Muskogee’s Lansford tops Co-angler Division

MCALESTER, Okla. (May 22, 2017) – Boater Phillip Lunceford of Stigler, Oklahoma, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds even Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Okie Division event on Eufaula Lake. Lunceford took home $4,830 for his victory.

Lunceford said that all of the fish that he caught Saturday came via flipping bushes. He fished a 5 to 6 mile stretch, starting a mile east of Standing Rock and fishing all the way to Duchess Creek.

“I live on the lake, so I knew that flipping bushes was going to be the main pattern,” Lunceford said. “I only caught nine fish throughout the day, and four of them were not keepers. I actually lost a 3- and a 4-pounder, and I probably should have weighed in 18 or 19 pounds. Luckily my 16 pounds was enough to get it done.”

Lunceford said that he rotated through three different flipping baits throughout the day – a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver, a Strike King Rodent and a Gene Larew Salt Craw.

“I worked my way through Duchess all the way up in to Mud Creek,” Lunceford said. “The water was rising, so it eliminated a lot of water that I had wanted to fish. I knew that the fish would be in the bushes, so I just kept my head down and stayed with it.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Phillip Lunceford, Stigler, Okla., five bass, 16-0, $4,830

2^nd:         Cade Alsbury, Springdale, Ark., five bass, 15-14, $2,615

3^rd:         Jacob Capps, Muskogee, Okla., five bass, 13-14, $1,709

4^th:         Steven McLarty, Broken Arrow, Okla., five bass, 13-13, $1,127

5^th:         Shonn Goodwin, Moore, Okla., five bass, 13-8, $966

6^th:         Brent Haggard, Gans, Okla., five bass, 12-6, $885

7^th:         Kevin Slate, Choctaw, Okla., five bass, 12-4, $805

8^th:         Travis McKelvey, Jenks, Okla., five bass, 12-3, $724

9^th:         Mike Gilbreath, Vian, Okla., four bass, 12-1, $644

10^th:       Luke Frazier, Owasso, Okla., four bass, 11-12, $563

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Allen Rude of Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, caught a 5-pound, 6-ounce bass, which was the heaviest of the tournament in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $720.

David Lansford of Muskogee, Oklahoma, weighed in five bass totaling 15 pounds, 10 ounces Saturday to win the Co-angler Division and the top prize of $2,415.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          David Lansford, Muskogee, Okla., five bass, 15-10, $2,415

2^nd:         Damon Duncan, Kansas, Okla., five bass, 13-5, $1,207

3^rd:         Darin Comstock, Denison, Texas, three bass, 10-15, $806

4^th:         Bobby Call, Wagoner, Okla., four bass, 10-0, $563

5^th:         Kurt Gordon, Cushing, Okla., three bass, 9-14, $483

6^th:         Sheldon Vinson, Fayetteville, Ark., five bass, 9-11, $443

7^th:         Brandon Ackerson, Afton, Okla., five bass, 9-1, $402

8^th:         Randy Choate, Ada, Okla., three bass, 8-6, $362

9^th:         Nathan Colwell, Pryor, Okla., two bass, 8-1, $422

10^th:       Jerry Evans, Pottsboro, Texas, three bass, 7-11, $282

Brandon Beaver of Durant, Oklahoma, weighed a 5-pound, 12-ounce bass which earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award and $360.

The T-H Marine BFL at Eufaula Lake was hosted by the City of McAlester.

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. 19-21 BFL Regional Championship on the Red River in Shreveport, Louisiana. 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.