Hockley Tops Co-angler Division

MARBURY, Md. (April 23, 2018) – Boater Joe Zombek II of Scranton, Pennsylvania, caught a five-bass limit weighing 24 pounds, 10 ounces, Sunday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Northeast Division tournament on the Potomac River. For his efforts, Zombek took home $5,229.

Zombek fished two areas in Mattawoman Creek – one a secondary channel with pilings and the other a 50-yard main-channel creek bend with rocks and wood. He said the areas were about 200 yards apart from one another.

“I targeted prespawn females waiting for the water temperature to rise so they could head up to spawn,” said Zombek, who logged his first career win FLW competition. “We had strong wind and rain Thursday and Friday and it stained the water. As of Sunday, it cleared up and the water temperature rose four degrees to the upper 50s. I know the fish had been there for a while, but with the warmer water they fed more.”

Zombek fished two baits – a homemade green-pumpkin-colored jig with a Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw trailer in the same color and a Texas-rigged green-pumpkin Zoom tube with a 3/8-ounce weight – and was able to put 11 keepers in his boat.

“I alternated between the baits depending on the conditions of the tide,” said Zombek. “When the tide moved I used the jig because the fish were more aggressive and when it slowed down I finessed them with the tube.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Joe Zombek II, Scranton, Pa., five bass, 24-10, $5,229

2^nd:         Andrew Heivly, Malvern, Pa., five bass, 19-5, $3,629

3^rd:          Zachary Page, Middletown, Del., five bass, 18-14, $1,745

4^th:          Ryan Ingalls, Fairfax, Va., five bass, 18-13, $1,320

5^th:          Aaron Dixon, Bel Alton, Md., five bass, 18-10, $1,046

6^th:          John Vanore, Mullica Hill, N.J., five bass, 18-9, $959

7^th:          Kyle Hoffman, Harpers Ferry, W. Va., five bass, 18-0, $871

8^th:          Cody Cutter, Harveys Lake, Pa., five bass, 17-15, $784

9^th:          Tony Dorman, Taylor, Pa., five bass, 17-8, $653

9^th:          Todd Neale, Warrenton, Va., five bass, 17-8, $653

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Heivly brought a 6-pound, 9-ounce bass to the scale – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $815.

Robert Hockley of Annville, Pennsylvania, won the Co-angler Division and $2,614 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 18 pounds, 6 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Robert Hockley, Annville, Pa., five bass, 18-6, $2,614

2^nd:         Matthew Gaeng, Greeley, Pa., five bass, 18-5, $1,307

3^rd:          Doug Cameron, Belchertown, Mass., five bass, 17-14, $872

4^th:          Jack Wolf, Chesapeake City, Md., four bass, 16-10, $1,017

5^th:          Derek Heyne, New Freedom, Pa., five bass, 15-11, $623

6^th:          Richard Harris III., Dallas, Pa., five bass, 15-9, $479

7^th:          Curtis Glover, Wynnewood, Pa., five bass, 15-8, $486

8^th:          Bill Easter, Clinton, Md., four bass, 14-13, $392

9^th:          Robert Reid Jr., Clinton, Md., four bass, 14-9, $349

10^th:        Alexander James, Evans, Ga., four bass, 14-8, $305

Wolf caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $407.

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 Chesapeake Bay in North East, Maryland. 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.