Albertville’s Pittman tops Co-angler Division

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (May 22, 2017) – Boater Chris Mayfield of Phil Campbell, Alabama, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 23 pounds, 14 ounces Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Choo Choo Division event on Lake Guntersville. Mayfield took home $4,079 for his victory.

“I was fishing in the mid-lake area,” said Mayfield, who earned his first career BFL win. “The fish were just getting out to the ledges. Literally a day ago they weren’t there. I was finding them with my electronics and just following them around.”

Mayfield said that he caught all of his limit on a Carolina-rigged Zoom Lizard, although he declined to specify the exact color. He did catch a fish on a jig as well, but all of the fish that he weighed in came via the Carolina rig.

“The fish were roaming in schools and I just kept moving with them,” Mayfield said. “I’ve had some terrible luck on Lake Guntersville over the years, and Saturday was just one of those days where everything was working for me.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Chris Mayfield, Phil Campbell, Ala., five bass, 23-14, $4,079

2^nd:         Ryan Salzman, Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 20-13, $2,040

3^rd:         Marc Arnold, Kingsport, Tenn., five bass, 19-7, $1,293

4^th:         Martin McCravy, Killen, Ala., five bass, 19-6, $905

5^th:         Josh Butler, Hayden, Ala., five bass, 19-0, $776

6^th:         Blake Hall, Hartselle, Ala., four bass, 17-7, $1,194

6^th:         Casey Martin, New Hope, Ala., five bass, 17-7, $979

8^th:         Bryan Gregory, Fort Payne, Ala., five bass, 16-9, $582

9^th:         Jack Gumbert, Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 16-7, $517

10^th:       John Polly, Nauvoo, Ala., five bass, 16-6, $453

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Hall caught a 7-pound bass, which was the heaviest of the tournament in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $515.

Johnny Pittman of Albertville, Alabama, weighed in five bass totaling 14 pounds, 15 ounces Saturday to win the Co-angler Division and the top prize of $1,902.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Johnny Pittman, Albertville, Ala., five bass, 14-15, $1,902

2^nd:         Waylon Hancock, Dutton, Ala., four bass, 14-3, $951

3^rd:         Marcus Corbett, Anniston, Ala., five bass, 14-2, $734

4^th:         Ethan Wheeler, Mayfield, Ky., five bass, 13-13, $444

5^th:         Terry Smith, Tullahoma, Tenn., five bass, 13-7, $380

6^th:         Dennis Sandoval, Decatur, Ala., five bass, 13-6, $349

7^th:         Adam Clark, Logan, Ala., five bass, 12-15, $367

8^th:         Jarrid Taylor, Attalla, Ala., three bass, 12-3, $285

9^th:         Chad Biddle, Shelbyville, Ky., four bass, 12-1, $254

10^th:       Jerry Armstrong, Shelbyville, Tenn., five bass, 12-0, $222

Jeremy Waldrop of Hoover, Alabama, weighed a 5-pound, 12-ounce bass which earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award and $252.

The T-H Marine BFL at Lake Guntersville was hosted by the Marshall County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

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 Wheeler Lake in Decatur, Alabama. 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.