LAMPE’S LIPPE WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE OZARK DIVISION EVENT ON TABLE ROCK LAKE

Oklahoma’s Torkleson tops Co-angler Division

IUKA, Miss. (April 10, 2017) – Boater Dustin Lippe of Lampe, Missouri, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds, 5 ounces, Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Ozark Division event on Table Rock Lake. Lippe took home $4,948 for his victory.

 

“It was really windy and a tough day on the water, but I was very happy to get the win,” said Lippe, who earned his first career win in FLW competition. “I only had five keepers all day long, but they were all the same size – a good quality fish. I fished a 10-mile stretch, from the dam down to lower end of the lake. I was focusing on staging areas where I figured the fish would be getting ready to move up.”

Lippe said that he caught his fish on a Luck-E-Strike Rick Clunn STX Jerkbait and a peanut butter and jelly-colored Bass X football jig with a green-pumpkin twin-tailed trailer and an Alabama rig.

“I’ve been smashing them on a jig for the past couple of weeks, but it was a bit too windy for it to be as effective as it had been,” Lippe said. “The key for me was really my Denali Lithium rods. It was a light bite and I couldn’t really feel the fish hit, but I could feel the rod load up and that really helped me in the windy conditions.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:           Dustin Lippe, Lampe, Mo., five bass, 16-5, $4,948

2^nd:          Randall Hutson, Washburn, Mo., five bass, 15-8, $2,474

3^rd:          Dustin Blevins, Harrison, Ark., five bass, 14-5, $1,649

4^th:           Nick Morris, Princeton, Mo., three bass, 14-4, $1,910

5^th:           Joel Douglas, Blue Eye, Mo., five bass, 13-11, $990

6^th:           Andy Newcomb, Camdenton, Mo., five bass, 13-10, $907

7^th:           Wes Endicott, Joplin, Mo., five bass, 13-8, $825

8^th:           Brian Hansen, Fenton, Mo., five bass, 13-7, $742

9^th:           Tim Kube, Imperial, Mo., five bass, 12-14, $860

10^th:        Richard Bower III, Jefferson City, Mo., five bass, 12-12, $577

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Morris caught a 5-pound, 11-ounce bass, which was the heaviest of the tournament in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $755.

Alex Torkleson of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, weighed in four bass totaling 13 pounds, 8 ounces Saturday to win the Co-angler Division and the top prize of $2,469.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:           Alex Torkleson, Sand Springs, Okla., four bass, 13-8, $2,469

2^nd:          Joshua Pullins, Bonne Terre, Mo., five bass, 11-15, $1,235

3^rd:          Alan Quick, Springfield, Mo., five bass, 9-7, $823

4^th:           Joe Dietz, O’Fallon, Mo., four bass, 9-6, $676

5^th:           Brian Huber, Saint Peters, Mo., five bass, 9-3, $494

6^th:           Joe Cook, Rogersville, Mo., four bass, 8-10, $453

7^th:           Steve Grigsby, Washington, Ill., four bass, 8-6, $412

8^th:           Trey Schroeder, Crestwood, Mo., four bass, 8-4, $420

9^th:           Rich Purington, Platsmouth, Neb., two bass, 7-9, $701

10^th:        Tom O’Connor, Reeds Spring, Mo., three bass, 7-0, $288

Purington weighed a 5-pound, 8-ounce bass which earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award and $372.

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.

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