Chester’s Deciucis Wins Co-Angler Title

HUDDLESTON, Va. (May 13, 2019) – Boater Bryan Elrod of Mechanicsville, Virginia, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Piedmont Division tournament on Smith Mountain Lake presented by Navionics Saturday with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 1 ounce. For his efforts, Elrod pocketed $3,766.

“I targeted the shad spawn. I’d found multiple areas where the shad were spawning, but only one had fish in it – It was a point up the Roanoke River,” said Elrod, who notched his third career win in BFL competition. “I caught them from rip-rap in about 2 feet of water using a shad-colored [Heddon Zara] Spook. I caught four that I weighed on the Spook and one on a [shad-colored Rebel] Pop-R.

Elrod said he caught about 8 keepers during the tournament, citing the first hour of the day as the most productive.

“We went all over the lake running other stuff. The fish had spawned, and there were some areas with fry-guarders, but those fish were small. I only caught a few of those and they didn’t help me any,” said Elrod. “That area was really the only productive stop.”

Elrod went on to say that his winning limit consisted of four largemouth and one smallmouth.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Bryan Elrod, Mechanicsville, Va., five bass, 17-1, $3,766

2^nd:         Stephen Miller, Mechanicsville, Va., five bass, 16-15, $1,933

3^rd:          Matt Hicks, Evington, Va., five bass, 15-15, $1,155

4^th:          Keith Joyce, Apex, N.C., five bass, 15-14, $1,159

5^th:          Dennis Burdette, Pembroke, Va., five bass, 15-9, $693

6^th:          Rick Tilley, Moneta, Va., five bass, 15-4, $635

7^th:          Tommy Little, Chester, Va., five bass, 15-1, $578

8^th:          Powell Kemp, Scotland Neck, N.C., five bass, 14-13, $520

9^th:          Justin Hicks, Roanoke, Va., five bass, 14-8, $462

10^th:        Kevin Kane, Woodbridge, Va., five bass, 14-6, $404

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Taylor Godsey of Chester, Virginia, caught a 5-pound, 7-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $435.

David Deciucis of Chester, Virginia, won the Co-angler Division and $1,896 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 15 pounds even.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          David Deciucis, Chester, Va., five bass, 15-0, $1,896

2^nd:         Scott Howard, Bedford, Va., five bass, 14-4, $1,044

3^rd:          Roland Burton, Hopewell, Va., five bass, 13-9, $614

4^th:          Pat Kendrick, Bumpass, Va., five bass, 12-7, $394

5^th:          Brian LaClair, Denton, Md., five bass, 12-6, $338

6^th:          Timothy  Kinder, Manassas, Va., five bass, 12-3, $310

7^th:          Mickey Bergeron, Amherst, Va., five bass, 11-14, $281

8^th:          Gerald Heffler, Chester, Va., five bass, 11-12, $253

9^th:          Tim Privette Jr., Wendell, N.C., five bass, 11-11, $225

10^th:        Shawn Huwar, Fredericksburg, Va., five bass, 11-9, $197

Deciucis also caught the heaviest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 4 pounds, 8 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $207.

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. 17-19 BFL Regional Championship on the Potomac River in Marbury Maryland. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518L with a 200-horsepower outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518L with a 200-horsepower outboard.

The 2019 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 2019 BFL All-American will be held May 30-June 1 at the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland, and is hosted by the Charles County Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism and the Commissioners of Charles County. 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, and YouTube.