Pineville’s Lewis Grabs Co-angler Title

ZWOLLE, La. (April 23, 2018) – Boater Glen Freeman of Zwolle, caught a five-bass limit weighing 24 pounds, 12 ounces, Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Cowboy Division event on Toledo Bend Lake. For his efforts, Freeman took home $6,895.

“I concentrated on points where the bass were moving up and feeding at certain times of the day. You just had to be there at the right time,” said Freeman, who is now tied for second on the All-Time BFL wins list with 10 career wins in BFL competition. “I was on the north end of the lake, sitting in 5 to 6 feet of water and throwing to 2 to 3 feet. I had 9 or 10 points and just rotated through them.”

Freeman said he used a green-pumpkin-colored ½-ounce Johnston jig with a Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw trailer of the same color to catch approximately 15 keepers throughout the day.

“They bit the best mid-morning,” said Freeman. “The wind was a big deal for me. I had to have some wind to help the points – that brought the bass up to feed.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Glen Freeman, Zwolle, La., five bass, 24-12, $4,895 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus

2^nd:         Matthew McArdle, Humble, Texas, five bass, 20-6, $2,448

3^rd:          Lance Duff, Lumberton, Texas, five bass, 19-13, $1,565

4^th:          Jeff Wooldridge, Chandler, Texas, five bass, 18-10, $1,096

5^th:          Darold Gleason, Many, La., five bass, 18-9, $939

6^th:          Stephen Reitzell, Colfax, La., five bass, 18-2, $861

7^th:          Josh Dunaway, Sulphur, La., five bass, 18-1, $783

8^th:          Nick Lebrun, Bossier City, La., five bass, 17-10, $704

9^th:          Cory Bono, Lake Charles, La., five bass, 17-9, $626

10^th:        T.J. Goodwyn, Center, Texas, five bass, 17-6, $548

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Bob Vote of Kingwood, Texas, brought a 7-pound, 12-ounce bass to the scale – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $700.

Cason Lewis of Pineville, Louisiana, won the Co-angler Division and $2,548 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 13 pounds, 14 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Cason Lewis, Pineville, La., five bass, 13-14, $2,548

2^nd:         James Waller, Cypress, Texas, five bass, 13-10, $1,174

3^rd:          Ronnie Ray Jr., McKinney, Texas, five bass, 13-7, $831

4^th:          James Callaghan, DeBerry, Texas, five bass, 13-4, $509

4^th:          Blake Landreneau, Youngsville, La., four bass, 13-4, $509

6^th:          Keith Kimbrough, Woden, Texas, five bass, 13-0, $430

7^th:          Bill Fussell, Thibodaux, La., five bass, 12-15, $391

8^th:          Fred Martin, North Little Rock, Ark., five bass, 12-12, $352

9^th:          Cedric Jackson, Sicily Island, La., five bass, 12-10, $293

9^th:          Bernard Fruge, Noble, La., five bass, 12-10, $293

Eddie Burns of Little Rock, Arkansas, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 6 pounds, 11 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $350.

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. 25-27 BFL Regional Championship on Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. 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. The 2018 BFL All-American will be held May 31-June 2 at Cross Lake in Shreveport, Louisiana, and is hosted by the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission. 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.