Tennessee’s Abram Takes Lead at Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at Lake Martin
ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. (March 19, 2020) – Pro Jason Abram of Piney Flats, Tennessee, caught five bass weighing 17 pounds, 10 ounces Thursday to take control of the leaderboard after Day Two of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at Lake Martin in Alexander City, Alabama. Abram’s two-day total of 10 bass weighing 29 pounds even gives him a 1-pound, 9-ounce advantage heading into Day Three of the four-day competition that features a field of bass-fishing professionals from around the world competing for a top cash award of up to $135,000.
“I’m fishing mid-lake, running a pattern,” said Abram, who is fishing in his 11th season as a professional in FLW’s top-level circuit. “I was running and gunning – I hit around 30 stops today.
“I started out in the morning catching spotted bass – I probably caught around 30 of them and my limit weighed around 7 pounds,” Abram continued. “I had a key bite around 9 a.m. that clued me in and showed me something that I hadn’t seen all week. It was the first fish that I had caught like that, and it was a good one.
“I ended up culling every one of those spots out and managed to bring one big spot and four largemouth to the scale.”
Although Abram remained tight-lipped about the specific details of his pattern, he said that he was fishing “really shallow” and throwing just two baits – both made by Reaction Innovations.
“I’m not sight-fishing like most of the guys are,” Abram said. “I need the sun, so the cloud cover being forecast tomorrow will probably hurt me significantly. I’ll catch some spots in the morning, and hopefully the sun will show its head. If not, I’ll have to scramble.”
The top 30 pros that made the cut and will fish Friday on Lake Martin are:
1st: Jason Abram of Piney Flats, Tenn., 10 bass, 29-0
2nd: Matt Becker of Finleyville, Pa., 10 bass, 27-7
3rd: Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Mich., 10 bass, 27-5
4th: Laramy Strickland of Bushnell, Fla., 10 bass, 26-11
5th: Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wis., 10 bass, 26-9
6th: Spencer Shuffield of Hot Springs, Ark., 10 bass, 26-9
7th: Derrick Snavely of Piney Flats, Tenn., 10 bass, 26-1
8th: Barron Adams of Mineral Bluff, Ga., 10 bass, 25-13
9th: Dylan Hays of El Dorado, Ark., 10 bass, 25-5
10th: Brandon Mosley of Choctaw, Okla., 10 bass, 25-2
11th: Andy Young of Isle, Minn., 10 bass, 25-2
12th: Jim Moynagh of Shakopee, Minn., 10 bass, 24-15
13th: Kerry Milner of Bono, Ark., 10 bass, 24-13
14th: Kevin Martin of Crown City, Ohio, 10 bass, 24-12
15th: Cole Floyd of Leesburg, Ohio, 10 bass, 24-11
16th: Jordan Osborne of Longview, Texas, 10 bass, 24-7
17th: Kyle Hall of Granbury, Texas, 10 bass, 24-7
18th: Wade Strelic of Alpine, Calif., 10 bass, 24-7
19th: Jon Canada of Helena, Ala., 10 bass, 24-5
20th: Casey Scanlon of Lake Ozark, Mo., 10 bass, 24-5
21st: Jacob Wall of New Hope, Ala., 10 bass, 24-4
22nd: Tom Redington of Royse City, Texas, 10 bass, 24-1
23rd: Grae Buck of Green Lane, Pa., 10 bass, 24-1
24th: Jason Vance of Battle Ground, Ind., 10 bass, 23-14
25th: Randy Allen of Gilliam, La., 10 bass, 23-13
26th: Greg Bohannan of Bentonville, Ark., 10 bass, 23-12
27th: Matthew Stefan of Junction City, Wis., 10 bass, 23-10
28th: Clayton Batts of Butler, Ga., 10 bass, 22-14
29th: Scott Ashmore of Broken Arrow, Okla., 10 bass, 22-10
30th: Jared McMillan of Belle Glade, Fla., 10 bass, 22-5
Full results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Martin brought the largest bass of the day, a 6-pound, 1-ounce largemouth, to the scale Thursday to claim the day’s $500 Berkley Big Bass award.
Overall there were 749 bass weighing 1,464 pounds, 1 ounce caught by 150 pros Thursday. The catch included 149 five-bass limits.
The Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at Lake Martin is hosted by the Alexander City Chamber.
In Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit competition, the full field of 150 anglers competed in the two-day opening round Wednesday and Thursday. The top 30 pros based on their two-day accumulated weight now advance to Friday. Only the top 10 pros continue competition Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from the four days of competition.
Throughout the season, anglers are also vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2020 FLW TITLE, the Pro Circuit Championship. The 2020 FLW TITLE will be on the St. Lawrence River in Massena, New York, Aug. 8-13 and is hosted by the Town of Massena.
Anglers will take off at 7 a.m. CST each day from Wind Creek State Park, located at 4325 Alabama Highway 128, in Alexander City. Daily weigh-ins will be held at the State Park beginning at 3 p.m.
Television coverage of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at Lake Martin will premiere in 2020. The 2020 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit will have 156 two-hour airings on network television, including 26 consecutive weeks of Friday night primetime airing on Outdoor Channel and 130 airings on Sportsman Channel for a total of 312 hours of Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit programming.
The FLW Live on-the-water broadcast will air on Friday and Saturday, featuring live action from the boats of the tournament’s top pros each day. Host Travis Moran is joined by Toyota Series pro Todd Hollowell to break down the extended action each day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. On-the-water broadcasts will be live streamed on FLWFishing.com, the FLW YouTube channel and the FLW Facebook page.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.