Courtesy of FLW Communications

Miami’s Mut Grabs Co-angler Title

CLEWISTON, Fla. (April 16, 2018) – Boater Jason Reed of Hollister, Florida, caught five bass Saturday weighing 28 pounds, 2 ounces, to take top honors at the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Gator Division event on Lake Okeechobee. Reed earned $4,246 for his win.

Reed said he picked apart scattered eel grass in 3 feet of water in the Harney Pond area of the lake. He said he used a black and blue-colored Gambler Heavy Cover Southern Swim Jig with a Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper trailer of the same color and caught around 40 keepers throughout the day.

“I found a big wave of fish that was moving in there to spawn during practice on Thursday and they were still there on Saturday,” said Reed, who earned his first career victory in BFL competition. “I fished the same two-acre area all day long and really caught them.”

Reed said the bite was slow in the morning, but picked up as soon as the sun rose higher and the wind started blowing.

“I think my fluorocarbon line helped me get more bites,” said Reed. “I had a lot of boats around me, but everyone was throwing braided line. I think that was my edge out there.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Jason Reed, Hollister, Fla., five bass, 28-2, $4,246

2^nd:         Dillon McMillan, Belle Glade, Fla., five bass, 27-7, $2,423

3^rd:          Greg Harp, Vero Beach, Fla., five bass, 26-7, $1,348

4^th:          Nicholas Hoinig, Delray Beach, Fla., five bass, 25-5, $944

5^th:          Mikey Keyso Jr., North Port, Fla., five bass, 24-11, $809

6^th:          Jim Hurlock Jr., West Palm Beach, Fla., five bass, 22-6, $742

7^th:          Clay Batson, Bradenton, Fla., five bass, 21-3, $674

8^th:          Justin Morgan, Okeechobee, Fla., five bass, 20-8, $573

8^th:          Chris Crow, Lake Placid, Fla., five bass, 20-8, $573

10^th:        Mike Jackson, San Mateo, Fla., five bass, 19-10, $472

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Donald Dunnam of Okeechobee, Florida, brought a 9-pound, 8-ounce bass to the scale – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $555.

Alex Mut of Miami, Florida, won the Co-angler Division and $2,223 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 19 pounds, 15 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Alex Mut, Miami, Fla., five bass, 19-15, $2,223

2^nd:         Kenneth Hunnicutt, Jacksonville, Fla., five bass, 19-4, $1,288

3^rd:          Brian Malys, Bartow, Fla., five bass, 18-13, $724

4^th:          Dana Bass, Miami, Fla., five bass, 13-1, $472

5^th:          Jeff Claiborne, Pembroke Pines, Fla., five bass, 12-9, $388

5^th:          Jerry Heaton, Webster, Fla., five bass, 12-9, $388

7^th:          Shannon Bryson, Merritt Island, Fla., five bass, 12-6, $337

8^th:          Clyde Arnold, Coconut Creek, Fla., four bass, 11-13, $303

9^th:          Anthony Cilladi, Orlando, Fla., five bass, 11-12, $270

10^th:        Timothy Hibbs, Bradenton, Fla., five bass, 11-11, $236

Hunnicutt caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 8 pounds, 7 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $277.

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 Saint Johns River in Palatka. Florida. 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.