Seventy-one anglers fished the June 2 FLW BFL at Lake Wateree, and local boy Steve Phillips came out on top of them all. The Lugoff native brought a 5-fish limit to the scales that weighed 17-01, easily giving him the win. Phillips won over $3000 for his efforts. Phillips, who is known on Lake Wateree as a big fan of Rapala’s DD-22, used that very lure to win the tournament.

Scott Peavy, also of Lugoff, finished a distant 2nd place, weighing in 13-13 and taking home over $1500. Peavy squeaked by Greensboro, NC angler Mark Inman, who brought 13-07 pounds of fish to the weigh-in.

Rick McLean of Dalzell finished in 4th place with a limit that weighed 12-14 and earned him $707. Sumter angler Roby Kelley caught 12-08, taking 5th place and winning $606.

Two anglers, Derrick Compton of Columbus, NC and Carl Smith of Lugoff, finished in the money with only 3 fish. Compton’s trio weighed 11-08 and put him in 7th place. Smith’s 3 chunks weighed 9-15, good for 13th place.

While Phillips won the angler division in dominating fashion, DJ McEachern dominated the co-angler division, winning by almost 4 full pounds and earning over $1500. McEachern, who fished the Carolina Angler’s Team Trail event on Lake Wateree the previous week, said he spent most of that day pitching docks but failing to get anything going until he abandoned that strategey for throwing a shaky-head rig. The change helped him and his teammate to a top 20 finish in the CATT event, and McEachern came to this tournament ready to throw shaky-heads all day. “I wouldn’t have won today if I had not fished the CATT tournament last week,” McEachern said.

McEachern shows off his winning stringer

Vernie Haltiwanger of Lexington took 2nd place with 9-05, winning $757. He was followed by Jerry Lineberger of Lincolnton, NC who bagged 4 fish weighing 8-14.

The tournament’s biggest fish came from co-angler Bobby Littlejohn of Spartanburg. Littlejohn caught the fish in weeds on a 12-inch plastic worm and finished in 2nd place with only 2 fish, the anchor being a 6-02.

Littlejohn with the big bass of the day.

The SC Division of the BFL will make its next stop at Clarks Hill in the fall.