Bradley Hallman Wins 2016 Walmart FLW Tour Lake Okeechobee with 71-02 Pounds!

Wire to wire win while weather worsens. 

FLW PRESS RELEASE
Bradley Hallman is fishing his first season on the Walmart FLW Tour, but he is by no means a rookie in the world of tournament bass fishing. Hallman spent six years as a pro on the Bassmaster Elite Series from 2006 to 2011, so he knows his way around the business of bass tournaments pretty well.

Two 25 pound limits allow Bradley to ride out rough weather for win.
(Photo: FLW)

During his six years on the Elite Series, Hallman encountered some pretty stiff headwinds that forced him to retreat from the national level of the sport.

“I had a lot going on back then,” Hallman remembers. “My wonderful children were born. My dad passed away. I had a lot going on financially and emotionally, and I just needed a break from it all to sort of regroup and get my head right before getting back in the game at a national level.”

From his pro experience, Hallman learned a very valuable lesson.

“Transitioning from regional-level competition to national-level competition changes the way you fish,” Hallman reflects. “At home I had success fishing my way – fishing my strengths as a pitcher and flipper. But when I got on the Elites, the financial pressure was immense, and I started fishing just to get checks – just to survive – and it changed the way I fished. I was trying to fish the way other people fish just to stay out there. When I quit the Elites I vowed I would not return to national-level tournaments until I could fish my way all of the time.”

2016 Walmart FLW Tour Lake Okeechobee Day 3: Hallman Punching Up a Huge Lead!

Chris Johnston Jumps to 4th. 

by Rob Newell
FLW PRESS RELEASE
The third day of Walmart FLW Tour events always seem to be the stingiest days. Whether it’s due to condition changes or fishing pressure or both, day three is the seam where anglers’ primary locations and patterns from the first two days begin to fray. As a result, anglers fishing in the top-20 round on day three are faced with some difficult decisions that boil down to staying committed to their primary gig or switching up their game to try something else for a new window that might be opening.

This week at the Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Ranger Boats on Lake Okeechobee, tournament leader Bradley Hallman, who has sacked up about 25 pounds per day the last two days, says his day-three decision was pretty easy: stay committed to flipping and punching matted reed heads.

This 8 pounder helps keep the pack 13 1/2 pounds behind.  (Photo: FLW)

That decision resulted in being one fish shy of a limit on day three. But one of his four bass weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces, pushing Hallman’s catch to 14 pounds, 3 ounces to give him a three-day total of 64-10. His lead over second-place angler Alex Davis is now 13 1/2 pounds going into the fourth and final day in this event that is hosted by Roland and Mary Ann Martin's Marina and Resort and the Hendry County Tourism and Development Council.

2016 Walmart FLW Tour Lake Okeechobee Day 2: Bradley Hallman Take Huge Lead!

Canadian Co-anglers Yonemitsu & Agouros finish 5th and 6th. 

by Rob Newell

FLW PRESS RELEASE
Take an extremely full Lake Okeechobee, put a 15 mph south wind on it one day, then flip the wind 180 degrees and propel it to 25 mph out of the north the next day, and what you have is something akin to a 467,000-acre washtub, spilling over at the sides and sloshing bass and bass fishermen back and forth.

Hallman winning over wind and weeds. (Photo: FLW)

This time around, the Walmart FLW Tour opener on Lake Okeechobee presented by Ranger Boats has not been about staking out a square-mile area in the Monkey Box and waiting for waves of big bass to funnel in hourly. This time around, the anglers have been tested by the biggest washing machine in the southern U.S., and the cold-water rinse cycle started today.

The angler who seems to be thriving in the sloshing is Bradley Hallman of Norman, Okla. Hallman is a former Bassmaster Elite Series pro who is off to a solid start in rekindling his pro fishing career on the Walmart FLW Tour in this event, which is presented by Roland and Mary Ann Martin's Marina and Resort and Hendry County Tourism and Development Council. After sacking up 25 pounds on day one, Hallman bettered that on a horribly gusty day two with 25 pounds, 7 ounces and now leads second-place pro Alex Davis by 8 1/2 pounds.