Iuka’s Whipple Earns Co-angler Title

GREENVILLE, Miss. (June 18, 2018) – Local boater Terry Bates of Greenville weighed a 22-pound, 15-ounce limit of bass to win Saturday’s T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mississippi Division tournament on Lake Ferguson. Bates pocketed $4,559 for his catch.

“I made a 40-minute run from takeoff to Lake Lee to fish humps,” said Bates, who earned his third career win in BFL competition. “I pulled up to one and caught three, but also lost a couple of good ones. There were a lot of gar in the area and they tore up my bait so I decided to leave.”

Bates said he used Watermelon Candy- and Black Ruby-colored Zoom Brush Hogs along with a Carolina-rigged 10-inch plum-colored Berkley Powerbait Power Worm. He also caught some fish with a ¾-ounce football-head jig with a Watermelon Candy Berkley Powerbait Chigger Craw trailer.

“I moved to another hump around 10 a.m. and caught two to finish my limit,” said Bates. “I kept moving and had five different areas to fish. I wasn’t able to cull so I went back to Lake Ferguson around 10:30 (a.m.).”

Bates’ winning limit was caught on 17-pound-test Berkley Trilene 100 percent Fluorocarbon Ice line on a 7-foot, 11-inch Fenwick Elite Tech Casting Rod and Abu Garcia Revo SX Generation 3 reel.

“On Ferguson I fished some gravel humps in 15 to 20 feet of water,” said Bates. “I got rid of a small 13-incher from Lee with a 2½-pounder. The last fish I caught was at 12:30 (p.m.) – a 6-pound, 9-ouncer.”

Bates’ final bass ended up being the largest fish of the event – caught with the Carolina-rigged Watermelon Candy Brush Hog.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Terry Bates, Greenville, Miss., five bass, 22-15, $4,559

2^nd:         Jeff Johnston, Marion, Ark., five bass, 20-12, $2,005

3^rd:          Tim McDaniel, Grenada, Miss., five bass, 19-3, $1,336

4^th:          Heath Gilmore, Meridian, Miss., five bass, 18-11, $1,135

5^th:          Marty Torrence, Crystal Springs, Miss., five bass, 18-4, $802

6^th:          Chad Mayfield, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 17-13, $835

7^th:          Percy Jones, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 17-10, $668

8^th:          Joel Barber, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 16-14, $601

9^th:          Sawyer Sparks, Summit, Miss., five bass, 16-9, $535

10^th:        David Dove, Steens, Miss., five bass, 16-7, $444

10^th:        Brent Anderson, Kingston Springs, Tenn., five bass, 16-7, $444

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Bates’ 6-pound, 9-ounce bass earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $550.

Keith Whipple of Iuka, Mississippi, won the Co-angler Division and $2,205 Saturday after catching a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 10 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Keith Whipple, Iuka, Miss., five bass, 21-10, $2,205

2^nd:         Leland Brown, Fulton, Miss., five bass, 19-6, $1,002

3^rd:          Bobby Bullock, Florence, Miss., five bass, 18-10, $718

4^th:          Kevin Culpepper, Seminary, Miss., five bass, 16-9, $468

5^th:          Austin Navarre, Carriere, Miss., five bass, 15-7, $401

6^th:          Jim Pierce, Medon, Tenn., five bass, 14-8, $368

7^th:          Jimmy Hughes, Bartlett, Tenn., five bass, 14-3, $334

8^th:          John Swords, Collierville, Tenn., five bass, 13-4, $284

8^th:          Justin Ketteringham, Pearl, Miss., five bass, 13-4, $284

10^th:        Joseph Breeden, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 13-1, $234

Louis Stevens of Grenada, Mississippi, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 5 pounds, 7 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $275.

The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mississippi Division tournament on Lake Ferguson was hosted by the Greenville/Washington 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. 18-20 BFL Regional Championship on Kentucky and Barkley lakes in Gilbertsville, Kentucky. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.

The 2018 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.

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