WAGGONER WINS T-H MARINE FLW BFL OZARK DIVISION EVENT ON LAKE OF THE OZARKS

Kansas’ Sloan Earns Co-angler Title

WARSAW, Mo. (June 26, 2017) – Joe Waggoner of Carthage, Missouri, caught a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 15 ounces, Saturday to earn top honors at the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Ozark Division tournament on Lake of the Ozarks. For his efforts, Waggoner pocketed $4,672.

“I focused on main-lake and secondary points with brush, from mid-lake down to the lower end,” said Waggoner, who earned his first career-victory as a boater in BFL competition. “I probably hit 12 areas and revisited the ones that were the most productive.”

Waggoner said his primary points were littered with bait after local authorities pulled water to bring the lake level down.

“My Lowrance units helped me see the bait on the points, which gave me more confidence to stop and fish them,” said Waggoner. “I caught almost all of my weight by 8 (a.m.) and after that it died off. They actually stopped pulling water the morning of the tournament, and I think that’s what scattered them.”

Waggoner said he caught his limit on a plum-colored Zoom Ol’ Monster Worm with a ½-ounce Bullet Weights tungsten slip sinker.

“In the afternoon I caught three good ones on points that were across from each other to finish out my day,” said Waggoner. “I guess I just ran the right points at the right time.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1st:          Joe Waggoner, Carthage, Mo., five bass, 18-15, $4,672

2nd:         Stan Tucker, Festus, Mo., five bass, 18-11, $2,236

3rd:          Brett Govreau, House Springs, Mo., five bass, 18-9, $1,492

4th:          Jeremy Johnson, Kansas City, Kan., five bass, 17-14, $968

4th:          Tom Alsop, Overland Park, Kan., five bass, 17-14, $1,068

6th:          Bryan Tracy, Saint Peters, Mo., five bass, 17-8, $820

7th:          Matthew Roberts, Osage Beach, Mo., five bass, 17-5, $745

8th:          Mike Roller, Purdy, Mo., five bass, 15-15, $671

9th:          Drew Sanford, Springfield, Mo., five bass, 15-12, $596

10th:        Wesley Myers, Raytown, Mo., five bass, 15-9, $522

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Roger Fitzpatrick of Eldon, Missouri, caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 9 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $650.

Jacob Sloan of Paola, Kansas, won the Co-angler Division and $2,436 Saturday after catching a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 13 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1st:          Jacob Sloan, Paola, Kan., five bass, 17-13, $2,436

2nd:         Derrick Tyree, Owensville, Mo., five bass, 16-4, $1,168

3rd:          Kory Ries, Union, Mo., five bass, 15-3, $745

4th:          Matt Wertheimer, Arnold, Mo., five bass, 15-2, $522

5th:          Daniel Ashby, Independence, Mo., five bass, 15-1, $447

6th:          Chris Dale, Chanute, Kan., five bass, 14-1, $410

7th:          Rich Carpenter, Parkville, Mo., five bass, 12-11, $373

8th:          Quenten Reed, Osage Beach, Mo., five bass, 11-13, $335

9th:          Alan Quick, Springfield, Mo., four bass, 11-10, $298

10th:        Brandon Hecker, Camdenton, Mo., four bass, 10-11, $261

Charles Frick of Saint Louis, Missouri, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 5 pounds, 11 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $325.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 5-7 BFL Regional Championship on Kentucky Lake in Gilbertsville, Kentucky. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.

The 2017 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the BFL on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.