FREEDOM HIGH SCHOOL WINS BASS PRO SHOPS FLW HIGH SCHOOL FISHING CALIFORNIA DELTA OPEN
STOCKTON, Calif. (Sept. 30, 2019) – The Freedom High School duo of Tyler Hurney and Justin Hurney, both of Oakley, California, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Sunday weighing 16 pounds, 12 ounces to win the 2019 Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing California Delta Open.
A field of 59 teams competed in the no-entry fee tournament, which launched from Buckley Cove in Stockton, Calif. In FLW and The Bass Federation (TBF) High School Fishing competition, the top 10-percent of teams competing advance to the High School Fishing National Championship.
The top five teams on the California Delta that advanced to the 2020 High School Fishing National Championship were:
1st: Freedom High School, Oakley, Calif. – Tyler Hurney and Justin Hurney, both of Oakley, Calif., five bass, 16-12
2nd: Anzar High School, San Juan Bautista, Calif. – Clay Capilla, San Jose, Calif., and Michael Alaga, Aromas, Calif., five bass, 16-3
3rd: Delta Teen Team – Ivan Lazarin, Concord, Calif., and Peter Khoury, Walnut Creek, Calif., five bass, 14-6
4th: Vista Del Lago High School, Folsom, Calif. – Brennon Sharp and Michael Musket, both of Folsom, Calif., five bass, 12-7
5th: Lodi High School, Lodi, Calif. – Nathan Sherbondy, Acampo, Calif., and Bret Luiz, Lodi, Calif., five bass, 12-5
Rounding out the top 10 teams were:
6th: Grizzly Bass Masters – Lucas Gerondakis, Garden Valley, Calif., and Jon Loya, Georgetown, Calif., five bass, 11-1
7th: Roosevelt High School, Fresno, Calif. – Chee Moua Vang and Keith Yang, both of Fresno, Calif., five bass, 10-8
8th: Vista Del Lago High School, Folsom, Calif. – Kyle Hara, Folsom, Calif., and Jack Thompson, El Dorado Hills, Calif., five bass, 9-10
9th: Lodi High School, Lodi, Calif. – Cole Koenig, Woodbridge, Calif., and Jake Fritz, Lodi, Calif, five bass, 9-1
10th: Heritage High School, Brentwood, Calif. – Drew Ziemann, Clayton, Calif., and Hunter Holguin, Brentwood, Calif., five bass, 8-14
Complete results from the event can be found at FLWFishing.com.
The 2019 Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing California Delta Open was a two-person (team) event for students in grades 7-12, open to any Student Angler Federation (SAF) affiliated high school club in the United States. The top 10 percent of each Challenge, Open, and state championship field will advance to the 2020 High School Fishing National Championship on the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The High School Fishing national champions will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship to the school of their choice.
In addition to the High School Fishing National Championship, all High School Fishing anglers nationwide automatically qualify for the world’s largest open high school bass tournament, the 2020 High School Fishing World Finals, held in conjunction with the National Championship. At the 2019 World Finals more than $150,000 in scholarships and prizes were awarded.
Full schedules and the latest announcements are available at HighSchoolFishing.org and FLWFishing.com.
About FLW
FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2019 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct more than 290 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Namibia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and Zimbabwe. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
SACRAMENTO STATE UNIVERSITY WINS YETI FLW COLLEGE FISHING TOURNAMENT ON CALIFORNIA DELTA
BETHEL ISLAND, Calif. (Sept. 30, 2019) – The Sacramento State University duo of Ilya Guryanov of West Sacramento and Will Karnthong, of Antioch, California, won the YETI FLW College Fishing event on the California Delta presented by Bass Pro Shops with a five-bass limit weighing 15 pounds, 7 ounces. The victory earned the Hornets’ bass club $2,000 and a slot in the 2020 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
“I’m a local, so I’ve spent a lot of time on the Delta and we definitely put in our practice time for this one,” said Karnthong, a freshman majoring in construction management. “We mainly stayed around the Central Delta – I had 10 to 15 spots where I knew we could catch fish. The name of the game for us was just covering a lot of water, then slowing down in the high-percentage areas.”
“We tried our best to find the big fish punching the grass – and we caught six – but those were all little guys,” said Guryanov, a sophomore majoring in nursing. “Our big fish came on a ChatterBait. We caught around 20 fish, but it was a slow day and we had to just grind it out.”
The duo’s main bait of choice was a green-pumpkin-colored Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer – Karnthong with a Z-Man Super Shad trailer and Guryanov with a Yamamoto Zeko trailer. They used a Big Texan-colored Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver when punching.
“Being a local was a huge advantage for us, because we had more water to fish,” Karnthong went on to say. “A lot of teams were covering water and running and gunning, but I had pre-fished a lot and was able to go from spot to spot knowing that the fish were there, instead of looking for them.”
The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2020 College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: Sacramento State University – Ilya Guryanov, West Sacramento, Calif., and Will Karnthong, Antioch, Calif., five bass, 15-7, $2,000
2nd: Sacramento State University – Aaron Nguyen, Discovery Bay, Calif., and Christopher Orgon, Sacramento, Calif., five bass, 13-2, $1,000
3rd: New Mexico State University – Ty Faulconer, Santa Clarita, Calif., and Daylon Smith, Frazier Park, Calif., five bass, 12-4, $900
4th: Chico State University – Tyler Bounds, Chico, Calif., and Miles Kaneko, Berkeley, Calif., five bass, 11-12, $700
5th: Oregon State University – Biagio Capp, Discovery Bay, Calif., and Thomas Robinson, Blythe, Calif., five bass, 10-6, $750
6th: University of California-Merced – Kalib Caples, Sebastopol, Calif., and Herbie LeBlanc, Merced, Calif., five bass, 10-4
7th: Washington State University – Madden Tobeck, Eatonville, Wash., and Nathan Baespflug, Sumner, Wash., five bass, 10-2
8th: Chico State University – Joshua Cutler, Hollister, Calif., and Chad Sweitzer, Sonora, Calif., five bass, 10-1
9th: California State University-East Bay – Yuan Liu, Fremont, Calif., and Zane Kazaka, Clearlake, Calif., five bass, 9-9
10th: Simpson University – Ryan Beaty, Martinez, Calif., and Nathan Phillips, Kelseyville, Calif., five bass, 9-5
Complete results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.
The YETI FLW College Fishing event on the California Delta presented by Bass Pro Shops was hosted by Russo’s Marina and the Sugar Barge RV Resort. It was the third and final regular-season qualifying tournament for Western Conference anglers. The next event for FLW College Fishing anglers will be a Central conference event – the YETI FLW College Fishing tournament on Lake of the Ozarks presented by Bass Pro Shops, Oct. 18 in Osage Beach, Missouri.
YETI FLW College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. All participants must be registered, full-time students at a college, university or community college and members of a college fishing club that is recognized by their school. The top 10 teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open will advance to the 2020 FLW College Fishing National Championship, scheduled for Feb. 26-28 on the Harris Chain of Lakes in Leesburg, Florida. Additional teams will qualify for the National Championship if the field size in regular-season events exceeds 100 boats.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow YETI FLW College Fishing on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
TURNER WINS TWO-DAY T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE EVENT ON LAKE LANIER
Macon’s Williams Wins Co-angler Division
GAINESVILLE, Ga. (Sept. 30, 2019) – Boater Brock Turner of Jasper, Georgia, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 33 pounds, 7 ounces, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bulldog Division super-tournament on Lake Lanier Sunday. Turner earned $8,266 for his efforts.
“I was mainly fishing fresh bushes and humps in 15- to 25-feet-of-water,” said Turner, who earned his first career victory in FLW competition. “I fished mainly on the south end, and I caught around 10 to 15 keepers a day.”
Turner weighed in a five-bass limit totaling 13 pounds, 2 ounces on Day One to end the day in 14th place. Although he was more than 4 pounds behind day one leader Kelly Bagley, Turner knew that the weather forecast for day two would have him in contention for the win.
“The first day the cloud cover hurt me, but the second day the clouds went away and they bit like they were supposed to,” Turner said. “We’ve been catching them good that way since July. The bite was much better at the end of the day, on both days. I just had to have patience.”
Turner said he caught his fish on four main baits – a scrounger jig with a Zoom Super Fluke, a Fish Head Spin with a Zoom Super Fluke, a spoon and a spybait. His weigh-in limits consisted of nine spotted bass and one largemouth.
“I caught a surprise largemouth out deep on the second day,” Turner said. “It was a 3½-pounder, and just happened to be in the same spot that I caught my biggest spotted bass – a 5-pounder – on day one.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Brock Turner, Jasper, Ga., 10 bass, 33-7, $6,266 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Rob Jordan, Flowery Branch, Ga., 10 bass, 32-6, $3,033
3rd: Trent Palmer, Cumming, Ga., 10 bass, 32-3, $2,124
4th: Clabion Johns, Social Circle, Ga., 10 bass, 30-14, $1,415
5th: David Nichol, Gainesville, Ga., 10 bass, 29-10, $2,045
6th: Jordan Thompkins, Myrtle Beach, S.C., 10 bass, 29-3, $1,112
7th: Brad Wiley, Alto, Ga., 10 bass, 27-14, $1,011
8th: Jason Johnson, Dawsonville, Ga., 10 bass, 27-9, $910
9th: Grant Kelly, Milledgeville, Ga., 10 bass, 26-12, $809
10th: Chad Spiva, Jasper, Ga., 10 bass, 25-14, $708
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Nichol caught a 5-pound, 1-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $832.
Conery Williams of Macon, Georgia, won the Co-angler Division and $2,971 Sunday after catching a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 20 pounds, 10 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Conery Williams, Macon, Ga., 10 bass, 20-10, $2,971
2nd: Deron Burdette, Fayetteville, Ga., six bass, 18-3, $1,686
3rd: Harold Grizzle, Gainesville, Ga., eight bass, 17-12, $1,039
4th: Dax Liner, Mineral Bluff, Ga., nine bass, 15-12, $693
5th: Devereaux Adams, Powder Springs, Ga., eight bass, 14-15, $594
6th: Jeffrey Payne, Danville, Ga., six bass, 14-9, $695
7th: Ben Smith, Lula, Ga., eight bass, 14-8, $495
8th: Wesley Wilson, Cornelia, Ga., eight bass, 14-6, $446
9th: Preston Pullman, Cumming, Ga., five bass, 13-4, $797
10th: Robert Holliday, Greensboro, Ga., six bass, 13-2, $347
Pullman caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 3 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $401.
The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bulldog Division super-tournament on Lake Lanier was hosted by the Gainesville Convention and Visitors 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. 10-12 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia. 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 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
BATEMAN WINS TWO-DAY T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE EVENT ON OHIO RIVER AT TANNERS CREEK
Dillsboro’s Liming Wins Co-angler Division
LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. (Sept. 30, 2019) – Boater Scott Bateman of Jasper, Indiana, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 12 pounds, 13 ounces, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Hoosier Division super-tournament on the Ohio River at Tanners Creek Sunday. Bateman earned $4,718 for the victory.
“The first day I ran 30-some miles, fishing inside creeks,” said Bateman, who earned his second career victory in BFL competition. “I was mainly pitching soft-plastics and throwing crankbaits around wood.
“On the second day, I stayed in Tanners Creek – near the launch site – and did the exact same thing, throwing a crankbait and pitching plastics. I caught 11 fish over the two days – six on the first day, five on the second – and I lost several more.”
Bateman was the only angler to weigh in a five-bass limit on both days of competition. His crankbait of choice was a Strike King KVD 1.5 (sexy shad) and he pitched green-pumpkin-colored tubes and creature baits.
“I caught six on the crankbait and five on the plastics,” Bateman went on to say. “I think the key was that I was covering more water and fishing very fast.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Scott Bateman, Jasper, Ind., 10 bass, 12-13, $4,718
2nd: Bryce Kalen, Greenwood, Ind., eight bass, 12-0, $2,234
3rd: Thomas Foster, Terre Haute, Ind., seven bass, 11-13, $1,423
4th: Chris Wilkinson, Farmersburg, Ind., nine bass, 11-12, $996
5th: Brandon Houston, Burlington, Ky., eight bass, 10-6, $854
6th: Kyle Weisenburger, Columbus Grove, Ohio, six bass, 9-8, $783
7th: Ken Garbe, Wyoming, Ohio, seven bass, 8-7, $711
8th: John Melton, Corydon, Ind., six bass, 8-6, $640
9th: Pete Justice, Sharonville, Ohio, four bass, 8-0, $569
10th: Mark Bouchie, Evansville, Ind., four bass, 7-5, $985
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Bouchie caught a 3-pound, 11-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $487.
Dillsboro, Indiana’s Brian Liming won the Co-angler Division and $2,134 Sunday after catching a two-day total of seven bass weighing 11 pounds, 14 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Brian Liming, Dillsboro, Ind., seven bass, 11-14, $2,134
2nd: Jim Krider, North Vernon, Ind., five bass, 7-7, $1,067
3rd: Brant Gish, Evansville, Ind., four bass, 5-8, $712
4th: Adam Boyce, Glenview, Ill., two bass, 5-5, $742
5th: Collin Hillen, Evansville, Ind., four bass, 4-14, $427
6th: John Young, Franklin, Ind., three bass, 4-13, $391
7th: Austin Thome, Oxford, Ohio, four bass, 4-5, $706
8th: Jeffery Johnson, Austin, Ind., four bass, 4-5, $470
9th: Roy Lester, Hamilton, Ohio, three bass, 4-3, $285
10th: Billy French, Hamilton, Ohio, three bass, 3-8, $249
Boyce caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 3 pounds, 5 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $244.
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 Kentucky Lake presented by Evinrude in Buchanan, Tennessee. 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 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
STRACNER WINS TWO-DAY T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE EVENT ON LAKE EUFAULA
Abbeville’s Hillman Wins Co-angler Division
EUFAULA, Ala. (Sept. 30, 2019) – Boater Josh Stracner of Vandiver, Alabama, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 35 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bama Division super-tournament on Lake Eufaula Sunday. Stracner earned $6,694 for his efforts.
“It was really tough fishing, but I actually caught some fish out deeper than I thought I was going to catch them,” said Stracner, who earned his fifth career win in BFL competition and locked up the Bama Division Angler of the Year points title. “I caught them pretty deep – which you usually don’t this time of year – but it was the only way I could get a bite. Some of the places had brush and some of it was natural timber, and I was catching them from 15 to 25 feet deep.”
For baits, Stracner kept things pretty simple. A Strike King 6XD crankbait and Zoom Magnum Trick Worm did most of the work for him over the two days. The biggest key to his win was running new water and doing his homework ahead of time.
“I put in the time and I spent the weekend before this tournament doing nothing but idling, and I’ve really got to credit my Humminbird Helix electronics,” continued Stracner. “I spent a lot of time idling trying to look for fish. I got one good bite on Friday before the event, and I spent the rest of the day looking for more of it. I really think that’s what won it for me.”
Though Stracner’s game plan was solid, the tournament nearly slipped through his fingers. In a game where lost fish usually haunt an angler, Stracner was fortunate this time that things all worked out.
“They actually bit a little better and earlier on Sunday, it was just poor execution on my part. The first fish I hung was a 4½-pounder, and it came up and jumped and came off. I lost another good one about an hour later and I really thought I had blown it. I was fortunate to have just enough.
“I went [to Eufaula] to just try and fish and win the Angler of the Year title,” Stracner went on to say. “I was leading coming into the tournament and I just wanted to go catch a decent limit and not worry about my finish too much, but I wound up doing better than I thought.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Josh Stracner, Vandiver, Ala., 10 bass, 35-12, $6,694
2nd: Ryan Ingram, Phenix City, Ala., 10 bass, 34-5, $2,441
3rd: Shane Powell, Dothan, Ala., 10 bass, 32-7, $1,562
4th: Casey O’Donnell, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 30-2, $1,092
5th: Wesley Rushing, Eufaula, Ala., 10 bass, 29-9, $936
6th: Jeff Kitchens, Auburn, Ala., 10 bass, 28-11, $858
7th: Mark Stillwell, Salem, Ala., 10 bass, 28-7, $780
8th: Terry Tucker, Gadsen, Ala., 10 bass, 27-1, $702
9th: Ethan Greene, Eufaula, Ala., 10 bass, 26-15, $624
10th: Jeff Cannon, Douglasville, Ga., 10 bass, 26-10, $546
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Stracner caught a 5-pound, 7-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $562.
Abbeville, Alabama’s Curtis Hillman won the Co-angler Division and $2,402 Sunday after catching a two-day total of seven bass weighing 27 pounds, 12 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Curtis Hillman, Abbeville, Ala., seven bass, 27-12, $2,402
2nd: Mark Hebert, Lineville, Ala., nine bass, 25-10, $1,081
3rd: Wayne Kilgore, Attalla, Ala., 10 bass, 22-6, $723
4th: Daniel Buswell Jr., Fayetteville, Ga., seven bass, 22-0, $505
5th: Robert Hays, Elmore, Ala., nine bass, 21-11, $432
6th: Thomas Robbins, Jackson, S.C., nine bass, 18-10, $596
7th: Mike Grose, Salem, Ala., nine bass, 17-1, $410
8th: Lew Moore, Roanoke, Ala., five bass, 15-5, $324
9th: William Jackson, Sharpsburg, Ga., five bass, 12-1, $288
10th: Emory Walden, Newnan, Ga., six bass, 10-4, $252
Hillman also caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 13 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $240.
The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bama Division super-tournament on Lake Eufaula was hosted by the Eufaula Barbour County 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. 17-19 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Guntersville presented by Mercury Marine in Guntersville, Alabama. 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 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
LEWELLEN WINS TWO-DAY T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE EVENT ON PICKWICK LAKE
Tennessee’s Swords Wins Co-angler Division
IUKA, Miss. (Sept. 30, 2019) – Boater Kyle Lewellen of Byhalia, Mississippi, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 34 pounds, 5 ounces, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mississippi Division super-tournament on Pickwick Lake Sunday. Lewellen earned $5,690 for his efforts.
Catching a solid bag on day one and the biggest bag of the tournament on day two, Lewellen spent most of his time below the Natchez Trace with a Carolina rig in his hand.
“Saturday we had better conditions. We had a little bit of wind – I fished a bit faster – and I did employ a jig and a flipping jig,” said Lewellen, who earned his first career victory in FLW competition. “I did fish deep a little bit, but I think I only weighed one fish from a ledge. But, I employed the Carolina rig both days.”
Fishing a Carolina rig with a Zoom Brush Hog, a ¾-ounce weight and a 4½-foot leader, the Mississippi angler reckons he hit about nine or ten spots each day.
“It was isolated grass in 6 to 12 foot, pretty much targeting the hard spots in between grass clumps,” said Lewellen. “Once the sun got up the fish seemed to hang out on the outside in the deep, isolated clumps. I could catch them on the flippin’ jig, but the Carolina rig could cover more water and it seemed to do a little better.”
Lewellen says that the fishing was actually better on day one, but that didn’t stop him from moving up the leaderboard on day two.
“They ate better on day one – I had three fish just swallow it,” said Lewellen. “I probably caught 15 keepers on day one and probably 20 on day two. Day two I felt better. We took away a lot of boats, and I could run where I wanted to and get on different spots. That was really the key, it opened up a lot of water.”
Lewellen has finished in the top six three times in September BFL events on Pickwick, but he finally sealed the deal this time.
“I knew I was set up to where I could win, but I killed myself trying to catch one more big one,” said Lewellen. “I thought I needed one more to solidify it. But, after I went through my rotation I realized Sunday was a worse day for fishing. We had bluebird skies and not a ripple on the water, so I knew that was really going to hurt the shallow guys. I felt better about it throughout the day.
“It feels good,” said Lewellen of his win. “It’s a long time coming, and it does feel great.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Kyle Lewellen, Byhalia, Miss., 10 bass, 34-5, $5,690
2nd: Roger Stegall, Iuka, Miss., 10 bass, 31-3, $2,845
3rd: Michael Wooley, Booneville, Miss., 10 bass, 31-0, $2,097
4th: Jade Keeton, Florence, Ala., 10 bass, 30-15, $1,428
5th: Mark Willins, Collierville, Tenn., 10 bass, 30-14, $1,138
6th: Chris Smalley, Middleton, Tenn., 10 bass, 30-5, $1,043
7th: Nathan Martin, Sheffield, Ala., 10 bass, 29-13, $1,940
8th: Jim Little, Corinth, Miss., 10 bass, 29-4, $853
9th: Sam Moody, Athens, Ala., 10 bass, 29-2, $759
10th: Brandon Perkins, Counce, Tenn., 10 bass, 28-12, $664
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Martin caught a 7-pound, 5-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $742.
Collierville, Tennessee’s John Swords won the Co-angler Division and $2,664 Sunday after catching a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 24 pounds, 2 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: John Swords, Collierville, Tenn., 10 bass, 24-2, $2,664
2nd: Anthony Rasberry, New Albany, Miss., 10 bass, 24-0, $1,532
3rd: Daniel Corkern, Florence, Miss., nine bass, 22-5, $1,089
4th: Yu Han, Memphis, Tenn., nine bass, 21-4, $622
5th: Cody Swinford, Ripley, Miss., 10 bass, 21-3, $533
6th: Sank Payton, Bay Springs, Miss., seven bass, 17-11, $488
7th: Ron Creasy, Florence, Ala., eight bass, 17-10, $444
8th: Joey Tanner, Meridian, Miss., six bass, 17-1, $500
9th: Phil Burnett, Selmer, Tenn., four bass, 13-10, $355
10th: Andrew Brown, Gordo, Ala., six bass, 13-8, $311
Ryan Lecompte of Picayune, Mississippi, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 6 pounds, 15 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $341.
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 Lake Guntersville presented by Mercury Marine in Guntersville, Alabama. 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 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
BRADFORD BEAVERS WINS TWO-DAY T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE EVENT ON LAKE HARTWELL
Polmaria’s McGlohorn Wins Co-angler Division
ANDERSON, S.C. (Sept. 30, 2019) – FLW Tour pro Bradford Beavers of Summerville, South Carolina, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 28 pounds, 1 ounce, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) South Carolina Division super-tournament on Lake Hartwell Sunday. Beavers earned $6,345 for his efforts.
“I was hitting six or seven different areas on the lower end of the lake, just looking for schooling fish that were chasing blueback herring,” said Beavers, a three-time FLW Cup qualifier with more than a quarter of a million dollars in career earnings. “I’m not real familiar with Hartwell, so I don’t know the exact names of the areas I was fishing, but I caught around 10 fish each day.
“It was definitely a timing deal,” Beavers continued. “It was really tough to predict when the bait were coming through, but when we hit it right we really caught them. I just rotated through the spots and waited to get lucky when they were feeding.”
Beavers said that he caught 90% of his fish on a walking topwater bait, but he also added a couple drop-shotting a 6-inch straight tail worm.
“I caught a 5-pounder on the final day with three minutes to go that pretty much won me the tournament,” Beavers went on to say. “That turned out to be the key, for me. I finally got a big one.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Bradford Beavers, Summerville, S.C., 10 bass, 28-1, $4,345 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: John Duarte, Middle River, Md., 10 bass, 27-10, $1,972
3rd: Andy Wicker, Pomaria, S.C., 10 bass, 27-9, $1,297
4th: Deron Johnson, Anderson, S.C., 10 bass, 27-4, $734
5th: Eddie Whiten Jr., Easley, S.C., 10 bass, 24-5, $629
6th: Taylor Ashley, Warrior, Ala., 10 bass, 22-8, $577
7th: Brandt Tumberg, Moore, S.C., 10 bass, 22-2, $524
8th: Ron Brown, Cross, S.C., 10 bass, 19-13, $622
9th: Robbie Harrelson, Moncks Corner, S.C., five bass, 10-12
10th: Matt Redd, Belton, S.C., five bass, 10-10
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Duarte caught a 4-pound, 13-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $300.
Daniel McGlohorn of Polmaria, South Carolina, won the Co-angler Division and $1,772 Sunday after catching a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 18 pounds, 15 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Daniel McGlohorn, Polmaria, S.C., 10 bass, 18-15, $1,772
2nd: Jeremy Montgomery, Overland Park, Kan., 10 bass, 18-9, $936
3rd: Brandon Lawson, Union, S.C., eight bass, 17-5, $575
4th: Mike Jackson, Mount Airy, Ga., six bass, 15-1, $367
5th: Chris Wilson, Easley, S.C., 10 bass, 14-12, $314
6th: Stewart Uldrick, Anderson, S.C., 10 bass, 14-11, $288
7th: Zack Ross, Charleston, S.C., eight bass, 14-3, $262
8th: Harold Addison II, Columbia, S.C., five bass, 8-7, $336
9th: Kevin Henderson, Honea Path, S.C., five bass, 7-14
10th: Brennan Gunther, Mount Pleasant, S.C., five bass, 7-11
Calvin Clatterbuck of Conway, South Carolina, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 4 pounds, 2 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $150.
The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) South Carolina Division super-tournament on Lake Hartwell was hosted by the Anderson Convention and Visitors 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. 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 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
The Paths to the Pro's or no?
This week the boys welcome in former BASS Opens Pro and AC Tournament Team Blogger Luke Estel to gets Luke's take on the 2020 Opens Schedule and to discuss the future of Pro Fishing with the success rates and popularity of local and statewide Team Tournaments.
Canterbury Locks Up Toyota Bassmaster Angler Of The Year Title On Lake St. Clair
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Canterbury Regains AOY Lead With Nice Day 2 Rebound At Lake St. Clair
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Arey’s 3 Tips on Drifting for Smallmouth
Luke Stoner - Dynamic Sponsorships
Team Toyota’s Matt Arey is one of 50 Elite Series anglers who have been braving the inland ocean of Lake St. Clair that serves as the playing field for the Toyota Angler of the Year Championship this week.
High winds, big waves, and drifts have been a consistent talking point throughout practice for the anglers and that theme has continued today for day number one of competition. Arey is sitting in great position to qualify for his 1st ever Bassmaster Classic next March and graciously offered three tips on drifting for smallmouth bass.
The first tip Arey offered is to avoid using electronics to find fish, specifically on featureless fisheries Lake St Clair. That doesn’t mean Arey ignores his graphs altogether, he just uses them to scan the bottom for grass as opposed to individual bass.
“On Lake St Clair I’m looking for clean, sandy bottom areas around scattered grass,” Arey explained. “This week the ideal depth for me has been 14 to 20-feet of water and I want to see patches of grass mixed in with areas of clean bottom. After you find the right type of cover, it comes down to getting on the trolling motor and fishing to find out what lives there.”
The time of the year and water temperature dictates what depth range Arey spends the majority of his time in, but scattered grass and sand has been a key in every trip he’s made to the “sixth Great Lake”.
When the wind is howling and the waves are rolling like they have this week, Arey would rather spend his time casting in opportune locations as opposed to looking at his electronics.
Once Arey has found a potential area he employs both reactionary-type search baits and a “clean up” presentationthroughout his drifts.
“I like to start my drifts with a search bait like a crankbaitor swimbait to cover as much water as possible,” Arey said. “Smallmouth are sight feeders and will often come a long ways to eat a lure, especially if the sun is shining. If I’m struggling to get fish to commit to a moving bait I will go back through an area with a tube jig or a dropshot to mop up any fish I missed.”
The weather conditions play a big role in what kind of presentation Arey uses while making these long drifts. High winds throughout the entirety of practice for the 2019 Toyota Angler of the Year Championship led to a search bait being key for Arey; simply because it’s difficult to feel subtle bites with a bottom bait while bouncing in big waves.
“When I get a bite or catch a bass with a crankbait or a jerkbait I’ll quickly drop a waypoint on my graph,” Areysaid. “Truth be told finding smallmouth can be kind of random on St. Clair, but they definitely group up in little wads. The hope is you can run back to those waypoints and catch several fish in a small area. Dragging a dropshot or tube is ideal in this scenario if the conditions allow.”
One last tip Arey gave specific to drifting for bass is to pay very close attention to how fast, or how slow your boat is moving.
“Drift speed is super key on Lake St. Clair,” Arey admitted. “The wind and the current changes your speed depending on the conditions and where you are fishing, but a 1mph change can be a big difference. Be conscious of that.”
Arey explained it is hard to consistently slow a drift down using only a trolling motor, but drift socks or Power Pole Drift Paddles are excellent tools for controlling the speed of a drift. Judging by the weather report this week, Arey may need to use both if he is to have any kind of control over the ever-present wind.
Zaldain Moves Into AOY Lead With Solid Day On Lake St. Clair
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FLW ANNOUNCES KENTUCKY LAKE AS VENUE FOR 2019 BFL WILD CARD TOURNAMENT
BENTON, Ky. (Sept. 29, 2019) – Fishing League Worldwide, the world’s largest tournament fishing organization, announced Sunday that the 2019 T-H Marine BFL Wild Card tournament will take place on Kentucky Lake in Gilbertsville, Kentucky, Nov. 8-9. The two-day event, hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, will launch from the Kentucky Dam Marina in Gilbertsville.
In order to be eligible to fish the no-entry-fee BFL Wild Card, anglers must have entered all five events within a BFL division during the 2019 season and fished at least two of them. In addition, anglers who fish in a regular BFL regional tournament are ineligible.
“We’re extremely excited to bring one of our favorite events of the year – the BFL Wild Card – to FLW’s home waters of Kentucky Lake,” said Daniel Fennel, BFL Director of Tournament Operations. “The lake has faced some challenges over the past few years, but we are starting to see some very positive changes due to the efforts to combat Asian carp. We are seeing a lot of short fish and baitfish for the first time in a few years. At a recent two-day BFL super-tournament we saw a 16-pound limit and a 7-pound, 2-ounce big bass. I expect we’ll see quite a few quality fish caught, and the anglers will have a competitive tournament.”
Anglers will take off from the Kentucky Dam Marina, located at 466 Marina Drive, in Gilbertsville at 7 a.m. CDT each day of competition. The weigh-ins will be held each day at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. All takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
During the BFL Wild Card, the full field competes both days, with winners determined by the heaviest two-day catch. The top six boaters and top six co-anglers will advance to the 2020 T-H Marine BFL All-American, held on Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, April 30-May 2, hosted by Visit Anderson.
An optional pot is available to anglers who elect to participate at the BFL Wild Card tournament. Entry fees for the optional pot is $300 for boaters and $150 for co-anglers, with the top 20 percent of anglers who elect to participate in the optional pot receiving checks. There will be no official practice period or off-limits period prior to the pretournament meeting for the Wild Card. No contestant may be on tournament waters for the purpose of locating bass or potential fishing waters after the start of the pretournament meeting except during tournament hours.
Entry for the BFL Wild Card is now open and runs through Thursday, November 7, 2019, at 6 p.m. CDT. You may enter by phone on or before Wednesday, November 6, at 270.252.1000. Entries on November 7 will be taken onsite at the pretournament meeting at Kentucky Dam Marina.
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.
WALNUT CREEK’S DYER GOES WIRE-TO-WIRE, WINS COSTA FLW SERIES TOURNAMENT AT CALIFORNIA DELTA
Second-Year FLW Series Pro Earns First Career Victory – and $31,114
BETHEL ISLAND, Calif. (Sept. 28, 2019) – Pro Blake Dyer of Walnut Creek, California, caught a five-bass limit Saturday weighing 15 pounds, 8 ounces, to win the three-day Costa FLW Series on the California Delta presented by Power-Pole.
Dyer’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 62 pounds, 13 ounces was enough to earn him the victory by a 1-pound, 9-ounce margin over second-place pro Jason Borofka of Salina, California, and earn him the top prize of $31,114. The tournament was the third and final regular-season tournament of the year for anglers competing in the Costa FLW Series Western Division.
Dyer weighed in a monster 27-pound, 3-ounce limit on Day One of the tournament, catching all of his fish punching grass with a green-pumpkin-colored Reaction Innovations Spicy Beaver and a 1½-ounce weight. He said that most of his damage was done pretty early in the morning.
“I had what I had by about 9:45 in the morning,” Dyer said. “On the first stretch I went to, I caught two big ones. I think the biggest one was close to 7 and then another one over 5.
“I went to another little stretch not far away and, on my first cast, I caught a 5-pounder there. I went to the next stretch and caught two small fish, then I went to the backside of that spot and caught two more over 5.”
Cooler weather and steady winds forced Dyer and many others to adjust on day two. Dyer skipped one of his starting spots because the wind had blown the mat he intended to fish completely away.
“At my second spot it was blowing and I tried to punch those mats, but I just wasn’t getting through because the wind really compacts those mats,” Dyer said. “I didn’t want to waste any more time and lose the tide down in my south spot, so I ran to a tule island and caught a 2-pounder on a Senko and then booked it down south to my main spot.”
His southern area was considerably more protected, and he alternated between fishing a vibrating jig in the open areas and punching the mats.
“That spot salvaged my day,” Dyer said. “I punched one that was almost 4 pounds, I caught one that was almost 5 pounds on a ChatterBait and then filled out my limit.”
Carrying the momentum of two big catches into the final round, Dyer started day three by returning to the Central Delta Slough where he had done most of his previous work. He actually had a different starting spot on days one and two, but his best area sees a lot of waterski and wakeboard activity on the weekends, so he decided to beat the rush.
With the exception of a few locals, who graciously gave him a wide berth, Dyer had the spot to himself. Despite the week’s cold front, which cranked up winds of 15-20 mph and dropped air temperatures a good 20 degrees from day one, his fish started biting in short order — but only after a key adjustment.
“I noticed the grass was flowing the opposite direction and I was going too fast, so I gunned it to the other end of the slough, turned around and started fishing the other direction so my bait was in the current, where the fish are looking up,” Dyer said. “Fish tend to point into the current so they see what’s coming at them. If you’re going the other way, they don’t have a chance to see it.
“My first cast, I catch a 3-pounder and then 10 minutes later, I catch a 6-pounder that made all the difference and won the tournament.”
The top 10 pros on the California Delta finished:
1st: Blake Dyer, Walnut Creek, Calif., 15 bass, 62-13, $31,114
2nd: Jason Borofka, Salinas, Calif., 15 bass, 61-4, $13,579
3rd: Austin Wilson, Citrus Heights, Calif., 15 bass, 57-0, $9,274
4th: Nick Nourot, Benicia, Calif., 15 bass, 55-4, $7,728
5th: Mike Birch, Oakley, Calif., 15 bass, 53-13, $6,956
6th: John Pearl, Upper Lake, Calif., 15 bass, 50-5, $6,183
7th: Michael Fong, Sacramento, Calif., 15 bass, 49-5, $5,410
8th: Stephen Tosh Jr., Modesto, Calif., 15 bass, 48-2, $5,833
9th: Phillip Dutra, Concord, Calif., 15 bass, 47-3, $3,864
10th: Jamond Andrews, Oakley, Calif., 15 bass, 46-1, $3,091
A complete list of results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Mark Daniels Jr. of Tuskegee, Alabama, weighed in a big 8-pound, 13-ounce bass Thursday – the heaviest of the tournament in the Pro Division – and also earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $196.
Jack Farage of Discovery Bay, California, won the Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 37 pounds, 2 ounces. For his win, Farage took home the top prize package of a new Ranger Z175 boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor, worth $27,100.
The top 10 co-anglers on the California Delta finished:
1st: Jack Farage, Discovery Bay, Calif., 15 bass, 37-2, $27,100
2nd: Cesar Laguna, Galt, Calif., 15 bass, 36-9, $4,194
3rd: Travis Williams, Bethel Island, Calif., 15 bass, 35-3, $3,301
4th: Justin Hurney, Oakley, Calif., 14 bass, 33-4, $2,845
5th: Casey Dunn, North Highlands, Calif., 15 bass, 32-1 $2,819
6th: Daniel Lutz, Las Vegas, Nev., 15 bass, 31-7, $2,032
7th: Bryan Lutz, Clearlake Oaks, Calif., 15 bass, 30-5, $1,626
8th: Blaine Christiansen, San Jose, Calif., 14 bass, 27-8, $1,423
9th: Tony Zanotelli, Redding, Calif., 15 bass, 27-8, $1,219
10th: Claudio Silva, Riverbank, Calif., 11 bass, 23-3, $1,016
Laguna caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Friday, a fish weighing 7 pounds, 12 ounces. He earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $130.
The Costa FLW Series on the California Delta presented by Power-Pole was hosted by Russo’s Marina and the Sugar Barge RV Resort & Marina. It was the third and final tournament in the 2019 regular season for Western Division anglers. The next tournament for FLW Series anglers will also be in the Southwestern Division, the Costa FLW Series at Grand Lake presented by T-H Marine, held Oct. 3-5 in Grove, Oklahoma. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.
The Costa FLW Series consists of five U.S. divisions – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western – along with the International division. Each U.S. division consists of three regular-season tournaments with competitors vying for valuable points that could earn them the opportunity to compete in the season-ending Costa FLW Series Championship. The 2019 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Oct. 31 – Nov. 2 on Lake Cumberland in Burnside, Kentucky.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Costa FLW Series on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Arey, Pipkens, and Lester preview St. Clair Elite Series
Alan McGuckin - Dynamic Sponsorships
Toyota Tundra driving pros Matt Arey, Chad Pipkens, and Brandon Lester took a break from the college football game being shown on the back of the “Tailgate Tundra” at Fan Appreciation Day to preview the Bassmaster Elite Series event on Lake St. Clair that kicks-off Sunday.
Q: Big musky and sturgeon swim in Lake St. Clair. What’s the biggest fish of any species you’ve caught in practice?
Arey: a 4 pound 12 ounce Smallmouth
Pipkens: a 38” Northern Pike
Lester: a 20-pound Channel Catfish on a drop shot
Q: Other than a drop shot and a plastic tube, name two lures every bass angler needs to bring to St. Clair.
Arey: a medium depth crankbait, and a jerkbait.
Pipkens: a Damiki DC 300 crankbait, and a jerkbait.
Lester: a mid depth crankbait, and a jerkbait.
Q: Bassmaster Elite Series winners here in recent years have averaged 21 pounds a day on St. Clair. Do you expect catches to be equally as awesome this year?
Arey: Yes – just about exactly that good.
Pipkens: Yes – it’ll take around 65 pounds to win this 3-day event.
Lester: Yes – at least 21 pounds a day to win for sure.
Q: This is the last Elite Series event of the 2019 season, looking back, what moment or day means the most to you?
Arey: The final day at Guntersville. But unfortunately, not in a good way. I made fish landing mistakes that let a $100,000 win slip through my hands.
Pipkens: Day 2 at Lake Fork. I was leading after Day 1, and backed it up with a 30 pound 15 ounce limit on Day 2.
Lester: Day 2 at Lake Tenkiller last week in Oklahoma. I’m really proud of the fact that in such a tough event I kept grinding to catch 13 pounds. I went from 40th place to eventually finish 11th, and jumped four places in the Toyota Angler of the Year points.
Q: What are you most looking forward to when the season ends in a few days?
Arey: Spending time with my family, and time in a treestand deer hunting.
Pipkens: Tailgating with my wife and friends at Michigan State football games.
Lester: Spending time with my wife and two daughters, and deer hunting.
Tyler Rivet’s Rookie Season Rally
Luke Stoner - Dynamic Sponsorships
Bassmaster Elites Series rookie Tyler Rivet is hoping to end the 2019 season on a high note this week on beautiful but intimidating, Lake St. Clair. Rivet is coming into the AOY Championship in 41st place on the Toyota Angler of the Year standings – just barely inside the cut to qualify for his 1st Bassmaster Classic in March of 2020.
The amicable Louisiana native is much more comfortable fishing shallow water for largemouth as opposed to searching for smallmouth in the ocean-like waters of Lake St. Clair. But he knows he’ll need to hold or improve his position in the AOY points race to secure a Classic berth, which is why he is hunting smallies this week.
“I won’t lie, I’ve looked to the bank and thought about largemouth quite a few times while smashing through big waves during practice,” Rivet joked. “But I know I can’t bunt in this tournament; I have to fish to finish the highest I possibly can. I have to fish to win.”
Having his back up against the wall isn’t a new prospect for Rivet. A week ago on Lake Tenkiller, Rivet was merely hoping to qualify to fish this event. The former Carhartt College B.A.S.S. standout was in 50th place in the AOY rankings to begin the final regular season Elite Series tournament of the year. After stumbling on day one – only brining three keeper bass to the scales – Rivet knew his chances of qualifying to compete in the AOY Championship were slim.
But Rivet came out swinging on day two and sacked up one of the biggest limits of the tournament on a fickle Lake Tenkiller, including a 5+ pound largemouth that took big bass of the day honors. Ultimately finishing the event in 18thplace, which raised his AOY stock to 41st place.
With his AOY Championship position locked in place, the brand new Toyota Bonus Bucks participant hopped in his Tundra to make the 20-hour trek to Michigan with dreams of giant smallmouth.
Sounds like a storybook, “buzzer beater” finish for Rivet to qualify for his first Classic and keep a childhood dream alive, right? Well it certainly was… the only problem is now he must do it again against the top 50 Elite Series anglers of the 2019 season this week. And he’ll have to do it on an unfamiliar fishery full of new challenges and opportunities.
“This is about as different from fishing in the backwater bayous of Louisiana as it can get,” Rivet said with a quick smile. “I’ve never fished on a lake like this and had never driven in waves as big as I was in yesterday. I’m talking like five or six footers. I was thanking God I was driving a Phoenix 721 Bass Boat as I was rolling through those waves.”
Rivet traded his flipping stick for a spinning rod and butt-seat on the front deck of his boat to fight the high winds, rolling waves, and hopefully plenty of big brown bass this week. While it’s not exactly his specialty, Rivet isn’t afraid to out work the water and step outside his comfort zone to chase down his dreams on Lake St. Clair.
“I actually like smallmouth fishing and believe it or not I love fishing with a dropshot,” Rivet said. “I had to learn how to fish a dropshot while fishing in college. The Carhartt College Bassmaster Series goes to diverse fisheries all over the country; being diverse and working hard were necessities in college just like they are on the Elite Series. Those qualities have served me well in the past and hopefully they’ll help me out this week, too.”
T-H MARINE ADDS PROP STOP® TO THE PROP MASTER® PRODUCT LINE
Huntsville, AL – September 18, 2019 – T-H Marine Supplies, Inc., of Huntsville, Alabama, has added a new product to their PROP MASTER® line: the PROP MASTER® PROPELLER STOP. By design, the PROPELLER STOP, or PROP STOP® for short, makes the process of changing props significantly easier and safer. The PROP STOP® works simply by sliding it onto the cavitation plate, where it securely chocks the propeller and gently keeps the blades in place during propeller removal and installation. The prop nut can then be torqued loose or tight depending on whether the PROP STOP® is slid to the left side or right side of the cavitation plate.
“When designing the PROP STOP®, our team did an excellent job making it effective while also making sure it was simple to use and affordable, too,” said T-H Marine President and CEO, Jeff Huntley. “Whether you are an experienced mechanic or a weekend boater, the PROP STOP® is a must-have so each prop change is easier and safer.”
Following the example of the PROP MASTER® Propeller Wrench, T-H Marine made the PROP STOP® to be non-corrosive in saltwater environments and brightly colored for greater visibility. Additionally, T-H Marine builds both the Prop Master® Propeller Wrench and the PROP STOP® with quality materials that are both strong enough to get the job done and forgiving enough to reduce potential harm to your hands and your prop.
To use the PROP STOP®, T-H Marine advises consumers to turn off the ignition or disconnect the battery, position the PROP STOP® center with the propeller blade tip, slide it onto the right side of the cavitation plate for propeller removal, and slide the PROP STOP® to the left side for propeller installation.
The new and improved PROP STOP® is now available online and will also be available through a variety of retailers. With distribution and sales in full swing, boaters can expect to see increased availability and information from their choice of retailers, online stores, or directly from T-H Marine at thmarine.com/propstop.
For More Information About the PROP MASTER® PROP STOP® Propeller Chock
For additional information about the new PROP MASTER® PROP STOP® Propeller Chock and other outboard motor products, please visit us at thmarine.com/OutboardGear
2 lures Keith Combs highly recommends for Lake St. Clair
Alan McGuckin - Dynamic Sponsorships
Even my retired neighbor who doesn’t fish probably knows Lake St. Clair smallmouth eat soft plastic tubes and drop shot rigs. But believe it or not, bass eat other lures on St. Clair too – including swimbaits and crankbaits, according to longtime Toyota Bonus Bucks member Keith Combs.
And look, just because Combs is best known for dredging up 40 pound limits of largemouth from legendary ponds like Lake Fork and Falcon, doesn’t mean he’s not dialed-in on how to score at St. Clair. The East Texas resident has notched two Top 5s in tour level events on the famous circular shaped fishery near Detroit.
“The Strike King 6XD is an awesome search bait on St. Clair anytime you’re in 17 to 19 feet of water. I crank it over the “short grass” growing about a foot off the bottom, and when I catch one, I drop a waypoint and just fan cast it around that waypoint,” says Combs.
Just about every small town around Lake St. Clair has a restaurant or pub that’s famous for serving up yellow perch. The locals, as well as visiting B.A.S.S. staff members, eat the tiny succulent filets with the same tenacity smallmouth gobble them whole out on the lake.
So no surprise, Combs’ favorite 6XD color is “sugar daddy” – painted to look just like a snack-sized perch. He ties it to 15-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon line.
Combs says halibut is actually his favorite fish to eat, and when he’s fishing a bit shallower on St. Clair, he reaches for a 3.8” Strike King Rage Swimmer on a ½ ounce Squadron head. He ties his tiny swimbaits to 15-pound line too.
“This is the lure I throw a lot on St. Clair in 12 feet of water or less. I like to let it fall almost to the bottom before I start retrieving it. It’s just super versatile,” says the 43-year-old Dallas Cowboys fan.
So if you’re headed to St. Clair, take a lesson from a highly accomplished Texan – pack some crankbaits and swimbaits to go along with your tubes and drop shots. And if you wouldn’t mind, just for the heck of it, share Combs’ advice with my retired neighbor who doesn’t fish too.
Sportsmans Product Spotlight with Justin Lucas - Berkley Fishing
JLuc talks about the new Berkley Swing Head and New Shaky Head from Berkley Fishing and their Fusion 19 line.
The scariest thing about Lake St. Clair
Alan McGuckin - Dynamic Sponsorships
According to his mom, Team Toyota’s Brandon Lester always wanted to be a clown for Halloween. “But get this, he was scared to death of clowns. We took him to the circus, sat in the front row, and when the clowns came to see him, he screamed bloody murder,” says Lester’s mom, Kim.
It’s not just clowns. Lester’s wife says he hates haunted houses too. And while huge plastic spiders don’t scare him, big waves on large bodies of water like St. Clair, Erie, and Toledo Bend rival clowns and spooky houses for the good natured pro from the Tennessee-Alabama border.
“The scariest thing about Lake St. Clair is absolutely 100-percent the wind and the big waves,” says Lester. “I’ve been a full time pro for six years, and big waves still scare the heck out of me.”
Unfortunately, practice is playing out like a bad combination of “Poltergeist” and “The Conjuring” this week on St. Clair, as winds screamed up to 30 mph from the southwest on Wednesday, and switched to 20 mph from the west on Thursday.
“I hide in the St. Clair River,” grins Lester. “It’s obviously way more protected than the main lake, and it’s a place where winning stringers of smallmouth live. Chris Lane proved that in 2013, and other guys caught ‘em good in the river too.”
Lester sits 6th overall in the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year points, so he’s a lock for the 2020 Bassmaster Classic. And while it’d take a small miracle for him to steal the AOY title this week, he can pretty much just relax and fish freely with hopes of earning a slightly fatter paycheck.
When asked if he takes any extra precautions for riding big waves, Lester says he only adds extra rod straps to prevent his custom Mud Hole sticks from jumping overboard, but he doesn’t carry an extra bilge pump like some anglers do.
“I took a big wave over the bow on Toledo Bend one time that filled the boat up with water. Because down there, you pretty much have to stay in the buoyed boat lanes to avoid hitting underwater timber. So you’re really restricted on your ability to drive the direction you need to in order to avoid the big waves – and that lake can get nasty!” warns Lester.
“The thing that really frustrates me is it always seems like the guys who are daring enough to make those long runs in big waves like St. Clair and Erie, are the ones who win or do really well. And man, I just can’t make myself do that,” says Lester shaking his head.
Turkey hunting, custom rod building, beach trips with family, or a big plate of spaghetti – Lester loves that stuff. Plastic spiders are okay too. Just don’t ask him to hang out with a scary clown at a haunted house or to run his trusty Phoenix through ocean like waves.
Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens Schedule, Format Revealed For 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2019
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Next year’s tournament schedule continues to take shape, as B.A.S.S. officials announced the 2020 Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens schedule on Thursday.
The schedule will once again feature four events in two divisions — Eastern and Central — with the winners of each event earning an automatic berth into the 2021 Bassmaster Classic, provided he or she has fished all four events in that division.
The Top 4 anglers from each division’s final points standings will receive an invitation to fish the 2021 Bassmaster Elite Series. But as a new addition, Elite Series invitations will also be extended to the Top 4 anglers from the cumulative standings for both divisions.
That means 12 competitors can earn a chance to pursue their dreams as Elite anglers.
“The Opens have always been about opportunity, and there are more opportunities available this year,” said B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin. “Not only do we feel like we have a great lineup of lakes in each division, we’re excited about the idea that 12 anglers could have their lives changed by finishing strongly in these events.”
The schedule for the Eastern Division will begin in Kissimmee, Fla., at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes on Jan. 15-17. Then the trail will wind its way North with trips to Cherokee Lake in Jefferson County, Tenn., on May 7-9 and Oneida Lake in Syracuse, N.Y., on Aug. 6-8.
The Eastern Division points race and the Elite Series berths that go with it will be decided at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, S.C. — site of three previous Bassmaster Classics and six major B.A.S.S. events — on Sept. 24-26.
“When you think about the Eastern Division side of the schedule — Florida in January, trips to awesome fisheries like Cherokee and Oneida where B.A.S.S. has had some great events and a finish at Hartwell, which is deeply entrenched in B.A.S.S. history — it’s hard not to be excited,” said Chris Bowes, tournament director for the Bassmaster Opens. “That’s a slate that will give anglers a chance to prove themselves — and one that fans across the country will be able to appreciate, I’m sure.”
To accommodate cooler geographic temperatures, the Central Division will begin its slate later in the year, with its season-opening event on Lewisville Lake in Lewisville, Texas, on April 9-11. Lewisville has been the site of major B.A.S.S. events only three times and hasn’t hosted an Open since 2012.
After Lewisville, the Central Division will visit Neely Henry Lake in Gadsden, Ala., on May 21-23, the Arkansas River in Muskogee, Okla., on June 18-20 and the giant-bass haven that is Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Jasper, Texas, on Sept. 10-12. The City of Jasper will serve as the local host for the Sam Rayburn event.
“The Central slate offers a fantastic variety of fisheries,” Bowes said. “Lewisville is an urban fishery that’s located right outside of Dallas. Then you have Neely Henry, a classic Coosa River fishery known for big spotted bass, the Arkansas River, which offers about every kind of structure you can imagine, and a September finish at Sam Rayburn — a place we know is capable of producing 30-pound limits.”
The payout per event will be $250,400 (based on a field of 150 anglers), giving the eight-event circuit a total payout of just over $2 million. Seven of the eight tournaments on this year’s Opens schedule topped the 150-angler mark, with five easily topping 200.
As in the past, the full field will fish the first two days, with only the Top 12 pros and co-anglers advancing to the final round. All final-round weigh-ins will be held at the nearest Bass Pro Shops location, except for at the final Central Division event at Sam Rayburn.
For the first time since 2013, entry fees will increase on the Opens circuit. Pro anglers will pay $1,800 per event with an $800 deposit due up front, while co-anglers will pay $475 per event with a $200 deposit.
Entry for pro and co-angler linking will begin online Oct. 29 for B.A.S.S Nation and Life members and B.A.S.S. members Oct. 31. The Top 30 pros and co-anglers from each Opens division standings in 2019 will receive early entry, as well as current Elite Series pros and B.A.S.S. Nation Championship qualifiers. Any former Elite anglers who are interested in fishing the 2020 Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens should contact Chris Bowes at [email protected] before Oct. 8 for registration instructions.
“You’re talking eight events from mid-January to late September with trips to some of the best fisheries in the country,” Bowes said. “I’m sure a lot of anglers will agree with me when I say I wish it all started tomorrow.”
2020 Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens Schedule
Eastern Division:
Jan. 15-17, Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, Kissimmee, Fla.
May 7-9, Cherokee Lake, Jefferson County, Tenn.
Aug. 6-8, Oneida Lake, Syracuse, N.Y.
Sept. 24-26, Lake Hartwell, Anderson, S.C.
Central Division:
April 9-11, Lewisville Lake, Lewisville, Texas
May 21-23, Neely Henry Lake, Gadsden, Ala.
June 18-20, Arkansas River, Muskogee, Okla.
Sept. 10-12, Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Jasper, Texas
Cliff Prince on the bubble with a heavy heart
Alan McGuckin - Dynamic Sponsorships
If you’re thinking about becoming a professional bass angler, you might want to talk to Palatka, Florida’s kind-hearted Cliff Prince first.
The longtime Toyota Bonus Bucks member has been a full time pro for eight years. He’s made a couple of Bassmaster Classics, and won some good money along the way. But this week on Lake St. Clair is the kind that confronts a grown man’s soul and puts tear drops atop his spinning reel as he battles non-stop 20 mph winds from sunrise till dark.
Prince is one of this week’s “bubble guys” at the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship. The projected cut to make the 2020 Bassmaster Classic is around 42nd in the Angler of the Year points – and he currently sits 40th. By his estimation, he really needs to finish 25th or better on St. Clair to make sure he earns a ticket to his third big dance.
That ain’t easy, and to put a little more pressure in the cooker, his 78-year-old dad, who battles Parkinson’s disease, is hospitalized with a fever, and fighting for his life 15 hours away in a Gainesville, Florida hospital.
“I drove from the last Elite Series event at Tenkiller, OK to Detroit. Left my truck and boat here at St. Clair, and jumped on a flight home to see Dad. But I missed a connection in Atlanta, so I rented a car and drove from Atlanta to Gainesville and spent all the time I could with him. Then I flew back up here to grab my boat and get ready for practice this week,” says Prince. “And I’m not going to lie … I cried more than once today thinking about him while I was practicing.”
Long before he took on pro angling, Prince was an accomplished regional rodeo cowboy, and this year has been as up and down as a steer-roping contest. He started the year with a strong 17th place finish on the St. Johns River in his hometown, and book-ended it with a late season Top 10 at Cayuga, NY last month. But Lake Lanier in February is the one he’d like to have back.
“I’m super frustrated that I’m on the bubble here at the end of the year. I zeroed the first day at Lake Lanier, and what makes it hurt even worse is that on the second day at Lanier I caught one of the biggest bags of the daythrowing a shallow crankbait. I should have done what I knew to do the first day, and not second guessed myself,” he laments.
Consistency will be hugely important for Prince this week on St. Clair too. In 2015 and 2017, he finished right in the middle of the pack here. And he blames it on inconsistency.
“These guys I’m competing against are too good. You can’t have a 17-pound day here. That’s a bad day on St. Clair, and it’ll kill you. You have to have 19, 20, 21 pound bags every day here. I’ve done that many times. I just haven’t done it three or four days in a row here. And that’s what it takes,” says Prince, who loves sharing life with his bride Kelley and their two children.
He wishes he could be sharing time with family this week too. But instead, he’s 1,100 miles away trying to end up on the right side of the bubble. Fighting to make his third Bassmaster Classic. Fishing through alligator tears and a boatload of emotions, all in an effort to lasso a dream and make his dad proud.
"Fear My Heart" - Elite Series Champ Carl Jocumsen
The boys are excited to welcome in the newest Bassmaster Elite Series Champ, The "Tenkiller Killer," Carl Jocumsen to the show to talk about his win and what it means to him to capture this victory on his 35th birthday and just 2 weeks before marrying his best friend. Check it out!
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“Enjoy the Sunrise.”
Vance McCullough photo courtesy go FLWFishing.com
That’s Terry Bolton’s advice for anyone who wants to perform better, to perform from a place of relaxed confidence, of gratitude.
It’s the mindset that lead to a breakthrough season for the veteran FLW Tour angler who was seriously thinking 2019 might have been his last year on the Tour.
“I think it kind of seems odd for a guy who has done this for 24 years to say he’s forgotten how to have fun, but I kinda, sorta did. I took for granted a lot of things too, how lucky I’ve been to do this for so long, and I made fishing a job.
“The 2018 season, I just went through the motions. I had one of the worst years, if not the worst year, I’d ever had in my career. At the end of the season - when you don’t do well you critique everything - I didn’t really feel like I gave my best effort.
“Starting this season at the Sam Rayburn event, for some reason I had almost the mentality that ‘hey, this is probably going to be my final season and I’m going to enjoy every sunrise and sunset, everything there is about this because I got to do this for a long time’. I just kind of, I guess, relaxed more instead of being in such a hurry and a panic like I was the previous season.
“I just enjoyed things more,” Bolton summarized.
Remembering why he loved the game in the first place gave Bolton the fresh perspective he needed. “The reason we get into bass tournaments is we really enjoy it. You don’t start fishing professionally because you think you’re going to be wealthy. That’s hard to do. The reason you do it is because you love it and enjoy it. For some reason, I had lost that somewhat. This season I did a really great job of bringing that back and just having a more carefree attitude.”
Bolton has no intention of retiring from the sport any time soon. “Oh no, no. I’ve stated that I want to fish another year. I’ve ordered a new boat. I’ve started all the processes to fish the 2020 season.”
He says uncertainty and burnout are very real, very common enemies of many Tour-level anglers. “I’ve said this jokingly, but any professional fisherman that’s fished for any length of time, especially in the 15-to-20-year range, if they ever tell you they never thought about quitting, they’re lying.”
Bolton has never actually desired to leave the sport. “I think when I stated that I had considered not fishing professionally, 100,000 people came up to my wife and said, ‘you’re not gonna let him quit!’ I guess people thought that I wanted to quit. That’s not the case. I intend on fishing 2020 season next year.”
External factors a few years back caught up with Bolton and zapped a lot of his enjoyment, culminating in the unsatisfactory finish in 2018. “I don’t care what you do for a living, there are times when life gets in the way. Things are hard. I went through a divorce and my father dying all within a year about four or five years ago. I had to worry about taking care of my mother and a lot of things from the divorce and that took a lot of fun out of life.”
While Bolton says the divorce was bad enough to deal with, the loss of his father dealt a huge blow to the personal support system we all need. “The death of my father was the hardest thing. He was the person that, as soon as I weighed-in, I talked to on the phone. He was the person I talked to every day after weigh in. The years following his passing, I missed that.”
Aside from the heartache of losing his father, Bolton took on additional worries. “My mom is in good health and everything is fine, but I worry about my mom and I had a little more on my plate.
“That’s life. That’s what happens every day to thousands of people, and even worse, but that’s all just part of it.”
Bolton’s new approach this year led to some early success which, in turn, bred the confidence to continue to fish relaxed. He can count a few blessings right off the top of his head, “the 9-pounder at Rayburn I caught, the 9-pounder at Toho. I caught another, probably 7-pounder at Seminole. There were a lot of fish I caught that I shouldn’t have caught.”
Perhaps the power of positive thinking contributed just a bit more fortune in a sport where the margin between success and failure is often razor-thin. “Everybody who’s done this for a while can tell you that it can come down to one or two bites in a year as to whether or not you make the Cup, a Bassmaster Classic, whatever championship you’re fishing for. The difference between having a good year and a great year can come down to three or four bites. I had a lot of things go my way this year, some key bites and things that I know were really special, and that’s big too because I’ve been on the other end where you never get an opportunity. This year when I needed a big bite it seemed like I’d get it.
“I think I’ve finally learned to trust a little more in my ability - that I do make good decisions. I didn’t second guess myself near as much.”
Bolton points to the FLW Tour opener on Rayburn as an example of the improved decision-making that took place in his now quieter mind. “Winning the first event, knowing what I needed to do before I got to that event, knowing the lures I needed to throw in order to win and sticking to that plan even though I’d fish all day long and sometimes only find one place, one or two a day, I had the confidence to stick with it where a lot of people, if you’d have done that for four hours and not had a bite, you’d have said, ‘oh, I’m gonna go flip trees or throw a spinnerbait’. I didn’t do that.”
“I think decision-making is ultimately what decides the outcome of most tournaments,” Bolton reiterated. “This year I had a lot more faith in my decision-making.”
Bolton’s gut only led him off track for a single day across the entire tournament trail. “That was the first day of the FLW Cup at Lake Hamilton where I only weighed four fish for 6 pounds, and 3 or 4 ounces. I had gotten on such a good crankbait bite throwing a DT 10 and I got so committed to that pattern feeling that was the way to win, and Bryan Thrift did catch several of his key fish on a crankbait, so I wasn’t off base but I couldn’t make it happen and I kept forcing it. I didn’t do well the first day so the 2nd day I called an audible and went and threw a buzzbait and caught the 2ndor 3rd biggest stringer of the day to go from 44th to 19th but that one day of me being a little too hard headed and sticking to my guns and only catching four bass might have cost me fishing the final day at the Cup. That’s the only day I can critique my decision-making this year.”
Bolton says anglers tend to perform better in practice because they are fishing the moment without strong notions of what to expect. He says we’d do well to fish with a similar mindset even under the pressures of a tournament day. “On the day they were practicing they had no clue so they let things flow a little easier and then come tournament time you try to recreate that day you had which sometimes happens but 75-to-80-percent of the time it doesn’t unfold just like it did that previous day. I think the ability to just let yourself fish is a trait that takes a little time and a little confidence to develop. It’s almost like a willingness to maybe not do well, but I think a lot of time the greater outcome is you will do better.”
Regardless of the occupation, when someone loses the joy that first attracted them to their chosen profession, Bolton has some encouragement. “You can’t let life get in the way. After you go through some bad things and deal with life and death and sickness and divorce and some things like that, you know that’s pretty serious. Bass fishing’s fun. We’re not going to be here forever, so you’ve got to enjoy the time you have here and look at things as a privilege.
“This year was a phenomenal season. God blessed me and allowed me to have this season and I’m thankful for it. I went through a lot of rough times. I think anybody who’s suffering from the doldrums, when you get up in the morning, take a few more minutes to enjoy the sunrise and look and see how pretty it is and don’t let life get in the way so much – all the things you’ve got coming down the road later in that day, don’t let that get in the way of enjoying the things we
HOYLE WINS TWO-DAY T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE EVENT ON LAKE NORMAN
King’s Mountain’s Brafford Wins Co-angler Division
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Sept. 23, 2019) – Boater Cody Hoyle of Rutherfordton, North Carolina, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 26 pounds, 1 ounce, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) North Carolina Division super-tournament on Lake Norman Sunday. Hoyle earned $6,896 for his efforts.
“I was hitting 50 to 60 docks a day, fishing in the mid-lake area around Mountain Creek,” said Hoyle, who earned his second career win in BFL competition. “I was looking for deeper docks with brush. The fish are getting into wolf packs, and when I found them I could usually catch multiple fish on each dock.”
Hoyle estimated that he caught 20 to 25 fish a day on a homemade brown and orange-colored jig trailered with a Zoom Z-Craw. He also caught a few keepers drop-shotting a Reaction Innovations Flirt Worm.
“One fish each day came on the drop-shot, the rest came on the jig,” said Hoyle. “The bite was a little better Saturday – I got to fish a little later in the day, and the bite seemed to get better as the day went on.”
Of the 10 bass that Hoyle brought to the weigh-in scale, four were largemouth bass and six were spotted bass.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Cody Hoyle, Rutherfordton, N.C., 10 bass, 26-1, $6,896
2nd: Eddie Whiten Jr., Easley, S.C., 10 bass, 23-5, $2,823
3rd: Cole Huskins, Mount Holly, N.C., nine bass, 22-8, $1,966
4th: Jason Wilson, Lincolnton, N.C., 10 bass, 22-6, $1,271
5th: Scott Beattie, Sherrills Ford, N.C., 10 bass, 22-2, $1,389
6th: David Cooke, Mooresville, N.C., 10 bass, 21-12, $998
7th: Bryan New, Belmont, N.C., 10 bass, 21-2, $908
8th: Chris Baumgardner, Gastonia, N.C., nine bass, 20-2, $817
9th: Michael Stephens, Gastonia, N.C., 10 bass, 19-9, $726
10th: Tracy Adams, Wilkesboro, N.C., 10 bass, 19-1, $635
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Greg Lovelace of Bostic, North Carolina, caught a 3-pound, 11-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $697.
King’s Mountain, North Carolina’s Trey Brafford won the Co-angler Division and $2,923 Sunday after catching a two-day total of nine bass weighing 16 pounds, 8 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Trey Brafford, King’s Mountain, N.C., nine bass, 16-8, $2,923
2nd: Roger Toler, Gilbert, W. Va., five bass, 9-9, $1,361
3rd: Barry Burford, Charlotte, N.C., four bass, 8-4, $958
4th: Larry Farley, Prospect Hill, N.C., four bass, 8-4, $635
5th: Jerry Morris, Charlotte, N.C., five bass, 8-2, $545
6th: Tristen Trull, Mount Holly, N.C., five bass, 7-12, $499
7th: Trent Peace, Spartanburg, S.C., three bass, 7-10, $454
8th: James Roten, West Jefferson, N.C., four bass, 7-6, $408
9th: Jeff Scism, Shelby, N.C., four bass, 7-3, $363
10th: Samuel Jones, Morgantown, W. Va., three bass, 6-13, $318
Charles Wood of Thomasville, North Carolina, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 3 pounds, 10 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $349.
The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) North Carolina Division super-tournament on Lake Norman was hosted by the Mooresville Convention & Visitors 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. 3-5 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Hartwell presented by Navionics in Seneca, South Carolina. 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 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
WAGNER WINS TWO-DAY T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE EVENT ON OLD HICKORY LAKE
Sparta’s England Wins Co-angler Division
GALLATIN, Tenn. (Sept. 23, 2019) – Boater Adam Wagner of Cookeville, Tennessee, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale Sunday weighing 27 pounds, 8 ounces, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Music City Division super-tournament on Old Hickory Lake. Wagner earned $4,949 for his efforts.
“I caught all of my fish up the lake – in Bledsoe and Bartons Creeks – on both days,” said Wagner, who earned his 13th career win as a boater in BFL competition. “I caught around eight keepers each day, flipping a green-pumpkin-colored Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver to scattered wood on flats in the backs of the creeks.”
Wagner managed to get a big kicker bite each day – a 4-pounder on day one, and a 5-pounder on day two – that helped pad his weight.
“There were a couple of boats around me, but I think I was just hitting spots that were tough to hit,” Wagner said. “There would be one little piece of wood on a 3-acre flat, and most people would run right by it. But I would work hard to find these little pieces of wood and there was usually a fish on it.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Adam Wagner, Cookeville, Tenn., 10 bass, 27-8, $4,949
2nd: Mark Condron, Winchester, Tenn., 10 bass, 26-7, $2,915
3rd: Josh Tramel, Smithville, Tenn., 10 bass, 25-4, $1,400
4th: Barry Whitaker, Hartsville, Tenn., 10 bass, 24-0, $875
5th: Mickey Beck, Lebanon, Tenn., 10 bass, 23-9, $750
6th: Jason Dies, Lebanon, Tenn., seven bass, 23-3, $687
7th: Brandon Edel, Hendersonville, Tenn., 10 bass, 22-12, $625
8th: Daniel Johnson, Lebanon, Tenn., 10 bass, 21-10, $562
9th: Joel Trevino, Mount Juliet, Tenn., 10 bass, 20-3, $500
10th: Tony Eckler, Lebanon, Tenn., seven bass, 16-6, $437
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Condron caught a 5-pound, 13-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $390.
Sparta, Tennessee’s Ricky England won the Co-angler Division and $2,075 Sunday after catching a two-day total of six bass weighing 12 pounds, 6 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Ricky England, Sparta, Tenn., six bass, 12-6, $2,075
2nd: Teddy Baggett, Nashville, Tenn., eight bass, 12-2, $937
3rd: Rene Gonzalez, Smyrna, Tenn., five bass, 11-0, $675
4th: Donnie Rogers, Lebanon, Tenn., four bass, 10-2, $437
5th: Darryl Humphrey, Murfreesboro, Tenn., five bass, 9-2, $375
6th: Scott Marshall, Lebanon, Tenn., four bass, 9-1, $539
7th: Justin Kimmel, Athens, Ga., four bass, 7-13, $462
8th: Scott Smith, Crossville, Tenn., five bass, 7-12, $281
9th: Robert Henze, La Vergne, Tenn., three bass, 6-6, $250
10th: Jason Barr, Woodlawn, Tenn., three bass, 4-12, $319
Marshall caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 3 pounds, 10 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $195.
The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Music City Division super-tournament on Old Hickory Lake was hosted by the Sumner County Convention & Visitors 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. 3-5 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Hartwell presented by Navionics in Seneca, South Carolina. 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 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
RHODE WINS TWO-DAY T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE EVENT ON DETROIT RIVER
Itoh Wins Co-angler Division
TRENTON, Mich. (Sept. 23, 2019) – Boater Jared Rhode of Port Clinton, Ohio, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 49 pounds, 5 ounces, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Michigan Division super-tournament on the Detroit River Sunday. Rhode earned $7,604 for his efforts.
“The first day I caught over 100 keepers – it was one of the biggest schools of fish that I have ever been on in my life,” said Rhode, who earned his fourth career victory in BFL competition. “I caught at least 10, 20-pound limits of smallmouth. It was pretty awesome.
“I fished near the Lake Erie islands, just rotating through 10 to 12 spots and targeting deeper structure – 18 to 25 feet,” Rhode continued. “The majority came on a drop-shot, but I also caught some throwing a tube and a swimbait.”
On day two, the wind picked up drastically and competitors were faced with 3- to 4-foot waves.
“It took me a long time to get to my area on day two, but I had one spot that I had saved,” Rhode continued. “My Ranger 620 boat turned out to be the key to my win, because it allowed me to get back out there on the second day when it was very rough.”
Rhode said his drop-shot rig arsenal included a Z-Man TRD worm, a 3-inch Berkley Gulp! Minnow and a 3-inch Berkley Gulp! Fish Fry. His swimbait of choice was a Keitech 3.8 with a ½-ounce head, and his 4-inch goby-colored tube was also fished on a ½-ounce jig.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Jared Rhode, Port Clinton, Ohio, 10 bass, 49-5, $5,604 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Kyle Greene, Ortonville, Mich., 10 bass, 42-13, $2,502
3rd: John Devries, Fishers, Ind., 10 bass, 42-5, $1,886
4th: Michael Sitko, Pinckney, Mich., 10 bass, 41-10, $1,524
5th: Randy Ramsey, Burlington, Mich., 10 bass, 41-6, $921
6th: Mike Trombly, Belleville, Mich., 10 bass, 40-14, $844
7th: David Reault, Livonia, Mich., 10 bass, 40-4, $767
8th: Jeremy Antrup, Fremont, Ind., 10 bass, 39-12, $691
9th: Dan Mittlestat, Woodhaven, Mich., 10 bass, 38-9, $614
10th: Todd Schmitz, Coldwater, Mich., nine bass, 35-11, $537
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Tom Beale of Saint Clair Shores, Michigan, caught a 6-pound, 3-ounce smallmouth bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $540.
Beverly Hills Michigan’s Jorji Itoh won the Co-angler Division and $2,502 Sunday after catching a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 43 pounds, 3 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Jorji Itoh, Beverly Hills, Mich., 10 bass, 43-3, $2,502
2nd: Zach Laupp, Plainwell, Mich., eight bass, 36-14, $1,151
3rd: Darwin Griva, Hamilton, Ind., 10 bass, 33-8, $767
4th: Aaron Stahley, Batavia, Ohio, 10 bass, 33-1, $587
5th: Mike Eldridge, Blairsville, Penn., eight bass, 31-13, $460
6th: Matthew Kime, Holland, Ohio, nine bass, 28-3, $422
7th: Neil Heisler, Plymouth, Mich., eight bass, 26-7, $384
8th: James Wathen, Richmond, Ky., seven bass, 26-1, $345
9th: Nicholas Ireland, Grand Blanc, Mich., eight bass, 25-7, $307
10th: Arron Kowalczyk, Newport, Mich., seven bass, 24-5, $269
Jeremy Pinkowski of Oak Forest, Illinois, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 6 pounds, 9 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $270.
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 Kentucky Lake presented by Evinrude in Buchanan, Tennessee. 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 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
DONNY BASS WINS TWO-DAY T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE EVENT ON LAKE OKEECHOBEE
Frostproof’s Brown Wins Co-angler Division
CLEWISTON, Fla. (Sept. 23, 2019) – Boater Donny Bass of Naples, Florida, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 40 pounds, 9 ounces, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Gator Division super-tournament on Lake Okeechobee Sunday. Bass earned $6,137 for his efforts.
“I’ve been sick this past week, and it turned out to be beneficial to me because it made me really slow down and just pick some areas apart,” said Bass, who earned his first career victory in FLW competition. “I made a long run – all the way up to the north end – to get out of the wind. I was fishing isolated reed clumps and patches with a brand new Gambler Lures bait called the Super Stinger.
“The bait looks like a big stinger – it’s 4½ inches and mimics a bluegill,” Bass continued. “It has a bigger profile, but it gets bigger bites.”
Bass estimated that he caught around 20 keeper bass on day one, and added another 40 to 45 bites on day two.
“It was typical summertime fishing – there was no wad of fish – so I put the trolling motor down and grinded,” Bass said. “I think the key was making the long run and having the areas to myself. It’s tough to get anything to yourself in a tournament on Lake Okeechobee. I think the new Super Stinger definitely played a role as well.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Donny Bass, Naples, Fla., 10 bass, 40-9, $6,137
2nd: Austin Schroeder, Zephyrhills, Fla., 10 bass, 36-4, $2,569
3rd: Mikey Keyso Jr., North Port, Fla., 10 bass, 35-4, $1,712
4th: Robert Crosnoe, Inverness, Fla., 10 bass, 31-9, $1,199
5th: Douglas Sauls, Winter Garden, Fla., 10 bass, 30-11, $1,027
6th: Mark Sommer, Coral Springs, Fla., 10 bass, 28-9, $1,142
7th: Brian MacDougall, La Belle, Fla., 10 bass, 28-5, $856
8th: Christopher Jerdan, Cape Coral, Fla., 10 bass, 27-10, $871
9th: Nicholas Hoinig, Port St. Lucie, Fla., 10 bass, 26-11, $685
10th: Lionel Botha, Malabar, Fla., 10 bass, 26-5, $599
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Thomas McLinskey of Altha, Florida, caught an 8-pound, 8-ounce largemouth – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $645.
Frostproof, Florida’s Justin Brown won the Co-angler Division and $3,091 Sunday after catching a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 26 pounds, 1 ounce.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Justin Brown, Frostproof, Fla., 10 bass, 26-1, $3,091
2nd: Ernie Thompson, Anthony, Fla., 10 bass, 25-3, $1,334
3rd: Scott Farnham, Port Saint Lucie, Fla., 10 bass, 23-13, $1,008
4th: Harry Linsinbigler IV, Dover, Fla., 10 bass, 22-12, $599
5th: Michael Davis, Lake Wales, Fla., nine bass, 21-3, $514
6th: Andrew Pulliam, Spring Hill, Fla., 10 bass, 21-0, $571
7th: Kevin Thomas, Miramar, Fla., six bass, 20-7, $428
8th: Michael Leach, Shenandoah, Texas, 10 bass, 20-3, $385
9th: Levi Crossway, Jacksonville, Fla., 10 bass, 19-15, $342
10th: Clark Bundy, Okeechobee, Fla., 10 bass, 19-13, $300
Brown also caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a largemouth weighing in at 6 pounds, 2 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $322.
The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Gator Division super-tournament on Lake Okeechobee was hosted by Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina and Resort.
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. 10-12 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia. 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 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
FREEMAN WINS TWO-DAY T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE EVENT ON SAM RAYBURN
Deport’s Nichols Wins Co-angler Division
BROOKELAND, Texas (Sept. 23, 2019) – Boater Glen Freeman of Zwolle, Louisiana, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 43 pounds, 13 ounces, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Cowboy Division super-tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir Sunday. Freeman earned $8,211 for his efforts.
“I think the key to my win was that I stayed old-fashioned,” said Freeman, who earned his 11th career win in BFL competition. “Nowadays everyone is throwing crankbaits and Carolina rigs, and I feel like the fish hardly see Texas rigs anymore. I was up on the north end – around the Highway 147 bridge, fishing slopes and drop-offs of ridges in 15- to 20-feet-of-water.”
Freeman estimated that he caught around 25 keepers throughout the weekend – 15 on day one and 10 on day two. He targeted isolated pieces of timber and brush on the slopes with a redbug-colored, Texas-rigged Mister Twister worm with a ½-ounce Elite Tungsten weight.
“I just slowed down and bumped the timber with the heavy weight,” Freeman said. “I was able to find the little pieces of timber using my Lowrance unit, and just soak the worm in the little bitty brush. The bites were very sensitive, and my Lews rod and reel combos made a big difference in allowing me to detect those subtle bites.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Glen Freeman, Zwolle, La., 10 bass, 43-13, $6,211 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Eric Leger, Mamou, La., 10 bass, 35-9, $3,106
3rd: Kevin Lasyone, Dry Prong, La., 10 bass, 34-11, $2,002
4th: Albert Collins, Nacogdoches, Texas, 10 bass, 30-12, $1,403
5th: Skeeter Fowler, Grand Saline, Texas, nine bass, 30-10, $1,202
6th: Philip Crelia, Center, Texas, nine bass, 30-3, $1,352
7th: River Lee, Nacogdoches, Texas, 10 bass, 29-9, $1,002
8th: Ryan Pinkston, Center, Texas, 10 bass, 29-4, $1,727
9th: Todd Castledine, Nacogdoches, Texas, 10 bass, 29-3, $1,102
10th: Marcus Parker, Pearland, Texas, 10 bass, 28-6, $701
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Pinkston caught an 8-pound, 8-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $825.
Deport Texas’ Lat Nichols won the Co-angler Division and $3,206 Sunday after catching a two-day total of nine bass weighing 22 pounds, 2 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Lat Nichols, Deport, Texas, nine bass, 22-2, $3,206
2nd: Steven Ramsey, Diberville, Miss., 10 bass, 20-5, $1,553
3rd: Hannah Gryder, Milam, Texas, seven bass, 20-4, $1,004
4th: Tim Woodard, Rosepine, La., 10 bass, 18-12, $701
5th: Ty Haymon, Oakdale, La., eight bass, 18-5, $601
6th: David Beason, Evans, La., seven bass, 18-2, $551
7th: Bill Fussell, Thibodaux, La., seven bass, 16-8, $501
8th: Ryan Bourque, Slidell, La., seven bass, 15-13, $451
9th: Don Johnson, Lufkin, Texas, seven bass, 14-13, $401
10th: Brandon Begnaud, Bacliff, Texas, six bass, 14-12, $351
Garrett Tunks of Sulphur, Louisiana, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $412.
The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Cowboy Division super-tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir was hosted by the Jasper County Development District.
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. 24-26 BFL Regional Championship on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma. 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 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
LAKEVIEW’S GINTER WINS TWO-DAY T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE EVENT ON MOSQUITO LAKE
Lexington’s Craner Wins Co-angler Division
CORTLAND, Ohio (Sept. 23, 2019) – Boater Gary Ginter of Lakeview, Ohio, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 26 pounds, 2 ounces, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Buckeye Division super-tournament on Mosquito LakeSunday. Ginter earned $4,534 for his efforts.
“I was fishing at the north end of the lake,” said Ginter, who earned his fourth career victory in BFL competition. “I started out day one throwing a buzzbait shallow up in the grass. I caught a limit, but there were a bunch of boats crowded around me so I worked my way outside into the deeper grass and that seemed to be where the bigger ones were.
“I culled out four fish in my limit in the deep grass throwing a Texas-rigged, Tequila Sunrise-colored YUM worm,” Ginter continued.
“On day two, I started with a buzzbait on the same spot as the first day and caught two keepers, then the bite shut off. I went back out deep and threw the worm, but it was much slower. I missed two, then the wind really picked up. I found my way into the back of a pocket on the north end – out of the wind – and ended up filling out my limit flipping an Okeechobee Craw-colored Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Gary Ginter, Lakeview, Ohio, 10 bass, 26-2, $4,534
2nd: Charles Willis, Dayton, Ohio, 10 bass, 24-15, $2,517
3rd: Sean Wieda, Florence, Ky., nine bass, 24-14, $1,691
4th: Butch Dobransky, North Canton, Ohio, 10 bass, 24-5, $1,011
5th: Chris Martinkovic, Hamilton, Ohio, 10 bass, 22-15, $1,017
6th: Bob Robinson, Lebanon, Ohio, nine bass, 22-5, $795
7th: Scott Manson, Covington, Ohio, 10 bass, 20-12, $722
8th: Michael Murphy, Troy, Ohio, 10 bass, 20-4, $650
9th: Clint Bissonett, Beavercreek, Ohio, nine bass, 20-3, $825
10th: Richard Knoll, Pittsburgh, Pa., 10 bass, 19-13, $506
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Wieda caught a 4-pound, 8-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $247.
Lexington, Ohio’s Bailey Craner won the Co-angler Division and $2,167 Sunday after catching a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 22 pounds, 1 ounce.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Bailey Craner, Lexington, Ohio, 10 bass, 22-1, $2,167
2nd: Brian Short, Oxford, Ohio, eight bass, 20-8, $1,433
3rd: Jeff Turner, Plainfield, Ill., 10 bass, 19-6, $724
4th: Kenny Smith, Austin, Ind., nine bass, 18-12, $656
5th: Jacob Crawmer, Newark, Ohio, 10 bass, 17-10, $433
6th: Ryan McCusker, Beaver Falls, Pa., 10 bass, 17-9, $397
7th: John Breedlove, Girard, Ohio, 10 bass, 17-2, $361
8th: Steve Sorrell, Beavercreek, Ohio, 10 bass, 17-0, $325
9th: Jon Angstmann, St. Marys, Ohio, eight bass, 16-0, $289
10th: David Lambert, Middletown, Ohio, nine bass, 16-0, $253
Rodney Gibbs of Springsboro, Ohio, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 3 pounds, 13 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $247.
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 Kentucky Lake presented by Evinrude in Buchanan, Tennessee. 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 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
Lews lands KVD!
Courtesy of Lew's
Welcome Home KVD!
Whether in business or in life, the chance for a new beginning is very rare. It’s even more uncommon that you get that chance with a group you already know and trust. For the greatest tournament angler in the history of our sport, that unique position is a reality. When the 2020 Bass Pro Tour kicks off, the deck of angling legend Kevin Van Dam’s Nitro will be fully rigged up with Lew’s rods and reels.
Ken Eubanks, CEO of Lew’s Holdings Corp. stated, “We could not be more honored to have Kevin joining the Lew’s team. The impact that Kevin has had on the Strike King brand cannot be overstated and we feel that the knowledge, expertise and respect he brings to the table will be transformational for our entire organization.”
KVD’s accomplishments as a competitive angler are unmatched, but what also separates Kevin from many pro anglers is that he has never been one to change sponsors without a very compelling reason.
‘Strike King has always been like family to me, so when I heard about the acquisition of Strike King by Lew’s, I was a little apprehensive. Once I got to know the Lew’s group and realized that the culture and team was so aligned with the folks I have been working with for years, I couldn’t help but be excited by the prospect of working with the entire group. Sometimes in relationships it takes a long time to develop trust and rapport, but sometimes, it just feels right.”
Historically, when a high-profile athlete leaves a long-time sponsor for a new opportunity, the situation is often accompanied by hard feelings. Again, this is a very unique situation. KVD worked with the team at Quantum for many years and there will be always be a great deal of mutual respect and appreciation for what they accomplished together.
"Fishing our gear, Kevin became the most decorated angler of all time, and we have really enjoyed our mutually beneficial relationship. Kevin has been a great partner and friend and we thank him for his professionalism all these many years. We wish him the best as he moves on in his new relationship with Lew’s." Said Steve Smits, President and COO of Zebco Brands.
Every once in a while, there is an event in our industry that can change the face of an organization. The addition of Kevin Van Dam to the Lew’s pro staff is one of those events. The impact and unique perspective KVD will bring to the Lew’s product development team, just as he has done for Strike King will definitely change the landscape. The sky is the limit for both Lew’s and KVD with this partnership and the future will be very fun to watch.
Blake Hardy Wins Big Bass Splash on Fork with 10.61 Largemouth
BIG BASS SPLASH - Lake Fork, TX - DAY 3 Results
Top Overall Winners
Blake Hardy of New Waverly, TX - 10.61
Jimmy Qualls of Euless, TX - 10.06
Burl Blosser of Abilene, TX - 9.77
Brigham Bigby of Colmesneil, TX - 9.32
Carl Parks of Hemphill, TX - 9.25
Heaviest under slot - Charles Hershberger of Frankston, TX - 2.70
ILLINOIS’ PINCKNEYVILLE COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL WINS BASS PRO SHOPS FLW HIGH SCHOOL FISHING ARKANSAS RIVER OPEN
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Sept. 23, 2019) – Illinois’ Pinckneyville Community High School duo of Zachary Martin of Pinckneyville, Illinois, and Trey McKinney of Carbondale, Illinois, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 10 pounds, 3 ounces to win the 2019 Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Arkansas River Open.
A field of 16 teams competed in the no-entry fee tournament, which launched from the North River Landing in North Little Rock. The tournament was hosted by the North Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau. In FLW and The Bass Federation (TBF) High School Fishing competition, the top 10-percent of teams competing advance to the High School Fishing National Championship.
The top team on the Arkansas River that advanced to the 2020 High School Fishing National Championship was:
1st: Pinckneyville Community High School, Pinckneyville, Ill. – Zachary Martin, Pinckneyville, Ill., and Trey McKinney, Carbondale, Ill., five bass, 10-3
Rounding out the top 10 teams were:
2nd: Cabot High School, Cabot, Ark. – Cody Ostendorf and Masen Wade, both of Cabot, Ark., five bass, 7-11
3rd: Bryant High School, Bryant, Ark. – Tucker Dottley, Little Rock, Ark., and Brandon Gabe, Benton, Ark., four bass, 6-15
4th: Central Arkansas Flippin’ Outcasts, Cabot, Ark. – Davis Coleman and Grant Shahan, both of Sherwood, Ark., two bass, 5-5
5th: Cabot High School, Cabot, Ark. – Harrison Friddle and Zachery Ward, both of Cabot, Ark., two bass, 4-9
6th: Kay County Student Anglers, Kay County, Okla. – Hayden Newland, Ponca City, Okla., and Ty Downs, Newkirk, Okla., two bass, 4-3
7th: Benton High School, Benton, La. – Peyton Grantham, Benton, La., and Tanner Underwood, Bossier City, La., two bass, 3-12
8th: Vilonia High School, Vilonia, Ark. – Mason Davis, Vilonia, Ark., and Noah Yelich, Conway. Ark., two bass, 3-5
9th: Independence High School, Frisco, Texas – Hunter Jenkins, McKinney, Texas and Hunter Triebel, Frisco, Texas, one bass, 2-7
10th: Bauxite High School, Bauxite, Ark. – Brody Jacks, Tull, Ark., and Kanon Harmon, Benton, Ark., three bass, 2-6
Complete results from the event can be found at FLWFishing.com.
The 2019 Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Arkansas River Open was a two-person (team) event for students in grades 7-12, open to any Student Angler Federation (SAF) affiliated high school club in the United States. The top 10 percent of each Challenge, Open, and state championship field will advance to the 2020 High School Fishing National Championship on the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The High School Fishing national champions will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship to the school of their choice.
In addition to the High School Fishing National Championship, all High School Fishing anglers nationwide automatically qualify for the world’s largest open high school bass tournament, the 2020 High School Fishing World Finals, held in conjunction with the National Championship. At the 2019 World Finals more than $150,000 in scholarships and prizes were awarded.
Full schedules and the latest announcements are available at HighSchoolFishing.org and FLWFishing.com.
About FLW
FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2019 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct more than 290 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Namibia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and Zimbabwe. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
ARKANSAS TECH UNIVERSITY WINS YETI FLW COLLEGE FISHING TOURNAMENT ON ARKANSAS RIVER PRESENTED BY BASS PRO SHOPS
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Sept. 23, 2019) – The Arkansas Tech University duo of Fletcher Nutt and Dustin Reid, both of Sheridan, Arkansas, won the YETI FLW College Fishing event on the Arkansas River presented by Bass Pro Shops with a five-bass limit weighing 15 pounds, 2 ounces. The victory earned the Wonder Boys’ bass club $2,000 and a slot in the 2020 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
“We live about 30 minutes from Little Rock, so the river is pretty much our home water,” said Reid, a senior majoring in agricultural business. “It turned out to be a big advantage.”
“We locked down from Little Rock to the Tar Camp pool,” said Nutt, a sophomore majoring in natural resource management. “We had two good days of practice coming into this event and had found some fish in the backwaters.”
The duo mainly caught their fish on a trio of baits – a Carolina rig, a crankbait and a Zoom Z-Craw on a shaky-head rig – although they also added a nice keeper near the end of the day on a River2Sea Whopper Plopper.
“We probably caught around 30 fish,” Reid said. “Most came on the shaky-head worm, but we caught one good one on a crankbait and a nice 4½-pounder on the Whopper Plopper.”
“I think the key was our local knowledge,” Nutt went on to say. “We were fishing a little bit deeper than everybody else was, and some of the areas we were fishing were very tough to find in practice.”
The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2020 College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: Arkansas Tech University – Fletcher Nutt and Dustin Reid, both of Sheridan, Arkansas, five bass, 15-2, $2,000
2nd: East Texas Baptist University – Mason Beatty, Longview, Texas, and Jacob Keith, Jefferson, Texas, five bass, 12-7, $1,250
3rd: Sam Houston State University – Jayce Garrison, Conroe, Texas, and Mason Hoke, Montgomery, Texas, five bass, 11-8, $1,100
4th: Stephen F. Austin State University – Hunter Muncrief, Pineland, Texas, and River Lee, Nacogdoches, Texas, five bass, 10-7, $700
5th: University of Central Arkansas – Nicholas Bergt, Atlanta, Texas, and Philip Nguyen, Conway, Ark., four bass, 10-7, $500
6th: Arkansas Tech University – Blake Smith, Pine Bluff, Ark., and Ryan Mozisek, Benton, Ark., five bass, 10-5, $450
7th: Dallas Baptist University – Reece Martin, Lindale, Texas, and Mark Harris, Conroe, Texas, five bass, 10-2
8th: Tarleton State University – Drew Hargrove, Moody, Texas, five bass, 10-0
9th: Northeast Texas Community College – Austin King, Hughes Springs, Texas, and Braden Jones, Pittsburg, Texas, five bass, 9-12
10th: Northwestern State University – Maguire Parker, Stonewall, La., and Wes Rollo, Natchitoches, La., four bass, 9-9
Complete results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.
The YETI FLW College Fishing event on the Arkansas River presented by Bass Pro Shops was hosted by the North Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau. It was the third and final regular-season qualifying tournament for Southern Conference anglers. The next event for FLW College Fishing anglers will be a Western conference event – the YETI FLW College Fishing tournament on the California Delta presented by Bass Pro Shops, Sept. 27 in Bethel Island, California.
YETI FLW College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. All participants must be registered, full-time students at a college, university or community college and members of a college fishing club that is recognized by their school. The top 10 teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open will advance to the 2020 FLW College Fishing National Championship, scheduled for Feb. 26-28 on the Harris Chain of Lakes in Leesburg, Florida. Additional teams will qualify for the National Championship if the field size in regular-season events exceeds 100 boats.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow YETI FLW College Fishing on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Australian Pro Jocumsen Scores Bassmaster Elite Series Victory On Tenkiller
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Monti Leads heading into Championship Sunday on Tenkiller
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VAUGHAN WINS COSTA FLW SERIES TOURNAMENT ON ST. LAWRENCE RIVER PRESENTED BY REALTREE FISHING
Sixth-Year Costa FLW Series angler Earns First Career Victory
MASSENA, N.Y. (Sept. 21, 2019) – Pro Wayne Vaughan of Chester, Virginia, caught a five-bass limit Saturday weighing 20 pounds, 11 ounces, to win the three-day Costa FLW Series on the St. Lawrence River presented by Realtree Fishing.
Vaughan’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 63 pounds, 5 ounces was enough to earn him the victory by a 1-pound, 9-ounce margin over second-place pro Scott Dobson of Clarkston, Michigan, and earn him $83,340, including a new Ranger Z518L boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard. The tournament was the third and final regular-season tournament of the year for anglers competing in the Costa FLW Series Northern Division presented by Gajo Baits.
“I caught a few fish this week on a tube, but every fish that I weighed in came drop-shotting a Redbone-colored Z-Man Jerk Shadz,” said Vaughan, who earned his first career victory in FLW competition. “I fished basically from takeoff all the way down to Clayton, hitting 20 to 25 spots each day.
“The first day my numbers were not that great – I think I only caught 10 fish,” Vaughan continued. “On the second day I caught around 25, and today I only caught 10. I was fishing around the ends of points – I caught them all in 35- to 55-feet-of-water. Yesterday the current was moving really well, so it had the fish up a little higher – around 35 feet. Today, I couldn’t get them that shallow and had to go real deep. I caught one down 55 feet.”
When asked what he felt was the key to his victory, Vaughan was honest and blunt with his answer – “luck.”
“I had no keys,” Vaughan joked. “I think my key was luck. I had caught a couple of fish in practice, but the last day I caught a 6-pounder way out deep. I told myself, ‘That is definitely where the big ones live, and I’m committing myself to this.’ It was a grind – I was only getting one or two fish on each of those spots.
“It’s been a great year, and to win at the last event of the year is just a great way to end the season,” Vaughan went on to say.
The top 10 pros on the St. Lawrence River finished:
1st: Wayne Vaughan, Chester, Va., 15 bass, 63-5, $83,340
2nd: Scott Dobson, Clarkston, Mich., 15 bass, 61-12, $14,199
3rd: A.J. Slegona, Pine Bush, N.Y., 15 bass, 59-7, $11,115
4th: Casey Smith, Macedon, N.Y., 15 bass, 58-12, $9,096
5th: Jason Burger, Bridgeton, N.J., 14 bass, 54-10, $8,186
6th: Neil Deleeuw, Fenwick, Ontario, Canada, 15 bass, 54-4, $7,277
7th: Ken Golub, Pittsford, N.Y., 14 bass, 54-1, $7,967
8th: Brian Hughes, Barrie, Ontario, Canada, 15 bass, 53-8, $5,458
9th: Jonathan Kelley, Old Forge, Penn., 15 bass, 50-4, $5,548
10th: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 15 bass, 50-0, $3,638
A complete list of results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Vaughan weighed in a 6-pound, 5-ounce bass Friday – the heaviest of the tournament in the Pro Division – and also earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $256.
Noah Winslow of Naugatuck, Connecticut, won the Co-angler Division with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 50 pounds, 11 ounces. For his win, Winslow took home the top prize package of a new Ranger Z175 boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor, worth $27,100.
The top 10 co-anglers on the St. Lawrence River finished:
1st: Noah Winslow, Naugatuck, Conn., 15 bass, 50-11, $27,100
2nd: Dexter Andrews, King George, Va., 15 bass, 50-3, $4,874
3rd: Grant Loney, Beamsville, Ontario, Canada, 14 bass, 49-2, $3,723
4th: Jeff Zeisner, Arva, Ontario, Canada, 15 bass, 49-1, $3,258
5th: Gary Haraguchi, Antioch, Calif., 14 bass, 48-6, $3,042
6th: Michael Sciacca, Augusta, N.J., 14 bass, 43-2, $2,327
7th: Will Litchfield, London, Ontario, Canada, 14 bass, 40-13, $1,862
8th: Joshua Hertzog, Ephrata, Penn., 14 bass, 39-0, $1,729
9th: Jeff Melsop, East Liberty, Ohio, 12 bass, 38-12, $1,396
10th: D. Brett Walker, Kansas City, Mo., 11 bass, 33-1, $1,163
Henry McKee of Haddon Heights, New Jersey, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Friday, a fish weighing 6 pounds, 4 ounces. He earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $170.
The Costa FLW Series on the St. Lawrence River presented by Realtree Fishing was hosted by the Town of Massena. It was the third and final tournament in the 2019 regular season for Northern Division presented by Gajo Baits anglers. The next tournament for FLW Series anglers will also be in the Western Division, the Costa FLW Series at the California Delta presented by Power-Pole, held Sept. 26-28 in Bethel Island, California. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.
The Costa FLW Series consists of five U.S. divisions – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western – along with the International division. Each U.S. division consists of three regular-season tournaments with competitors vying for valuable points that could earn them the opportunity to compete in the season-ending Costa FLW Series Championship. The 2019 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Oct. 31 – Nov. 2 on Lake Cumberland in Burnside, Kentucky.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Costa FLW Series on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Zaldain Takes The Lead At Bassmaster Elite Series Event On Lake Tenkiller
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Hatch Leads Day 1 of Final Northern Costa
September 19, 2019 by By Sean Ostruszka
There were no 25-pound mega-bags coming across the stage at weigh-in of the final leg of the Costa FLW Series Northern Division. The event on the St. Lawrence River, presented by Gajo Baits, hasn’t been the slugfest many expected after one day of fishing. There were still plenty of 20-pound bags, though, and the St. Lawrence on a bad day is still a tremendous fishery.
With the river’s smallmouth clearly in transition mode, anglers really had to adapt their game plans to stay with the moving fish. With a pair of bags topping the 23-pound mark, 20 pounds only got you in 18th after day one. Shane Hatch’s 23-7 bag beat out Dakota Ebare by 1 ounce to give the Maine pro the lead for the time being.
“I certainly wasn’t expecting to have that good of a bag,” Hatch says. “I actually thought I had a little less. So I’m happy.”
The big question going into the day was how far anglers would make the run down river, potentially going into Lake Ontario. Sure enough, plenty did, though what they found was a mixed bag. A number of pros said they went down there only to find unfishable conditions on the lake thanks to 4-foot waves, or the schools in the river seemingly having disappeared.
JT Kenney actually ran 93 miles to not catch a fish – he caught all his weight working his way back. Matt Becker only found disappointment and rough water out on the lake, and Joe Wood said he had a pair of schools where he could catch 25 pounds “easy in practice” ghost him today.
As for the leader, Hatch says he only ran maybe 40 miles, and, once there, he bounced around a lot.
“I probably hit 30 spots with them being anywhere from 5 to 35 feet,” Hatch says. “Some are big areas and some are specific spots, but a lot of them are one-fish deals.”
Being that this is his first time in the top 10 of a Costa FLW Series tournament, he was tight-lipped as to specifics, but he did say he caught more than 15 keepers. And as for presentations?
“Nothing different than anyone else,” Hatch says. “We’re all fishing for smallmouth. It’s pretty obvious what everyone is doing.”
With conditions forecast to be similar tomorrow (just a little warmer but with the same southwest wind) – something many locals noted as a reason for the tougher fishing, as the wind was out of the east most of practice – Hatch says he sees no reason to change up what he’s doing.
“I just hope I can do it again,” he says.
TOP 10 PROS
1. Shane Hatch – Owlshead, Maine – 23-7 (5)
2. Dakota Ebare – Denham Springs, La. – 23-6 (5)
3. Robert Behrle – Hoover, Ala. – 22-9 (5)
4. Ken Golub – Pittsford, N.Y. – 22-8 (5)
5. Brian Hughes – Barrie, On. – 22-4 (5)
6. Casey Smith – Macedon, N.Y. – 21-15 (5)
7. JT Kenney – Palm Bay, Fla. – 21-12 (5)
8. Adrian Avena – Vineland, N.J. – 21-11 (5)
9. Ron Nelson – Berrien Springs, Mich. – 21-9 (5)
10. William Dennison III – Willoughby Hills, Ohio – 21-6 (5)
Hertzog takes co-angler lead
Being a co-angler offers a unique opportunity to learn, and what Josh Hertzog learned today has him in the lead on the co-angler side of things.
“I learned a lot today,” says Hertzog, who was to only co-angler to crack the 20-pound mark (20-1). “I don’t want to say what, but hopefully I’ll be able to use it based on what my pro does tomorrow.”
Whatever it was, he learned it from his pro, Erik Luzak, and he learned it well.
While Luzak was clearly out-fishing him to start, Hertzog picked up on what he needed to do and caught a 5-13 and another 5-pounder in quick order. The end result was a bag that was only 7 ounces less than his pro’s.
“I had a lot of fun, and I definitely hope to be able to do that same thing tomorrow,” Hertzog says.
TOP 10 CO-ANGLERS
1. Joshua Hertzog – Ephrata, Pa. – 20-1 (5)
2. Dexter Andrews – King George, Va. – 19-3 (5)
3. Noah Winslow – Naugatuck, Conn. – 19-0 (5)
4. Grant Loney – Beamsville, On. – 17-10 (5)
5. Jeff Zeisner – Arva, On. – 17-7 (5)
6. John Husnay – Utica, N.Y. – 17-6 (5)
7. Gary Haraguchi – Antioch, Calif. – 17-5 (5)
8. Josh Lockard – Somerset, Ky. – 17-2 (4)
9. Jeff Melsop – East Liberty, Ohio – 17-1 (5)
10. Christopher Newton – Whitesboro, N.Y. – 16-13 (5)
Blaylock Grinds His Way To Lead At Bassmaster Elite Series Event On Tenkiller
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Matt Arey’s trick for finicky topwater schooling bass
Alan McGuckin - Dynamic Sponsorships
Few scenes in all of freshwater fishing spur a greater rush of adrenalin than the sight of bass schooling in a surface feeding frenzy. Except sometimes their appetites seem tougher to please than verbally abusive Master Chef Gordon Ramsay in an episode of the television cooking show “Hell’s Kitchen.”
Fact is, the weather during practice at Eastern Oklahoma’s Lake Tenkiller, sight of 2019’s final regular season Bassmaster Elite Series tournament, served up temperatures that felt like hell’s kitchen – which also seemed to send tons of bass to the surface to bust up shad.
“It seems like there are schooling fish everywhere you look all day long here. But they’re super tough to catch because they’re feeding on tiny little threadfin shad, versus larger gizzard shad,” says Matt Arey, winner of more than $1 Million in career prize money.
Temperamental bass bring out Arey’s little bag of tricks. Actually it’s not a bag, but instead a single tackle tray stocked full of tiny grubs and jig heads meant for catching crappie.
“It’s all about matching the hatch. And if they’re gonna eat little threadfin shad like peanut M & M’s, then I’ll give ‘em what they want in the form of 2 ½ to 3 ½ crappie grubs,” says the North Carolina State grad, and proud daddy of two sweet girls.
Arey throws a variety of both curly tail grubs and paddle tails too. The 1/8 and 3/16 ounce lead heads he pairs them with comefrom a mold he inherited from Arnold Ledford, a treasured fishing buddy who passed away in 2018 in their hometown of Shelby, NC. He uses 6-pound P Line Fluoroclear line on a long 7’ 4” spinning rod to maximize casting distance.
Obviously the greatest benefit to Arey’s use of small crappie lures is getting topwater schooling bass to bite when they seem to refuse more standard lures designed for largemouth and smallmouth. However, at Tenkiller, largemouth and smallmouth have to measure at least 16” to weigh-in – and that will be an even bigger challenge than simply getting surface schoolers to bite.
If Arey succeeds, you can grin knowing he is catching them on the equivalent of tiny candy-coated peanut sized lures …actually made for crappie.
Zaldain says Tenkiller will be Top 3 toughest tournaments of his career
Alan McGuckin - Dynamic Sponsorships
With a check cashing percentage of nearly 70% and (32) Top 20 finishes to his credit, Chris Zaldain has become one of the most polished and high-achieving pros in all of professional bass fishing recently. But the highly likeable California native says this week’s Bassmaster Elite Series event on Lake Tenkiller, OK will be one of the absolute toughest of his eight seasons as a pro.
Q: What’s going to be the toughest factor in this tournament?
Zaldain: It’s hard to pick just one factor. We’re facing warm falling water during a traditionally tough bass fishing month, with bass chasing shad in open water, and not really relating to cover.
Q: What’s the single toughest professional tournament of your career?
Zaldain: That’s easy, the 2014 Bassmaster Elite Series on the Delaware River in Philadelphia that “Ike” won. I caught like five total bass in that tournament. But Tenkiller this week will for sure rank in the Top 3 toughest of my career.
Q: Name 3 lures fans can expect to see Bassmaster Elite Series pros throw a bunch of this week?
Zaldain: Topwater popper, football jig, and a mid depth crankbait.
Q: On the eve of this tough event, how much weight do you think you need to catch on Day 1 to feel good about your performance?
Zaldain: 10 pounds, because catching a 16” legal keeper here is as tough as catching a 24” keeper in the Toyota Texas Bass Classics on Fork and Conroe.
Q: In your opinion, what’s the biggest headline in college or pro football right now?
Zaldain: I honestly don’t watch football. I watch some NASCAR, and a lot of San Jose Sharks NHL hockey. I’m close friends with former Sharks right winger Owen Nolan. He loves to fish.
"The Horseshoe Factor" - Featuring Opens Champ Bob Downey
This week the whole fam damily showed up for the whole episode as the Circus joins the boys on episode 101. They talk a little football, a little fishing, Jason goes off on MLF or FLW or both and Open Champ Bob Downey joins the show to talk about Grand Lake and Opens season this year which includes and Elite invitation and Classic Qualification as well! Check it out!
Chickamauga Officially Added To 2020 Bassmaster Elite Series Slate
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 18, 2019
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Last week, the bulk of the 2020 Bassmaster Elite Series schedule was revealed.
This week, the schedule just keeps getting more attractive for fans who like big bass.
B.A.S.S. officials announced late Tuesday evening that the second tournament on the 2020 Elite Series slate will be held Feb. 14-17 at Chickamauga Lake in Dayton, Tenn. That means a schedule that was already jam-packed with big-bass fisheries will now also include a lake that ranked sixth overall on Bassmaster Magazine’s 2019 list of 100 Best Bass Lakes.
“We’re thrilled to have a lake like Chickamauga on the schedule,” said B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin. “Everyone knows Chickamauga’s reputation for producing giant bass — and when you consider the timing of when we’ll be there, the event has some amazing potential.
“It’ll be a great trip for our anglers, for the fans in that area and for fans all over the world who like to watch our pros catch big fish.”
Chickamauga hosted an Elite Series event in 2014 and Bassmaster Opens in 2017 and 2019, and all three events were won with an average of more than 20 pounds per day.
Those events were all held in late April or beyond. The earlier timing of the 2020 Elite Series event could certainly mean colder temperatures, but the bass will likely still be fat and healthy before the bulk of the spawn begins.
The famous 36,240-acre fishery known as “The Chick” has only hosted five major B.A.S.S. events, and two of those were prior to 1992.
But the lake has hosted other Bassmaster tournaments — and in 2017, it produced one of the largest fish ever caught in a Bassmaster High School Series event when Georgia anglers Adam Sansom and Chase Carter weighed in a massive 10-11 largemouth. Logan Henderson and Steven Swann of Alabama won that event with five bass that weighed 24-1.
A Tennessee Team Trail event held on Chickamauga in February took 31.46 pounds to win, and a 12.91-pounder took big-bass honors.
The Chickamauga tournament was not part of B.A.S.S.’s official schedule announcement last week because some contractual details had not been finalized. But an official deal was reached with the host city of Dayton on Tuesday.
“We know the kind of bass that are swimming in Chickamauga — and when you think about all of the possibilities that come with having the best anglers in the world on this lake early in the year, it’s really exciting,” Akin said. “It’s a great addition to the schedule.”
The Chickamauga announcement means only one remaining venue on the 2020 regular-season schedule — the one for the annual Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting Texas Parks & Wildlife Department — has yet to be revealed.
The site for that event, which has historically been held on some of the best big-bass fisheries in Texas, will be announced soon.
2020 Bassmaster Elite Series schedule
Feb. 6-9, St. Johns River, Palatka, Fla.
Feb. 14-17, Chickamauga Lake, Dayton, Tenn.
March 6-8, Bassmaster Classic, Lake Guntersville, Birmingham, Ala.
April 2-5, Lake Eufaula, Eufaula, Ala.
April 16-19, Santee Cooper Lakes, Manning, S.C.
May 29-June 1, Sabine River, Orange, Texas
June 5-9, Texas Fest, TBA
July 23-26, St. Lawrence River, Waddington, N.Y.
July 30-Aug. 2, Lake Champlain, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Aug. 13-16, Elite makeup date
Aug. 20-23, Lake St. Clair, Macomb County, Mich.
About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 510,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), television show (The Bassmasters on ESPN2 and The Pursuit Channel), radio show (Bassmaster Radio), social media programs and events. For more than 50 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.
How Scott Canterbury finds bass on lakes he’s never fished
Alan McGuckin - Dynamic Sponsorships
If GPS technology had not become part of cell phones and dashboards, current Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year points leader, Scott Canterbury should have sought a sponsorship from mapmaker Rand McNally to help him find his way – because the Tundra driving Yamaha pro had never been to five of the ten Bassmaster Elite Series venues on this year’s schedule.
So how did Canterbury find fish at a supreme level on waters he’d never seen before?
On the eve of the last regular season Elite Series event of the year at Lake Tenkiller, one of the reservoirs he’d never seen before, the Alabama pro graciously shared three tips for successfully finding bass on new waters.
Do your homework
Like most modern day anglers, Canterbury makes a study of Google Earth as well as online tournament results and reports, but he offers a wisdom rich warning.
“Tournament results can tell you what to expect to catch within reason, and reading about winning areas of the lake or river helps too. But don’t get caught up in knowing the exact place where a past winner caught his fish, because almost never do two tournaments get won from the exact same spot,” he warns.
Love a trusted friend, but hate dock talk
If you want to elevate Canterbury’s blood pressure a notch or three, ask him about “dock talk.”
“I’m telling you, 100% do not listen to “dock talk” – learn to ignore it completely!” he says emphatically. “I’m fortunate to have a guy like Matt Arey I can totally trust to share areas of the lake we think are productive, but a guy like Matt is hard to find, so if you don’t have a buddy you can totally trust, rely on yourself, don’t talk to anybody,” he says.
Work hard to find the best area
“I try to fish one area of the lake per day in practice. I don’t run all over the place every day,” says the Yamaha pro.
“If I don’t love the area I fished at the end of the first day of practice, then I look forward to dissecting a new area of the lake during the second day of practice. Heck, at Winyah Bay this year, I never found the best spot until the final three hours on the third day of practice,” he says.
Canterbury is also known for fishing super thorough in shallow water, working hard to catch bass from shorelines in skinny water that most would consider unattractive.
“The good looking stuff is so obvious, but I try to slow way down and figure out ways to catch shallow fish from areas that don’t look good at all to most people.”
And as for Lake Tenkiller
Canterbury has never been to the Eastern Oklahoma impoundment that Jimmy Houston and Jason Christie cut their legendary angling teeth on, and he says things won’t be easy this week.
“The biggest challenge this week is catching five bass everyday bigger than the 16” minimum length limit, and leaving here still leading the Toyota Angler of the Year race,” he concludes.
Don’t bet against him. Canterbury has a history of being right at home on waters he’s never seen before.
Taking the Bass by Storm
Vance McCullough
Every cloud has its silver lining. Especially those clouds associated with low pressure systems.
The mother of all lows, the hurricane, and her relatives, the tropical storm and even a strong tropical wave can bring mixed blessings to anglers.
Hurricanes cause anxiety among millions of people for days on end as they slowly churn over warm ocean waters, their cones of uncertainty ever shifting.
But tropical cyclones also induce light air and high times for fisherfolk far from their zone of maximum winds and damage.
A dropping barometer corelates with a spike in fish activity. Even across the Great Plains and into the upper Midwest where a hurricane is as seldom seen as plate of shrimp and grits, the first snowstorm of the year usually rides on the counterclockwise winds of a massive low. And smart anglers break out their buzzbaits.
From coastal Texas around the horn of Florida and up the Eastern Seaboard strong storms in late summer and fall cast a shadow of doubt and fear but they bring angling opportunities for anybody fishing within the storm’s radius of rotation.
As Dorian’s eye passed just offshore a couple of weeks ago, I fished the wind-streaked waters of a lake well inland and watched a bass attack a magnolia leaf floating in the shallows. Topwater time.
Safety is always a concern on the water. It moves to top of mind when fishing in extreme weather. Make a plan that will enable your safe return even in the event of mechanical failure on your boat. This means you should play the wind, venturing into it upon launching and riding it back to safety at the end of the trip.
To complicate matters, winds will shift as a system passes so plan accordingly. If the eye is to your east, expect winds to come first from the east, then the north and then weaken as they come from the west indicating the passage of the storm.
If the eye passes to your west, you’re likely on the Gulf Coast and can expect a strong southerly blow before the west winds kick in and the system moves on.
While this knowledge is helpful to power boaters, it is critical to those in paddle craft such as kayaks. I’ve fished through more than a couple hurricanes and tropical storms in a kayak, always launching into the wind and carefully watching its changing direction so I don’t miss my ride home. During Hurricane Matthew, I just fished from a dock until the winds made it hard to stand, let alone cast. Fish bit well up to that point.
Just because Dorothy and Toto are getting blown somewhere over the rainbow, there’s no guarantee the fish will bite or that you will be on them when they do, though the odds do lean more heavily in your favor. I recall a couple of hurricane days when I worked hard for a single fish.
Last year my son, Hunter and I fished the Kayak Bass Fishing Trail tourney on Fellsmere Reservoir and Stick Marsh in South Florida. Practice went great. We smashed ‘em.
Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall as we launched on game day. There was speculation the event would be cancelled. It wasn’t. We dug and fought through crashing waves and howling winds to make a speed drift on the broad, flat Fellsmere Lake, each of us catching one fish before conditions deteriorated. That was enough to place us in the top half of the field. Not nearly enough to cash a check.
We relaunched on the famous Stick Marsh, just over the berm, to finish our day among towering palm trees and head-high cane that offered a slight buffer from the blow. We watched a competitor pedal his Hobie to a nearly stationary position, facing piling waves as they came through a break in the wall of palms. He steadily caught 4-pounders on a trap. The Mirage Drive pedal propulsion system would have been worthless in the topped out hydrilla on Fellsmere but over the clean bottom on the north end of the Marsh, it was the best hands-free way to position a kayak and make repeated casts to a funnel that was loaded with hungry fish.
That guy didn’t win.
This was the day Brandon Haney set a new single day record for a KBF Trail event with 114.5 inches on his best 5 bass.
Three anglers photographed and released a 5-fish limit in excess of 100 inches.
Meanwhile, Hunter and I looked for a cut that didn’t have a boat in it. I reached for my tackle bag and didn’t feel it. I looked back saw it floating like baby Moses in his basket some 70 yards away. Wind and water had washed it from its spot behind my seat. Hunter had already lost a rod and reel that morning and had no idea where it happened. He got to one of his first spots after paddling through high waves and the thing just wasn’t with him anymore.
It was windy that day.
Some guys found fish. Others got worn out trying and ate a sandwich, watching from shore with windburned faces and wet butts. Most gathered for the postgame meetup. Bass tournaments are the best laboratories we have for understanding fish behavior. Winner Haney said, “I was doing a lot of flipping where there’s a lot of hydrilla and you can’t really use your Mirage Drive, so I was paddling around a little bit, trying to get up into the weeds. But the main thing I was catching them on was the Chatterbait, drifting around and throwing it where I thought they would be. It worked really well today.”
Shallow grass is often trashed under such conditions and bass set up just outside of it, often in the subsurface wind tunnel where the water hits land and turns back toward the lake. This is a great place to parallel the bank with an Alabama Rig or spinnerbait.
Then again, if you can find a protected cove, the flipping bite can be strong so long as the cover isn’t trashed by previous commotion – remember those shifting winds we talked about earlier, they have to figure into your ever-changing game plan. If punching mats, expect a high mat bite, just up under the surface of the slop. Don’t simply snatch your lure off the bottom if you don’t get bit on the way down. Fish feel the lightened barometric pressure even under the mats and a little agitation across the surface will shake tiny crawfish and grass shrimp loose so the bass may well be feeding up, even under the canopy. They will almost certainly gravitate to the outer edge of the mats unless weather gets downright nasty.
Tropical weather comes in bands. White caps give way to gentle rolls and even eerie calm at times. Topwater lures are great as long as fish can see them. When winds pick up, throw a bigger, noisier bait – I’m looking you, Strike King Mega Dawg. Big walking plugs strike a nice balance for those who don’t want to change lures every 10 minutes or carry a bunch of rods.
Lightning kills the fun. Not only for anglers, but for fish as well. Even during a normal afternoon thunder shower, fishing will be outstanding as winds pick up and the air gets light and cool, even while rain is falling, but as soon as thunder starts booming and lightning starts flashing, fish seek shelter. So should we.
And of course, you’re wearing your PFD right? Rain gear is optional during late summer storms that bring cool breezes and chilly rain. Life vests are not. Even in a big boat, if winds make it hard to stand on the deck, imagine trying to swim. There are plenty of comfortable options that allow anglers to cast and retrieve all day without the bulk and excessive heat of traditional life vests. Mustang Survival makes inflatable vests that won’t slow you down when the bite is fast and furious.
Please note also – while land-locked lakes can be fun to fish during strange weather, tidal waters are a no go. When effects of a storm are coupled with an outgoing tide during the time of year when our tides are the strongest anyway, you can be washed out to sea or overcome by unusually strong currents miles inshore. Backcountry islands that would have offered rest may themselves be drowned in a flood surge of several feet. Be smart. Those fish aren’t going anywhere. You’ll get ‘em next time, as long as there is a next time.
Toyota Extends Sponsorship Of Bassmaster Events Through 2023
September 17, 2019
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — B.A.S.S., the world’s largest fishing organization, and Toyota have renewed their longstanding, 16-year partnership for four more years. An exclusive sponsor of the B.A.S.S.-owned Bassmaster Tournament Trail since 2004, Toyota will continue through 2023 as a Platinum-level, exclusive Automobile/Truck and Mobility partner.
“Toyota is thrilled to continue our exclusive partnership with B.A.S.S. into 2023,” said Matt Ozawa, engagement marketing manager, Toyota Motor North America. “What began as a partnership to help launch the Tundra 16 years ago has evolved to Toyota now serving as the Official Vehicle of B.A.S.S. It’s truly a great fit for Toyota and continues to excite fans across the country.”
“B.A.S.S. is looking forward to four more years with Toyota,” said Bruce Akin, CEO of B.A.S.S. “This partnership will give Toyota elevated exposure to our growing audience of the world’s best bass anglers and fans, who learn about Toyota onsite at our events and through our award-winning media properties. Plus, our angler competitors are excited about the opportunity to continue participating in the Toyota Bonus Bucks program.”
The popular Toyota Bonus Bucks program offers cash prizes to eligible anglers who tow their boats with a qualifying Toyota vehicle.
The agreement includes Toyota sponsorship of the 50th Bassmaster Classic, as well as the Bassmaster Elite Series, Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens Series, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Mossy Oak Fishing High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors and the grass-roots T.N.T Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation regional and championship tournaments.
For bass fishing fans attending Elite Series events, Toyota will continue with its family-friendly activities and Toyota vehicle displays.
Besides its strong presence at Bassmaster events, Toyota will continue garnering prime visibility in B.A.S.S. multimedia platforms. They include Bassmaster Magazine and B.A.S.S. Times, the popular Bassmaster.com website, Bassmaster social media and the award-winning TV show, The Bassmasters, which airs on ESPN2 and The Pursuit Channel.
About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 510,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), television show (The Bassmasters on ESPN2 and The Pursuit Channel), radio show (Bassmaster Radio), social media programs and events. For more than 50 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.
The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, Basspro.com Bassmaster Open Series, TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Series, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors, Bassmaster Team Championship and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the GEICO Bassmaster Classic.
RAMPEY WINS ANOTHER – LIBERTY ANGLER WINS TWO-DAY T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE EVENT ON LAKE HARTWELL
Easley’s Wilson Wins Co-angler Division
ANDERSON, S.C. (Sept. 16, 2019) – Boater Jayme Rampey of Liberty, South Carolina, added another BFL victory to his impressive resume Sunday, bringing a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 31 pounds, 6 ounces, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Savannah River Division super-tournament on Lake Hartwell. Rampey earned $5,665 for his efforts.
The 33-year-old Rampey earned his 10th career BFL victory and moved into a tie for No. 6 all-time for most BFL Boater wins. He was excited, but didn’t want to divulge too many of his winning details with a BFL Regional tournament on Lake Hartwell coming up in just 2½ weeks.
“I hate to be vague, but I’ve got a BFL Regional tournament coming up here and I don’t want to give away all of my secrets just yet,” Rampey said. “Maybe we can do this interview again in a couple of weeks and I can really share the juice.”
Although vague, Rampey did say that he caught around 20 fish a day, most of them on an unnamed topwater bait.
“I ran around a lot of fished pretty much the whole lake,” Rampey said. “From takeoff to the dam, up all the rivers. I just hit places where I know they live.
“This time of the year, the fish are doing a certain thing and I know where the bigger ones set up for that topwater deal,” Rampey continued. “Everyone does it, but I know that the bigger ones get into certain places. They biggest factor for me in this one was my Lowrance graphs. I was able to pick out those very specific places that I wanted to fish.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Jayme Rampey, Liberty, S.C., 10 bass, 31-6, $5,665
2nd: Derek Freeman, Anderson, S.C., 10 bass, 28-1, $2,233
3rd: Jason Burroughs, Hodges, S.C., 10 bass, 26-8, $1,838
4th: Eddie Whiten Jr., Easley, S.C., 10 bass, 26-7, $1,042
5th: Deron Johnson, Anderson, S.C., 10 bass, 24-3, $893
6th: Matt Redd, Belton, S.C., 10 bass, 23-6, $819
7th: Darren Ashley, Calhoun Falls, S.C., 10 bass, 23-4, $894
8th: Bryan New, Belmont, N.C., 10 bass, 21-14, $970
9th: Sean Skey, Sumter, S.C., 10 bass, 21-9, $1,105
10th: Heath Pack, Ellijay, Ga., 10 bass, 21-6, $521
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Skey caught a 4-pound, 13-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $510.
Easley, South Carolina’s Chris Wilson won the Co-angler Division and $2,367 Sunday after catching a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 19 pounds, 15 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Chris Wilson, Easley, S.C., 10 bass, 19-15, $2,367
2nd: Michael Smith, Piedmont, S.C., 10 bass, 16-9, $1,133
3rd: Trevor Sharrett, Chesnee, S.C., nine bass, 15-13, $724
4th: Brandon Lawson, Union, S.C., seven bass, 13-13, $506
5th: Nathan McClure, Hiawassee, Ga., eight bass, 13-7, $433
6th: Johnny Hancox, West Union, S.C., nine bass, 13-2, $397
7th: Kevin Landreth, Seneca, S.C., 10 bass, 13-1, $511
8th: Jeff Rikard, Leesville, S.C., seven bass, 11-11, $325
9th: Darren Jeter, Marshall, N.C., eight bass, 11-8, $289
10th: Roger Coggins, Greenville, S.C., six bass, 11-3, $353
Marcus Brown of Elberton, Georgia, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 3 pounds, 11 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $247.
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. 10-12 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia. 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 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
