FLW Outdoors announced today that the 2011 FLW Tour will expand to 10 events from its traditional six-tournament schedule. Next year's slate will stretch from February through October and will feature a Bassmaster Elite Series-style format in which the 150-boat (maximum) field is cut in half after day 2, with only the Top 5 advancing to the final day and winners determined by cumulative weight.
“We are excited to expand the FLW Tour,” said FLW Outdoors president and CEO Charlie Evans. “We have a long history of offering the best paybacks in the sport, and our new expanded schedule, with stops on some of the nation’s top fisheries, will bring even more opportunity and visibility to our anglers, corporate supporters and for our fans.”
The schedule will consist of six "Majors" and four "Opens." Competitors in the majors must fish the entire schedule, whereas the Opens are stand-alone events for which Majors anglers will receive priority entry.
The 2011 Angler of the Year (AOY) will be determined over all 10 events. The Top 30 pros and co-anglers from the Majors will qualify for the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup, which will consist of 58 pros and co-anglers. In 2012, the Top 35 pros and co-anglers from the Majors, along with the Top 5 from the 2011 Opens, will qualify for the 2012 Cup.
The Majors schedule includes three conflicts with the Elite Series slate released last week, which will likely prevent anglers from contending for the AOY and championship slots on both tours. Those dates are in April (Toledo Bend Elite Series, 14th-17th; Chickamauga FLW Tour, 13th-16th), May (West Point Elite Series, 5th-8th; Table Rock FLW Tour, 4th-7th) and June (Wheeler Elite Series, 16th-19th; Kentucky Lake FLW Tour, 15th-18th).
Here's a look at the full 2011 FLW Tour schedule:
> Feb. 2-5 -- Lake Okeechobee (Open) -- Clewiston, Fla.
> March 2-5 -- Falcon Lake (Major) -- Zapata, Texas
> March 23-26 -- Lake Hartwell (Major) -- Greenville, S.C.
> April 13-16 -- Lake Chickamauga (Major) -- Chattanooga, Tenn.
> May 4-7 -- Table Rock Lake (Major) -- Branson, Mo.
> May 18-21 -- Red River (Major) -- Shreveport, La.
> June 1-4 -- Potomac River (Open) -- National Harbor, Md.
> June 15-18 -- Kentucky Lake (Major) -- Murray, Ky.
> Aug. 11-14 -- Lake Ouachita (Forrest Wood Cup) -- Hot Springs, Ark.
> Sept. 14-17 -- Lake Champlain (Open) -- Plattsburgh, N.Y.
> Oct. 19-22 -- Lake Guntersville (Open) -- Guntersville, Ala.
Pros will compete for a top prize of up to $125,000 at each event. With a full field, payback of $10,000 will extend through 50th place. Entry fees are $4,000 per tournament for pros or $40,000 for the season. Co-angler entry is $700.
Reactions from pros and BassFan's analysis is forthcoming. However, it seems pretty clear that the "Opens" represent the old Eastern FLW Series rolled into the FLW Tour. The question, of course, is whether the more liberal logo-display policies of the Series will endure within the Opens.
