Clausen Makes Move in Land O'Lakes Angler of the Year Race

Georgia's Hardin leads pro field at FLW Tour's regular-season finale at Lake
Champlain

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y., July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Team Chevy pro Luke Clausen of
Gainesville, Ga., posted a strong sixth-place showing on the first day of
competition in the FLW Tour's regular-season finale at Lake Champlain
presented by Folgers to gain ground on the Land O'Lakes Angler of the Year
points leader, Team National Guard pro Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif.
Clausen entered the Champlain event only five points behind Ehrler, who
stumbled on day one and ended up in 46th place. Team Kellogg's pro Clark
Wendlandt of Leander, Texas, who was only three points out of the lead coming
into the event, finished the day tied for 14th place.

Mark Hardin of Jasper, Ga., crossed the stage Thursday with a five-bass limit
weighing 22 pounds, 2 ounces to lead day one of the Walmart FLW Tour event on
Lake Champlain. Hardin now holds a 2-pound, 6-ounce lead in the $1.1 million
tournament featuring anglers from all across the United States, Canada and
Japan.

"I caught them on a jerkbait right off the bat and then it slowed down a
little bit and I switched to my Carolina rig with a Zoom Speed Craw," said
Hardin, who has won more than $383,000 in FLW Outdoors events. "I was doing
some drop-shotting too, and I caught some fish, but the ones I weighed in came
on a Carolina rig."

Hardin said he caught 15 to 20 post-spawn smallmouth in deeper water
throughout the course of the day after making a 25-mile run.

"I'm fishing a point with about a two-foot rise on it," Hardin said. "It's got
grass and rock on it. The water is anywhere from 14 to 16 feet deep."

Hardin said he had a successful practice and his catches from practice held up
on the first day of competition.

"The first two days the wind blew real hard and I couldn't get out there to
fish where I like to fish," Hardin said. "I've been here a lot of times and I
know a lot of areas. The third and fourth days, when the wind lay down, is
when I started catching them real good.

"I've got several places that are holding fish, but where I fished today
seemed to have a little bit better fish, and that's what you've got to have
here," Hardin added.

Rounding out the top five places are Pete Gluszek of Mt. Laurel, N.J. (five
bass, 19-12); Team Tums pro David Fritts of Lexington, N.C. (five bass, 19-5);
Team Land O'Lakes pro Jeremiah Kindy of Benton, Ark. (five bass, 19-5); and
Team National Guard pro Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla. (five bass, 19-2).

Rounding out the top 10 spots are Clausen, Team Kellogg's pro Alvin Shaw of
State Road, N.C., Team M&M's/Snickers pro Greg Pugh of Cullman, Ala., Team BP
pro Tracy Adams of Wilkesboro, N.C., and tied for 10th are Chris Baumgardner
of Gastonia, N.C., Team Chevy pro Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C., and
Team Iams pro Koby Krieger of Okeechobee, Fla.

Team Kellogg's pro Dave Lefebre of Union City, Pa., earned the day's $750
Folgers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 5-pound, 1-ounce bass.

Overall there were 715 bass weighing 2,054 pounds, 7 ounces caught by 145 pros
Thursday. The catch included 140 five-bass limits.

Pros are competing for a top award of $125,000 this week plus valuable points
in the hope of qualifying for $2.5 million Forrest Wood Cup presented by BP
and Castrol, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three Rivers in
Pittsburgh, Pa., where they could win as much as $1 million - the sport's
biggest award.

Team National Guard co-angler Justin Lucas of Folsom, Calif., leads the
Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 19-3 followed by James Schneider of
Watervliet, N.Y., in second place with five bass weighing 18-12.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Andrew Lemle of Whitehouse, Ohio
(five bass, 18-4); Doug Caldwell of Kane, Pa. (five bass, 16-14) and Terry
Chapman of Stanley, N.C. (five bass, 16-13).

Schneider earned the day's $500 Folgers Big Bass award in the Co-angler
Division thanks to a 5-pound, 7-ounce bass.

Overall there were 638 bass weighing 1,471 pounds, 3 ounces caught by 142
co-anglers Thursday. The catch included 108 five-bass limits.

Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $25,000 this week.

Anglers will take off at 6:30 a.m. each day from Dock Street Landing located
at 1 Dock Street in Plattsburgh, N.Y. Friday's weigh-ins will also be held at
Dock Street Landing beginning at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday's weigh-ins
will be held at the Plattsburgh State Field House located at 167 Rugar Street
in Plattsburgh beginning at 4 p.m.

In conjunction with the weigh-ins Saturday and Sunday, FLW Outdoors will host
a free Family Fun Zone and outdoor show at the Plattsburgh State Field House
each day at noon. The Family Fun Zone offers fans a chance to meet their
Fantasy Fishing team anglers face-to-face and review the latest products from
Berkley, Lowrance, Ranger, Evinrude, Yamaha and other sponsors while children
are treated to giveaways, fishing themed games and rides like the Ranger Boat
simulator. Children 14 and under visiting the Family Fun Zone on Sunday will
receive a free rod and reel combo courtesy of WOKO-FM while supplies last. One
lucky member of the audience will even win a new Ranger boat that will be
given away during the final 4 p.m. weigh-in Sunday, July 12. Admission is
free, and you must be present to win.

In other news related to the FLW Tour qualifying event on Lake Champlain, the
2010 Walmart FLW Tour schedule will be announced Friday.

In FLW Tour competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day,
with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against
other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers. The
full field competes in the two-day opening round for one of 10 slots in
Saturday's competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are
cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following
Saturday's weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Sunday, with the
winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.

Coverage of the tournament, hosted by the City of Plattsburgh, will be
broadcast on VERSUS, the network which brings anglers the best fishing
programming on television featuring the most-trusted authorities on the water.
The Emmy-nominated "FLW Outdoors," will air Nov. 1 from 12:30 to 1:30 ET. "FLW
Outdoors," hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million
households worldwide, including internationally through agreements with WFN
(World Fishing Network) and Matchroom Sport to such countries as Canada,
Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the
United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports
television show in the world.

The FLW Tour will award more than $8 million cash to the world's top bass
anglers in 2009. Regular season competition includes three qualifiers and
three opens. Each event takes anglers a step closer to the $2 million Forrest
Wood Cup presented by Castrol, which will be held July 30-Aug. 2 on the Three
Rivers in Pittsburgh, Pa. The prestigious championship and outdoor show hosted
by Visit Pittsburgh will feature 77 pros, 77 co-anglers and bass fishing's
largest cash award - a potential $1 million first-place prize for the winning
pro.

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.

SOURCE FLW Outdoors

Chad Gay, public relations manager, +1-270-703-3346