OKEECHOBEE, Fla. (Jan. 11, 2016) – Professional angler George Kapiton of Inverness, Florida, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 31 pounds even Saturday to win the first FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Gator Division tournament of 2016 on Lake Okeechobee, presented by Navionics. For his victory, Kapiton earned $9,000.

“I couldn’t establish a stable pattern in practice so I went out there and just fished the conditions,” said Kapiton, a veteran of the Walmart FLW Tour who has earned more than $190,000 in FLW competition. “It was really an interesting day of fishing.

“I caught a small limit of staging fish early in the morning using a perch-colored Rapala X-Rap prop bait,” continued Kapiton. “After the sun came out, I went looking for more males in Harney Pond. I was able to dial in on staging fish that were coming in from the lake to spawn and basically intercepted them before they reached the bedding area.”

Kapiton said he used a Texas-rigged penetration-colored Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver and a black and blue-colored Medlock Double Weedguard Flipping Jig rigged with the Sweet Beaver to flip mats and reeds.

The Florida pro said he caught a 6½- and an 8-pounder on the Sweet Beaver, as well as a 6½-pound fish on the Medlock Jig in one area of the pond between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Kapiton stopped at an area near the boat ramp with 30 minutes left to fish and used the Medlock Jig to catch an 8-pound, 2-ounce behemoth to cap off his winning stringer.

“I credit my Halo Daylite Series rod with helping me get the win,” said Kapiton. “The rod is lightweight, but durable enough to catch the big ones on Lake Okeechobee. It performed very well.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          George Kapiton, Inverness, Fla., five bass, 31-0, $6,000 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus + $1,000 Mercury Bonus

2^nd:         Mike Surman, Boca Raton, Fla., five bass, 28-15, $3,000 + $300 Evinrude Bonus

3^rd:          Jim Hurlock Jr., Lake Worth, Fla., five bass, 24-8, $2,000

4^th:          Robert Crosnoe, Inverness, Fla., five bass, 22-14, $1,400

5^th:          Jai Hunter Sr., Deland, Fla., five bass, 22-6, $1,200

6^th:          Juan Ruiz, West Palm Beach, Fla., five bass, 21-9, $1,100

7^th:          John O’ Farrell, Lakeland, Fla., five bass, 21-0, $1,000

8^th:          David Oliveira, Homestead, Fla., five bass, 19-15, $900

9^th:          Kyle Giella, Ruskin, Fla., five bass, 19-13, $800

10^th:        Sandy Melvin, Boca Grande, Fla., five bass, 19-12, $700     

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.  

Crosnoe caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division, a monster weighing 10 pounds, 6 ounces and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $1,000.

Alex Mut of Miami, Florida, weighed in five bass totaling 17 pounds, 12 ounces Saturday to earn the $3,000 win in the co-angler division.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Alex Mut, Miami, Fla., five bass, 17-12, $3,000

2^nd:         Charles Cenko, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., five bass, 17-9, $1,500

3^rd:          John Davis, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., five bass, 16-15, $1,000

4^th:          Raymond Guerra, Port Saint Lucie, Fla., five bass, 15-10, $700

5^th:          Kirk Kastner, Margate, Fla., five bass, 15-9, $600

6^th:          Michael Gilliard, Tallahassee, Fla., five bass, 15-8, $550

7^th:          Junior Iriban, Lantana, Fla., five bass, 15-5, $475

7^th:          Israel Panozzo, Palm Springs, Fla., five bass, 15-5, $475

9^th:          Thomas Helton, Charleston, Tenn., five bass, 15-1, $400

10^th:        Kyle Stafford, Lakeland, Fla., five bass, 14-15, $350

Shannon Pitts of Vero Beach, Florida, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $500.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 13-15 Regional Championship on Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.

The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 50 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and 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 winners in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the BFL on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.