Birmingham’s Wiggins Takes Co-angler Title

ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. (Feb. 19, 2018) – Boater David Gaston of Sylacauga, Alabama, caught five bass weighing 15 pounds, 2 ounces, Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bama Division event on Lake Martin presented by Navionics. Gaston pocketed $5,046 for his efforts.

Gaston said he started his day on the lower end of the lake focusing on two fish that he had marked in practice.

“One was a 4-pounder and the other was just over 5 pounds. The 5-pounder ended up anchoring my limit,” said Gaston, who earned his first career win in FLW competition. “They were pulled up near some black floating docks, probably trying to warm up. They were staging and getting ready to spawn.”

Gaston said he used a Davis Bait Co. Wood Jig with a black and blue flake-colored Netbait Paca Chunk Sr. trailer on a 7-foot, 3-inch heavy action Enigma HPT Tournament Casting rod to catch the pair. After that, he said he began to make his way back to the launch ramp due to issues with his boat propeller.

“A chunk of the prop had come off earlier, and I couldn’t go faster than 30 mph,” said Gaston. “I hit secondary points on the way back using the Davis jig and was able to scrape together a limit.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          David Gaston, Sylacauga, Ala., five bass, 15-2, $5,046

2^nd:         Marty Giddens, Eclectic, Ala., five bass, 14-8, $2,023

3^rd:          Mark McCaig, Oxford, Ala., five bass, 14-6, $1,548

4^th:          Michael Smith, Andalusia, Ala., five bass, 14-0, $1,599

5^th:          Johnathan Stuckey, Tallassee, Ala., five bass, 13-9, $809

6^th:          Jimmy Miller, Eclectic, Ala., five bass, 13-1, $742

7^th:          Tony Hogan, McDavid, Fla., five bass, 12-11, $974

8^th:          Jason Nixon, Wetumpka, Ala., five bass, 12-10, $607

9^th:          Ethan Flack, Cullman, Ala., five bass, 12-5, $539

10^th:        Josh Stracner, Vandiver, Ala., five bass, 12-3, $472

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Smith caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 5 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $555.

Randall Wiggins of Birmingham, Alabama, won the Co-angler Division and $2,123 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 13 pounds, 4 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Randall Wiggins, Birmingham, Ala., five bass, 13-4, $2,123

2^nd:         Hulan Mattox, Alexander City, Ala., five bass, 12-5, $1,011

3^rd:          Keith Reynolds, Ozark, Ala., five bass, 11-10, $951

4^th:          Larry Chastain, Laurel, Miss., five bass, 11-2, $522

5^th:          Mike Byrd, McDermott, Ohio, five bass, 10-13, $405

6^th:          Joseph Casey, Trenton, Ga., five bass, 10-11, $371

7^th:          John Bryan, Carrollton, Ga., five bass, 10-9, $337

8^th:          Scott Carpenter, Childersburg, Ala., five bass, 10-7, $303

9^th:          Jeremy Ray, Jacksons Gap, Ala., five bass, 10-5, $253

9^th:          Timothy Watkins, Trussville, Ala., five bass, 10-5, $253

Reynolds caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a 4-pound, 1-ounce fish. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $277.

The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bama Division event on Lake Martin presented by Navionics was hosted by the Alexander City Chamber of Commerce.

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. 11-13 BFL Regional Championship on the St, Johns River in Osage Beach, Missouri. 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 2018 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. The 2018 BFL All-American will be held May 31-June 2 at Cross Lake in Shreveport, Louisiana, and is hosted by the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.