KISSIMMEE, Fla. (J
uly 10, 2018) – The Lew’s Fishing-sponsored trio of Peter Thliveros, John Carman and Matthew Mattingly, and the Co-anglers.com trio of Tomas Gomez, Billy Benedetti and Cesar Jaimes both brought a five-bass limit to the scale Tuesday morning weighing 22 pounds, 2 ounces to tie for the win at the fourth annual ICAST Cup presented by FLW bass-fishing tournament on Lake Toho.
$12,000 Raised for KeepAmerica Fishing™ Foundation
The event marked the kickoff of ICAST 2018, the largest sportfishing trade show in the world, taking place in Orlando this week. The tournament launched out of Big Toho Marina in Kissimmee, Florida, and featured a field of 55 teams competing for bragging rights and to raise money for the KeepAmericaFishing™ foundation. Each company that sponsored a boat donated a minimum $200 entry fee to the foundation in order to compete. After the final fish had been weighed Tuesday, a total of $12,000 was raised for the KeepAmericaFishing™ foundation.
“Who would have thought that we’d come out here in 3½ hours and catch that quality of fish?” said Thliveros, a former FLW Tour Angler of the Year and seven-time Forrest Wood Cup qualifier. “I certainly didn’t, but thank god I had partners that could. These guys took command today and all I did was drive the boat and dip the net. It was an awesome day.”
“To be crowned the first ICAST Cup co-champion is pretty great,” said Gomez, a local tournament angler from Kissimmee, Florida and owner of Co-anglers.com. “It’s an honor to compete against the caliber of fisherman that were in this event and it’s great to be a part of the genuine camaraderie and sportsmanship that everyone shows to each other in this sport.”
The top 10 teams finished the tournament in:
1st: Lew’s Fishing – John Carman, Peter Thliveros and Matthew Mattingly, five bass, 22-2
1st: Co-Anglers.com – Thomas Gomez, Billy Benedetti and Cesar Jaimes, five bass, 22-2
3rd: Lowrance – Mark Sullivan, Mike Corbishley and Steve Sarley, five bass, 19-9
4th: Oakley – Kevin Nottage and Brett Cannon, five bass, 18-13
5th: Lowrance – Lucas Steward, Darrell Davis and John Geiger, five bass, 18-11
6th: Lithium Pros – Ken Lucas, Steven Bishop and Torrence Davis, five bass, 18-7
7th: Okeechobee Just4Bass – Robert Holley, Scott Kerslake and Chris Holmes, five bass, 18-4
8th: Bridgemaster Fishing Products – Sammyjay Acree, Brandon Medlock and David Findley, five bass, 18-2
9th: 13 Fishing – Ricky Teschendorf and Stetson Blaylock, five bass, 17-4
10th: GILLZ LLC – Kent Hickman, Eric Tilson and John Neporadny, five bass, 16-14
Complete results for the tournament will be posted at ICASTCup.com.
Photos from the event will be posted at FLWFishing.com.
KeepAmericaFishing™ is leading the fight to preserve your right to sustainably fish on our nation’s waterways. As the voice of the American angler, KeepAmericaFishing works to keep our public resources – our oceans, lakes, rivers and streams – open, clean and abundant with fish. For more information, please visit KeepAmericaFishing.org.
For more ICAST 2018 coverage, details and tournament information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the sport’s top anglers on the FLW Tour on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.
About FLW
FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2018 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct 286 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa and Spain. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.