Paris’ Eslinger Grabs Co-angler Title

WHITTINGTON, Ill. (Sept. 18, 2017) – Greg Mullins of Mount Vernon, Illinois, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Illini Division tournament on Rend Lake Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 28 pounds, 10 ounces. Mullins was awarded $4,869 for his win.

Mullins said he spent the event fishing four stretches – each 200 to 300 yards long – on the north end of the lake. He said he targeted bass on banks that had a combination of riprap and wood, and was able to catch 13 keepers.

“There weren’t as many bites up there compared to the main lake, but they were good-sized fish,” said Mullins, who logged his first career win as a boater in BFL competition. “I think the fish were up against those hard banks to feed because there were a lot of shad. They weren’t schooling up yet, though.”

Mullins said he used a 3/8-ounce chartreuse and white-colored Z-Man ChatterBait with a green-pumpkin-colored Zoom Super Chunk to catch the majority of his fish. He added that his largest bass Saturday came on a green-pumpkin Zoom Ultravibe Speed Worm.

“I threw the ChatterBait any time I came to a good piece of wood, then flipped the worm to it,” said Mullins. “Most of the fish were in 6 inches of water, while I sat in anywhere from 6 inches to 2½ feet of water. My Crestliner was really key in helping me navigate the shallows.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Greg Mullins, Mount Vernon, Ill., 10 bass, 28-10, $4,869

2^nd:         Neil McCord, West Frankfort, Ill., 10 bass, 25-9, $3,219

3^rd:          Dan Morehead, Paducah, Ky., 10 bass, 24-0, $1,623

4^th:          Timothy Rivest, Champaign, Ill., eight bass, 21-7, $1,136

5^th:          Brian Futch, Vienna, Ill., 10 bass, 21-1, $1,074

6^th:          Marty Sisk, Evansville, Ind., nine bass, 19-15, $893

7^th:          Mike Barnes, Mackinaw, Ill., 10 bass, 19-9, $1,111

8^th:          Mike McGill, Findlay, Ill., nine bass, 19-5, $730

9^th:          Toby Corn, Calvert City, Ky., 10 bass, 19-4, $649

10^th:        Jerry Walker, Zeigler, Ill., seven bass, 19-3, $568

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

McCord caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $585.

Archie Eslinger of Paris, Illinois, caught a two-day total of nine bass weighing 19 pounds, 11 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $2,372.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Archie Eslinger, Paris, Illinois, nine bass, 19-11, $2,372

2^nd:         Jim Brown, Coulterville, Ill., six bass, 11-10, $1,186

3^rd:          Jacob Bovara, Wadsworth, Ill., five bass, 10-14, $1,077

4^th:          Jeffrey Lee, Olney, Ill., five bass, 10-10, $553

5^th:          Aaron Arning, Walnut Hill, Ill., four bass, 9-12, $674

6^th:          Scott Strausbaugh, Hillsboro, Ill., five bass, 9-8, $435

7^th:          Steve Kehrer, Woodlawn, Ill., five bass, 9-4, $395

8^th:          Ryan Fancher, Olney, Ill., four bass, 9-3, $406

9^th:          Phil Santefort, Roberts, Ill., four bass, 8-8, $316

10^th:        Adam Brookman, Bonnie, Ill., four bass, 8-5, $277

Bovara caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 3 pounds, 14 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $285.

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. 5-7 BFL Regional Championship on Kentucky Lake 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 2017 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 regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the BFL on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.