Jefferson’s Harris Wins Co-angler Title

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (Feb. 26, 2018) – Boater Ben Brisbois of Gainesville, caught five bass weighing 20 pounds, 11 ounces, Saturday to win the 2018 T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bulldog Division opener on Lake Lanier. Brisbois earned $6,380 for his victory.

“Lanier is my home lake, and I knew that my best bet was to target spotted bass, so that’s what I did,” said Brisbois, who was fishing in his first career event as a boater in FLW competition. “I made a 20 to 25 minute run to the south end of the lake and I stayed there all day.

“I started off throwing a crankbait, but to no avail,” Brisbois continued. “Around 9 a.m. we weren’t getting any action so we moved to the backs of some pockets. I caught a couple of fish on a shaky-head rig, then the wind started blowing around 10 a.m. I knew that I had to get back out offshore, so we moved back out and I was able to put some keepers in the boat.”

Brisbois said he caught around a dozen fish throughout the day on an Ike’s Penguin-colored Rapala DT10 crankbait and an electric shad-colored Spot Sticker worm on a Spot Sticker shaky-head rig.

“The key was definitely moving back out when the wind started blowing,” Brisbois said. “They wouldn’t touch the crankbait earlier in the day, but when the wind picked up, in the exact same spots, we caught them.”

Brisbois limit was anchored by a 6-pound, 3-ounce spotted bass that he caught on the crankbait – his personal best.

“I was fishing a 7-foot, medium-heavy ALX IKOS Hustler rod with my crankbait and it made a huge difference,” Brisbois went on to say. “It’s designed for fishing mid-depth crankbaits and was a perfect set up for the DT10. The rod has enough tip where you’re not going to pull the hooks right out of their mouths, but enough backbone to crank 5- and 6-pounders in.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Ben Brisbois, Gainesville, Ga., five bass, 20-11, $6,380

2^nd:         David Morton, Suwanne, Ga., five bass, 20-7, $2,242

2^nd:         Alan Piacentine, Dallas, Ga., five bass, 20-7, $3,097

4^th:         Jesse Millsaps, Jasper, Ga., five bass, 19-3, $1,455

5^th:         Brock Turner, Jasper, Ga., five bass, 19-1, $1,076

6^th:         Shane Peck, Gainesville, Ga., five bass, 18-2, $986

7^th:         Patrick Bone, Cleveland, Ga., five bass, 17-13, $897

8^th:         Brad Fowler, Townville, S.C., five bass, 17-3, $907

9^th:         Josh Maddox, Gainesville, Ga., five bass, 16-8, $717

10^th:       Bryan Hinkle, Cumming, Ga., five bass, 16-7, $628

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Piacentine caught a largemouth weighing 8 pounds, 8 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $855.

Ronald Harris of Jefferson, Georgia, won the Co-angler Division and $2,620 Saturday after catching a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 12 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Ronald Harris, Jefferson, Ga., five bass, 14-12, $2,620

2^nd:         Ben Adams, Buford, Ga., five bass, 13-8, $1,310

3^rd:         Jack Fowler, Coleman, Ga., five bass, 12-14, $744

3^rd:         Andrew Fisher, Alexandria, Ala., five bass, 12-14, $744

5^th:         Josh Kemp, Ball Ground, Ga., five bass, 12-13, $502

5^th:         Jerry Bryant, Douglas, Ga., five bass, 12-13, $502

7^th:         Jerry Brumfield, Cumming, Ga., five bass, 12-3, $415

7^th:         Stephen Young, Canton, Ga., five bass, 12-3, $415

9^th:         Joe Anders, Easley, S.C.., three bass, 11-14, $349

10^th:       Jason Wilson, Lula, Ga., five bass, 11-13, $390

10^th:       Don Hall, Mableton, Ga., five bass, 11-13, $290

John Blevins of Cumming, Georgia, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a 5-pound, 3-ounce fish. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $412.

The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bulldog Division event on Lake Lanier was hosted by the Gainesville 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. 11-13 BFL Regional Championship on the St. John’s River in Palatka, Florida. 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.