Hot Springs anglers to compete as pros on 2019 FLW Tour

MINNEAPOLIS — Fishing League Worldwide announced this week the complete professional angler roster for the upcoming 2019 FLW Tour season, its 24th year.

The field will be showcased along the 2019 FLW Tour, which features seven regular-season tournaments around the country from January through June. Competitions kicks off Jan. 10-13 in Brookeland, Texas at Sam Rayburn Reservoir.

The season will culminate Aug.

9-11 with the world championship of bass fishing, the FLW Cup, on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs.

Among the 170 professional anglers competing will be local anglers Rob Kilby and Evan Barnes, both of Hot Springs.

Kilby will be competing in his

24th season on the Tour. He has FLW career earnings of more than

$733,000 and will seek to qualify for his 11th FLW Cup.

Barnes will be competing in his third season as a professional on the Tour. He is seeking his first FLW Cup berth.

A total of 210 anglers registered for slots on the tournament circuit in its final year of priority registration. FLW will switch to a strict qualifying process and a 150-pro field in 2020.

The top award at each Tour event is $125,000 with $300,000 going to the winner of the FLW Cup. Since the final field exceeds the published payout basis of 150 pros, FLW will survey all 170 participating pros to finalize the 2019 payout structure.

“With the demand we saw this year to join the FLW Tour, we couldn’t be more eager to kick off another season at Sam Rayburn Reservoir in January,” said Bill Taylor, FLW’s Senior director of tournament operations.

“FLW has long been the home to some of the most decorated bass

anglers in the sport, and with the expanded live coverage at all of our Tour events this year, we are more than ready to show off their skills at some of the best fisheries in the world.”

FLW announced last week an expanded live schedule for the 2019 season. The live on-the-water broadcast will air on days three and four of all FLW Tour regular-season events from the boats of the tournaments’ top pros. The program has been extended two hours and every weigh-in will be broadcast on FLWFishing.com.