Salisbury’s Kraft tops Co-angler field

ROCK HILL, S.C. (April 3, 2017) – Scott Hamrick of Denver, North Carolina, brought a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds, 15 ounces, to the scale Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) North Carolina Division event on Lake Wylie. For his win, Hamrick pocketed $4,594.

 

“I targeted suspended fish under docks from all the way up the river to down near the dam,” said Hamrick, who earned his third career-victory in BFL competition. “I used a Shooter Lures Jig with a Zoom Super Chunk trailer to catch everything I weighed in.

“The fish were coming off of the beds and suspending under docks to feed on crappie,” continued Hamrick. “Most people target those bass when the shad are spawning, but that won’t happen for a week or two. The rest of the field was fishing in pockets and going after bedding fish, but I ended up doing something different.”

Hamrick said he put 25 to 30 keepers in the boat throughout the event.

“The bite was strongest in the morning, but I caught them all day,” said Hamrick. “I didn’t do anything too fancy with the jig. If they were in there under those docks, they would eat it.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st”          Scott Hamrick, Denver, N.C., five bass, 16-15, $4,594

2^nd:         Chris Dover, Blacksburg, S.C., five bass, 15-12, $1,940

3^rd:          Carson Orellana, Mooresville, N.C., five bass, 15-6, $1,393

4^th:          Israel Gibson. Spruce Pine, N.C., five bass, 14-12, $905

5^th:          Rob Digh, Denver, N.C., five bass, 14-9, $776

6^th:          Cole Blythe, Charlotte, N.C., five bass, 13-15, $711

7^th:          Bryan New, Belmont, N.C., five bass, 13-11, $647

8^th:          Jeff Queen, Catawba, N.C., five bass, 13-7, $582

9^th:          Ryan Deal, Indian Trail, N.C., five bass, 13-2, $517

10^th:        Michael Stephens, Gastonia, N.C., five bass, 13-0, $453

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Hamrick also caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 2 ounces – the largest of the event in the boater division – which earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $515.

Louis Kraft of Salisbury, North Carolina, weighed in four bass totaling 12 pounds even Saturday to win the Co-angler division and the top prize of $2,140.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Louis Kraft, Salisbury, N.C., four bass, 12-0, $2,140

2^nd:         Paul Conti, Concord, N.C., five bass, 11-2, $970

3^rd:          Adam Edwards, Cana, Va., five bass, 10-13, $696

4^th:          Brent Kukowski, Fort Mill, S.C., five bass, 10-12, $453

5^th:          Hunter Harwell, Hickory, N.C., five bass, 10-11, $388

6^th:          Michael Thomas, York, S.C., five bass, 10-3, $356

7^th:          Jeffery Wingler, Wilkesboro, N.C., four bass, 9-14, $323

8^th:          Brian Mann, Ballard, W. Va., five bass, 8-14, $291

9^th:          Marvin Godard, Charlotte, N.C., four bass, 8-10, $259

10^th:        Caleb Lynch, Mount Holly, N.C., two bass, 8-1, $483

Lynch weighed the biggest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing 6 pounds, 7 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $257.

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. 12-14 BFL Regional Championship on the James River in Williamsburg, Virginia. 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.