Montgomery wins co-angler title

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (Oct. 31, 2016) – Eighteen-year-old Sheldon Collings of Grove, Oklahoma, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds even Saturday to win the FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Regional event on Lake Dardanelle presented by Ranger Boats, with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 47 pounds, 4 ounces. For his win, Collings earned $65,000, including a new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard, and a berth into the 2017 BFL All-American Championship.

Collings said he spent the first two days of the event at a creek mouth in an Arkansas River tailwater, below the Dardanelle Lock & Dam.

“The mouth had a point protruding from it,” said Collings, who earned his first win in FLW competition. “The shad were in the slack water behind it, along a shelf. The shelf was shallow, and ran across the entire mouth. The first bass I caught was a 6-pounder on a finesse jig.”

On Day Two, Collings said he switched to a chartreuse and black-colored Strike King KVD 2.5 square-bill crankbait.

“I caught six keepers there on Friday,” said Collings. “Casting into the current was key. You had to position the boat straight into it, cast the lure forward and then reel it back in.”

Collings said he focused on wing dams on the final day of the competition.

“I made a milk run and fished the dams that had the most current,” said Collings. “I caught seven keepers including a 6-pounder on the crankbait before heading in. I didn’t catch a lot of fish in this tournament, but I definitely got some big ones. I’ve never done this well here before.”

The top six boaters that qualified for the 2017 BFL All-American were:

1^st:          Sheldon Collings, Grove, Okla., 15 bass, 47-4, $65,000

2^nd:         Melvin Dunn, Orange, Texas, 12 bass, 41-13, $10,000

3^rd:          Justin Atkins, Florence, Ala., 14 bass, 38-13, $5,000

4^th:          Jeffrey Smith, Knob Noster, Mo., 12 bass, 37-15, $3,000

5^th:          Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., 13 bass, 36-10, $2,200

6^th:          Lane McGaha, Dubach, La., 15 bass, 35-0, $1,900

Rounding out the top-10 boaters were:

7^th:          Ryan Wilbanks, Wagoner, Okla., 14 bass, 34-4, $1,600

8^th:          Jimmy Washam, Covington, Tenn., 11 bass, 31-10, $1,400

9^th:          Austin Lowrey, Webb City, Mo., 15 bass, 31-2, $1,200

10^th:        Dicky Newberry, Houston, Texas, 12 bass, 27-2, $1,000

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Michael Montgomery of Cuba, Missouri, won the co-angler division and a new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard with a three-day cumulative catch of 14 bass weighing 25 pounds even.

The top six co-anglers that qualified for the 2017 BFL All-American were:

1^st:          Michael  Montgomery, Cuba, Mo., 14 bass, 25-0, $45,000

2^nd:         Ronald Smith Jr.,  Kansas City, Kan., seven bass, 16-4, $5,000

3^rd:          Damon Duncan, Kansas, Okla., five bass, 16-1, $2,500

4^th:          David Lansford, Muskogee, Okla., five bass, 14-14, $1,500

5^th:          Dennis Meyer, Ballwin, Mo., five bass, 13-14, $1,100

6^th:          Justin Newell, Muskogee, Okla., six bass, 13-11, $950

Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers were:

7^th:          Heath Gilmore, Meridian, Miss., six bass, 13-9, $800

8^th:          Stephen Brown, Arlington, Tenn., five bass, 13-7, $700

9^th:          Sam Bremmerkamp, Joplin, Mo., six bass, 12-15, $600

10^th:        Steven Fisher, Lufkin, Texas, six bass, 12-3, $500

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. The 2017 BFL All-American will be held May 31-June 3 on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Alabama. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.