World Championship of Bass Fishing Hits Hot Springs in August!

By: Zoie Clift

Hot Springs will soon be the scene of the world championships of bass fishing!

worldchamp2015

The 2015 Forrest Wood Cup is slated for August 20-23 on Lake Ouachita. The tournament will draw in 50 of the world’s best bass-fishing pros and co-anglers casting for a hefty bit of prize money. They will be competing for $500,000 cash in the pro division and $50,000 cash in the co-angler division.  The Forrest Wood Cup Expo and weigh-ins will take place at the Bank of the Ozarks Arena in downtown Hot Springs. It is a special year for the Forrest Wood Cup as it will be celebrating a 20th anniversary this year.

Scott Martin holds up his winning catch during the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup in Hot Springs. Photo care of FLWFishing.com.

The large-scale tournament, which is hosted by Visit Hot Springs and the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, has been in the city two other times: once in 2007 and another time in 2011.  In 2007, Scott Suggs of Bryant made professional fishing history winning the first $1 million first-place cash prize. In 2011 Scott Martin of Florida won the tournament. The weigh-ins will be televised Thursday-Sunday at the Bank of the Ozarks Arena.

An FLW Expo will be held at the Hot Springs Convention Center August 21-23 from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Onsite will be hundreds of exhibitors selling tackle and gear, special rod and reel giveaways, and seminars by pro anglers such as Jimmy Houston and Hank Parker. There will also be a Bass & BBQ competition as part of the FLW Expo outside the Hot Springs Convention Center August 22- 23. The 30-team BBQ competition is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society and fans have a chance to taste the goods of some of the top competing teams in the country.

On August 23, Arkansas native and country music star Justin Moore, who received the Academy of Country Music New Artist of the Year award, will perform a free concert on the Walmart weigh-in stage at the Bank of the Ozarks arena starting at 4 p.m. The concert takes place before the final weigh-in of the tournament.

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com or Hotsprings.org.