Locals head to FLW Cup

Tyler Stewart

It may not be the best weather to fish here this weekend, but rain or shine, there is a lot of fishing action to keep up with this weekend just north of here.

The Forrest Wood Cup will return to Lake Ouachita in Arkansas, this weekend — Aug. 10-12 — to crown bass FLW’s top angler of 2018. The tournament will feature 56 of the world’s best bass-fishing professionals casting for the sport’s biggest award – $300,000 cash. Hot Springs will serve as the headquarters for the event.

Local interest in the Cup runneth over.

Two of those anglers are from the Twin Cities. Tyler Stewart of West Monroe finished 40th on the FLW tour in his rookie season and pocketed $43,200 in earnings. He’ll be there. Check this out: He finished the tour ahead of a boatload of bass fishing legends like Jimmy Houston, Larry Nixon, Jamie Horton, Randy Blaukat, Jay Yelas and Gary Yamamoto to name a few.

Hunter Freeman, left,  and Nick Lebrun

Tyler will be joined by two other Louisiana anglers in the prestigious FLW Cup field. ULM’s Hunter Freeman of Monroe qualified by fishing his way through the college tour and captured the 2018 College Fishing National Championship. The other Louisiana angler is 2018 T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Champion Nick LeBrun of Bossier City. They’ll be there, too.

Our other local tour regular, Brett Preuett of Monroe, did not qualify for the Cup but still pocketed $22,000 in earnings and was a great representative of the sport and his sponsors fishing the circuit. We’re proud to claim him, too!

You can keep up with results, photos and reports on the event this weekend at:

https://www.flwfishing.com/

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Want to pick up some summer fishing tips from Tyler? Check out this month’s print edition of the Louisiana Sportsman: