The Wheeler Lake FLW Tour Open, set to get under way Thursday out of Decatur, Ala., will fall well short of a full field. In fact, it’s likely less than 100 boats will blast off in the morning.
Early indications are that the field will be in the high 80s, but the final count won’t be known for sure until official registration takes place later this afternoon. Since FLW went to the Opens format at the start of 2011, the smallest field for an Open was 135 boats at Lake Champlain last year.
Pros whom BassFan contacted during the practice period remarked that mid-September isn’t typically a great time for a tournament in the South. Others opted to skip it to prepare for upcoming tournaments or because of other schedule conflicts.
