FLW Tour competition, anglers are also vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2012 Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing. This year’s Cup will be in Duluth/Gainesville, Ga., Aug. 9-12 on Lake Lanier and anglers could win as much as $500,000 – the sport’s biggest award. Anglers are also vying for the prestigious 2012 Walmart FLW Tour Angler of the Year presented by Kellogg’s title that will be determined by the most points accumulated over the six Tour Majors.

Anglers will take off from Roland & Mary Ann Martins Marina & Resort located at 109 Central Ave. in Clewiston at 7:30 a.m. Thursday and Friday morning and from the Clewiston Boat Basin at 7:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday morning. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will also be held at Roland & Mary Ann Martins Marina & Resort located beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s final weigh-ins will be held at the Walmart located at 1005 West Sugarland Hwy. in Clewiston beginning at 4 p.m.

Fans will be treated to the FLW Outdoors Expo at the Walmart on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. prior to the final weigh-ins. The Expo includes Ranger boat simulators, the opportunity to interact with professional anglers, enjoy interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by sponsors, and fans can learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities. All activities are free and open to the public.

As part of the FLW Tour’s community outreach initiative, select FLW Tour anglers will be speaking to third-grade students at Eastside Elementary School located at 201 West Arroyo Ave. in Clewiston from 9-10 a.m. Feb. 8. The anglers’ wrapped boats and tow vehicles also will be on display at the school.

Coverage of the Lake Okeechobee tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs March 18 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. “FLW” is hosted by Jason Harper and is broadcast to more than 559 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.

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