Ballwin’s Saffle Wins Co-angler Division

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (Sept. 16, 2019) – Boater Roger Fitzpatrick of Eldon, Missouri, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 36 pounds, 3 ounces, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Ozark Division presented by Bassing Bob super-tournament on Lake of the Ozarks Sunday. For his victory, Fitzpatrick earned $6,891 for his efforts.

“My home is in the Gravois arm, so I like to fish on the north shore,” said Fitzpatrick, who earned his seventh career BFL victory. “I had two different patterns going – I’d fish docks in the morning with a black and blue jig, then later in the day I’d move out to the ledges.

“The deeper ledge fish were the key,” Fitzpatrick said. “They were bigger, but they didn’t bite in the morning – it had to be later in the day. It also takes heavy boat traffic for me to catch them, so I had to be patient and not go to the ledge fish too soon. Those morning docks ended up giving me some very key fish.”

Fitzpatrick said his key bait was a black-and-blue-colored Omega Pro Mega Structure jig tipped with a BioSpawn VileBug, as he weighed in nine of his 10 keepers on the jig. He also weighed in one keeper on a white Berkley Choppo that came on a seawall.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., 10 bass, 36-3, $6,891

2^nd:         Lawson Hibdon, Versailles, Mo., 10 bass, 31-9, $3,345

3^rd:         Donovan Hensley, Nixa, Mo., 10 bass, 30-11, $2,329

4^th:         Marcus Sykora, Osage Beach, Mo., 10 bass, 29-10, $1,561

5^th:         Dennis Berhorst, Holts Summit, Mo., 10 bass, 29-2, $1,338

6^th:         Kirk Smith, Edmond, Okla., 10 bass, 28-4, $1,227

7^th:         Rob Bueltmann, Osage Beach, Mo., 10 bass, 27-4, $1,115

8^th:         Andre Dickneite, Freeburg, Mo., nine bass, 26-4, $1,004

9^th:         Tom Silber, Labadie, Mo., 10 bass, 26-3, $892

10^th:       Shonn Goodwin, Moore, Okla., 10 bass, 25-15, $1,031

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Chuck Austin of Saint Peters, Missouri, caught a 5-pound, 11-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $960.

Dillon Saffle of Ballwin, Missouri won the Co-angler Division and $3,545 Sunday after catching a two-day total of six bass weighing 15 pounds, 13 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Dillon Saffle, Ballwin, Mo., six bass, 15-13, $3,545

2^nd:         Bill Amis, Shawnee, Kan., five bass, 14-8, $1,673

3^rd:         Paul Davis, Battlefield, Mo., five bass, 14-7, $1,166

4^th:         Paul Jung, Cuba, Mo., six bass, 14-4, $781

5^th:         Joe Tucker, Osceola, Mo., seven bass, 14-4, $819

6^th:         Ray Larson, Springfield, Ill., four bass, 13-6, $613

7^th:         Ryan Hopping, Lake Saint Louis, Mo., four bass, 13-6, $558

8^th:         Scott Parsons, Rogers, Ark., seven bass, 13-3, $502

9^th:         Vi Nguyen, Pevely, Mo., five bass, 12-12, $446

10^th:       Brandon Hecker, Camdenton, Mo., four bass, 12-8, $870

Hecker caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 6 pounds, 12 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $480.

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.