AnglersChannel

Morrow Wins T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Regional Championship on the St. Johns River Presented by Ranger

PALATKA, Fla. (Oct. 15, 2018) – FLW Tour pro Troy Morrow of Eastanollee, Georgia, caught a three-day cumulative total of 15 bass weighing 57 pounds, 10 ounces, to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Regional championship on the St. Johns River presented by Ranger. Morrow earned $65,000 for his efforts, including a new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and automatic entry into the 2019 BFL All-American Championship.

“I had a rough start to practice. I got in late and had issues with my boat, so I missed some time,” said Morrow, who logged his fourth career victory in BFL competition. “I elected to stay close to where I was staying and learn as much as I could about the area, which was from the north end of Lake George to Little Lake George. I ended up fishing there all three days.

“As practice progressed, I found two shell beds they were schooled up on, so I started there on Day One,” Morrow continued. “I had a limit by the time I got to the second one, but they weren’t as big as they were in practice. After the second shell bed, I ran to some docks. I didn’t want to burn too many docks from my main area, so at about 12:30 (p.m.) I focused on a row of new docks and caught another big one.”

Morrow said that in addition to his keeper on Day One, those particular docks produced a 7-pound, 12-ouncer, on Day Three.

On Day Two, Morrow said he made the same milk run, but the fishing was slower. He said it took him longer to put together a limit and leave his main area.

“Day Three was even slower – I only had five keeper bites and thought I blew it,” said Morrow. “I stayed close to takeoff for the first 20 minutes and caught a keeper. The outgoing tide was later each day, and by Day Three it was approximately 11 (a.m.) before I felt comfortable fishing my key stuff. I went to the shoals, but didn’t get anything. At my main docks, I did get one that was close to 4 pounds at slack tide, which was a bonus. Once the tide got moving I caught the 7-pound, 12-ouncer.”

Morrow finished out the day by catching two keepers at the shoals.

For lures, Morrow said he used a Texas-rigged, Black Grape-colored Zoom Ol’ Monster Worm on a 5/0-sized Gamakatsu round bend hook with a ¼-ounce tungsten weight for both the shoals and the docks. His rig was attached to 20-pound-test Sunline fluorocarbon line and a 7-foot, 6-inch heavy-action Duckett Fishing rod. He also worked in a chrome-colored topwater bait at the shoals.

The top six boaters that qualified for the 2019 BFL All-American were:

1^st: Troy Morrow, Eastanollee, Ga., 15 bass, 57-10, $65,000

2^nd: Matt Kinney, Bunnell, Fla., 15 bass, 51-0, $10,200

3^rd: Grant Kelly, Milledgeville, Ga., 13 bass, 49-11, $5,100

4^th: Jason Reed, Hollister, Fla., 15 bass, 49-10, $3,000

5^th: Nicholas Hoinig, Port St. Lucie, Fla., 15 bass, 49-6, $2,000

6^th: Kip Carter, Mansfield, Ga., 15 bass, 48-11, $2,800

Rounding out the top-10 boaters were:

7^th: George Kapiton, Inverness, Fla., 15 bass, 47-5, $1,600

8^th: Dylan Peppers, Good Hope, Ga., 15 bass, 47-4, $1,400

9^th: Kevin Dees, Montgomery, Ala., 14 bass, 42-5, $1,200

10^th: Stacy Adams, Hazlehurst, Ga., 15 bass, 41-8, $1,000

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Randy Paquette of Sarasota, Florida, won the Co-angler Division and a new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard with a three-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 34 pounds, 10 ounces.

The top six co-anglers that qualified for the 2019 BFL All-American were:

1^st: Randy Paquette, Sarasota, Fla., 10 bass, 34-10, $45,200

2^nd: Gary Murphy, Homer, Ga., 10 bass, 30-13, $5,050

3^rd: Donnie Davis, Greer, S.C., 11 bass, 26-7, $2,500

4^th: Ernie Thompson, Anthony, Fla., 13 bass, 24-2, $1,500

5^th: Frank Godwin Jr., Bainbridge, Ga., 13 bass, 23-13, $1,000

6^th: Levi Crossway, Jacksonville, Fla., 11 bass, 23-7, $900

Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers were:

7^th: Kenneth Hunnicutt, Jacksonville, Fla., 13 bass, 23-3, $800

8^th: Donald Dills, Mineral Bluff, Ga., 10 bass, 23-0, $700

9^th: Christian Greico, Tampa, Fla., 10 bass, 22-2, $600

10^th: Spencer Sato, Warner Robins, Ga., nine bass, 21-6, $500

The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Regional Championship on the St. Johns River presented by Ranger was hosted by the Putnam County Tourist Development Council.

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 2019 BFL All-American will take place May 30-June 1 on the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland, and is hosted by the Charles County Board of Commissioners and the Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism. 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.

About FLW

FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2018 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct 286 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa and Spain. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.

by AnglersChannel

Blue Mountain College Freshmen Come from Outside the Top 10 to Best Talented Field

The more time an angler spends on the water, the more knowledge they gain, and in turn the greater chances one has for success. That is the common model used for anglers to be successful at any level. At Lake Dardanelle this week, freshmen anglers dominated the field. The AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open saw two teams of freshmen finish 1st and 2nd once the scales closed Saturday afternoon.

Finishing in the top spot is the all freshmen pairing of Rudy Worley and John David Nowlin. Representing Blue Mountain College, the young anglers weighed in 15.12 lbs on day two to amass a total weight of 27.62 lbs. Entering this event as the 52nd ranked school in the Cabela’s School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia, Worley and Nowlin had lofty expectations for their first ever college tournament. “We wanted to do good. Mainly our goal was top 20,” said Worley. They managed to exceed expectations by topping a field of nearly 200 boats. The field this week at Lake Dardanelle was comprised of close to 400 of the best talent in the country. Both of the Blue Mountain College freshmen realize the significance of this major victory. “It’s incredible, especially since it’s my first. Since we just started our team, it’s big for our team and our school,” added Nowlin.

The pair spent the past two days on Lake Dardanelle targeting shad. Using a one-two punch of several specific baits, Worley and Nowlin loaded the boat with fish. “We caught most of our fish on a rattle trap, but a lot of our bigger fish came off of a spook,” noted Worley. Around 12:30 PM a strong storm system settled over the Russellville area. Heavy rain pelted the anglers and air temperatures dropped ever so slightly. This sudden change in conditions had an instant impact on the bite. “I would say it helped. Water temp dropping a little bit more, getting them fish fired up. For the way we fished, yes it helped I would say a lot,” said Nowlin. With the change in the weather, both Blue Mountain College freshmen capitalized on their opportunity to land the winning fish.

Weights at the top of the leaderboard were extremely close. The top three teams were separated by only 0.28 lbs. Finishing just 0.13 lbs behind first were Eric Lampkin and Garrett Warren from Snead State Community College. They flipped heavy mats to total 27.49 lbs of bass. “We’re flipping a flipping stick obviously, 65 lb test braid. We rotate a little bit between a 1 &1/4 oz weight and a 1 & 1/2 oz weight. Flipping a beaver style bait or a craw. Just flip it in there, they’ll hit it as soon as it comes through the mat,” said Lampkin. Flipping matted grass was not a common pattern we heard on Lake Dardanelle this week, so it is likely this duo was fishing for less pressured fish. Given that roughly 200 boats competed in this tournament, low pressured areas were very key.

2nd place Snead State Community College: Garrett Warren & Eric Lampkin

By having a pattern dialed in, Snead State Community College, currently ranked 130th, was around the fish all week. When the foul weather blew in, they too were near the fish when they decided to bite. “Today it was a tough morning. Real slow morning, only had two fish at 11 o’clock. Right before that front blew in we just started catching them. Caught a four pounder, and that really changed the momentum for us,” said Lampkin. Like the 1st place team in front of them, Lampkin and Warren are both freshmen. Being new to the college fishing scene they traveled to Lake Dardanelle both excited and confident. “We were really looking forward to it. We thought we had just as good as odds as anybody else. We work just as hard. We fish just as much, and we put in our time,” explained Warren. It’s easy to get dejected when you come so close to winning but come up just short in the end. Warren went on to state that they don’t plan on letting this one loss effect the rest of their season, “It’s going to happen eventually. We’ll get a win here in the next couple.”

Representing East Texas Baptist University, Chad Poulsen and Dustin Pearcy claimed 3rd place. The duo weighed in 14.85 lbs of Lake Dardanelle bass on this rainy Saturday. Combined with yesterday’s weight, the Texas based anglers tallied 27.34 lbs for two days. Bites came early and often for Poulsen and Pearcy today. “We started out throwing reaction baits. It was on a shad kind of deal. We had our limit by about 8:30,” explained Poulsen. Once they managed a decent limit, the gameplan was to move towards the bank and target shallow wood with jigs. This proved to be a critical decision. “Once we just started hitting those laydowns, I mean, we knocked out I want to say a 4.5 yesterday, and a 3.5 today,” said Pearcy. Finding ways to catch four plus pound fish was an instant path to success this week. Numerous limits of 10 pounds came to the scales. Catching one difference maker proved to be enough to separate a team from the rest of the pack.

3rd place East Texas Baptist University: Chad Poulsen & Dustin Pearcy

Lake Dardanelle provided a true challenge the past two days. Leading up to this event many anglers warned of the potential for these fish to be there one day and gone the next. One look at the leaderboard shows this to be true for this tournament. All three of the top teams from day one dropped out of the top 10. In turn, each of the final top three moved up from 14th, 9th, and 15th respectively. Combined with the flip flop in the leaderboard, the teams were also separated by a narrow margin. This made for quite a suspenseful weigh-in today.

For a look at the complete results, click HERE.

This has been a great week in Russellville, AR at Lake Dardanelle. A great turnout of close to 400 anglers helped to make the first fall event in the history of the Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Series a great success. Throughout the next week we will take a closer look at the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open, as well as break down the impact of this event on the Cabela’s School of the Year Presented by Abu Garcia. Continue to stay up to date with the latest in college bass fishing by following our various social media channels.

For more information about the Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Series, please visit www.CollegiateBassChampionship.com.

by AnglersChannel

Opens Pro Clouse, de-commits from MLF and accepts BASS Elite Invitation

Courtesy Gary Clouse/Phoenix Boats

Oct. 13, 2018 – Winchester, Tenn. — Gary Clouse has had a passion for bass fishing since he was a boy. Any of us that tournament fish or bass fish can probably trace back to the spark that launched our love of fishing. Maybe it was a first fish; maybe it was a first tournament. For Clouse, it was picking up his first issue of Bassmaster magazine. Since that first magazine, which he still carries with him decades later to remind him of what he’s chasing in this sport, all he has envisioned is standing on the Bassmaster Classic stage and fulfilling a lifelong dream.

The professional bass fishing world has been shaken to its roots in the last several weeks with the announcement of the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour. A great group of professional anglers from both FLW and BASS made the change to continue chasing their own dreams on this new tour.

“I was so honored to be invited to fish the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour in 2019,” Clouse said. “But in my heart, I felt I had unfinished business with qualifying for the Bassmaster Elite Series and making my first Classic. That dream and promise I’ve had to myself to make it and qualify for the Classic has fueled my passion in tournament fishing for a lot of years.”

Clouse has been fishing the BASS Opens the last several years and has missed qualifying for the Elite Series by just a few points several times. When he realized he was going to get an invite to fish the Bass Pro Tour, he reached out to BASS and asked if there would be more opportunities for Open anglers at the top of the standings to fish the Elite Series next year. At that point in the process, that was not an option, so he accepted his invite from the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour.

Fast forward to last week, and the call came for the top 15 BASS Open anglers to come fish the Elite Series, and the chance to realize a childhood dream was now a reality.

“I have accepted my invite to fish the Bassmaster Elite Series in 2019. This decision has weighed heavily on me for the last week. I have nothing but respect for Major League Fishing, the people running it and the anglers that chose to fish it. But I follow my heart, and my heart has been chasing the dream of the Bassmaster Classic for a long time.

“I can’t just walk away from the opportunity now. I have been so close to qualifying for the Elite Series, it was hard to just let go of that pursuit. I may be the only angler in professional fishing that doesn’t care about payouts or entry fees or any of that. All I care about is making it onto that stage and realizing this dream I am so passionate about.

“I have talked to Boyd Duckett, and he understood where my heart was and was fully supportive of my decision. He and many of those anglers have already realized a lot of their own childhood dreams at BASS, and making this change was a logical next step in their process. For me, the next part of my process in this sport I love so dearly is trying to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic and fishing next season as an Elite Series pro.

“I know this is the right decision for me, and I am as passionate as I have ever been about the sport of bass fishing.”

by AnglersChannel

B.A.S.S. Nation Releases Full Four-Tournament Schedule For 2019

daho angler Chris Harvey shows off a nice largemouth during the 2018 B.A.S.S. Nation Western Regional on Clear Lake. The 2019 B.A.S.S. Nation schedule, which was released today, includes another stop in California — this time at Lake Shasta. B.A.S.S. Nation events will also be held on Alabama's Lake Guntersville, Sebago Lake in Maine and South Carolina's Lake Hartwell.

Photo by Brian Sak

Oct. 10, 2018

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — B.A.S.S. officials announced Thursday that the B.A.S.S. Nation, the popular grass-roots organization with affiliated clubs in 47 states and 10 nations worldwide, will once again hold three regional events and a year-end championship in 2019.

The Nation will visit Alabama’s Lake Guntersville for the Central Regional on April 17-19, California’s Lake Shasta for the Western Regional on May 8-10 and Sebago Lake in Maine for the Eastern Regional on Sept. 11-13.

The season will then culminate with the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship, which will be held on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell at a date to be determined — most likely in October.

“We’re excited to have a schedule that includes well-known bass-fishing havens like Lake Guntersville, Lake Shasta and Lake Hartwell,” said B.A.S.S. Nation Director Jon Stewart. “Obviously, the tradition that B.A.S.S. has with those three lakes speaks for itself.

“But we’re also really excited about holding a B.A.S.S. Nation Regional event at a great site like Sebago Lake. It’s a place that we’ve visited for smaller divisional tournaments before, but a place that maybe a lot of people aren’t as familiar with as some of the others.”

The timing of the Guntersville event — right in heart of spring — should make for good weather and excellent fishing on a 69,000-acre Tennessee River fishery that is known for producing giant largemouth. The tournament will feature a field of 190 boats with 418 anglers, including alternates.

Guntersville has hosted 22 major B.A.S.S. tournaments, including the 1976 and 2014 Bassmaster Classics and Bassmaster Megabucks events in 1990 and 1992.

“All you have to say is ‘Guntersville,’ and bass fishermen perk up,” Stewart said. “Bass anglers of all skill levels understand what an opportunity it is to fish a lake like Guntersville, especially during the spring.”

The Lake Shasta tournament, which will be held in Redding, Calif., will have a field of 110 boats with 242 anglers — and history says it could be a spotted bass slugfest.

“When we were out there for the Nation Regional in 2017, anglers were saying you could pull up to any place you wanted to, throw any bait you wanted to throw and expect to catch fish,” Stewart said. “We had some incredible fish weighed in, mostly big spots. We hit it just right — and hopefully we will again.”

The final regional of the year, on Sebago Lake, will feature 180 boats with 396 anglers leaving from Point Sebago, Maine. The 30,000-acre fishery, which is the state’s second-deepest lake at 316 feet, has excellent populations of largemouth and smallmouth bass as well as landlocked salmon and lake trout.

Unlike 2018, when the site of the Nation Championship was announced well after the regional lineup, Lake Hartwell has already been identified as the site of the 2019 year-end event. The 56,000-acre fishery on the Georgia/South Carolina border has hosted three Bassmaster Classics, including the 2018 event that drew a record total attendance of 143,323.

The event will be hosted by Visit Anderson.

“Our team at Anderson county could not be more excited about hosting the 2019 B.A.S.S. Nation Championship again at Green Pond Landing and Lake Hartwell,” said Neil Paul, executive director of Visit Anderson. “Our community enjoys a tremendous amount of success whenever we’re hosting the great folks at B.A.S.S. We owe a great deal of credit to B.A.S.S. for their part in helping to make Lake Hartwell a championship fishery and Green Pond Landing one of the top facilities in the nation.

“We look forward to welcoming the anglers, their families and the entire B.A.S.S. Nation in 2019.”

The Top 3 finishers from the 2019 Nation Championship will earn a spot in the 2020 Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK'S Sporting Goods, and the overall Championship winner will receive an invitation to fish the 2020 Bassmaster Elite Series.

“When we refer to the B.A.S.S. Nation as a grass-roots organization, we mean exactly that,” said B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin. “It’s an organization that gives anglers from all walks of life an opportunity to fish at the highest level of professional bass fishing.

“That’s what makes it truly special — and that’s why it’s still growing after 50 years.”

by AnglersChannel

JEREMY LAWYER WINS COSTA FLW SERIES CENTRAL DIVISION FINALE ON LAKE OF THE OZARKS

Sarcoxie’s Lawyer wraps up 2018 Costa FLW Series Central Division season with win, earns $88,500

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (Oct. 13, 2018) – FLW Tour pro Jeremy Lawyer of Sarcoxie, Missouri, brought a five-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 12 ounces, to the scale Saturday to win the Costa FLW Series Central Division finale on Lake of the Ozarks presented by Evinrude. Lawyer’s three-day total of 15 bass totaling 46 pounds, 3 ounces, was enough to earn the win by a 3-pound, 3-ounce margin and the top prize of $88,500, including a brand new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.

“I spent the first two days of the tournament fishing between the Toll Bridge and the Gravois Arm,” said Lawyer, who earned his first career victory on Lake of the Ozarks after 10 prior top-10 finishes on the lake in FLW competition. “I tried to not fish any waypoints or history and just rely on my fishing instinct. If there’s one thing on the Tour that I have learned that has really helped me, it’s visiting a bunch of new lakes and not having waypoints. I feel more confident and comfortable fishing like that, and that is something that I really tried to do this week.

“I started out on the same stretch this morning and ran back into some creeks that I hadn’t been to yet,” Lawyer continued. “I had a limit in the first 45 to 50 minutes – including a 4½-pounder – and that settled me down a bit. I pulled the plug around 10:30 and went to the Hurricane Deck area and ended up culling up three more times.”

Lawyer credited a Zoom Magnum Trick worm and a Freedom Tackle Swing Buzz buzzbait as being his key baits throughout the week that, “helped me get five each day.” Saturday he caught one good one on the Magnum Trick worm and the rest came on a River2Sea Whopper Plopper, custom-painted by Fall Creek Lures.

“They’ve got a color – midnight shad – that I’ve got a lot of confidence in,” Lawyer said. “I also threw the original bone color this week as well.

“So many guys had the opportunity to do well this week with that Plopper and they just lost them,” Lawyer continued. “I was fortunate enough to not lose them when they bit. I really credit my Lew’s Heavy Cover Carbon Pro rod for that. It’s a heavy-duty rod, but still parabolic. It takes a little bit of the shock out of them when you initially set the hook.”

Lawyer bested a stacked final-day field that included some of the top Lake of the Ozarks anglers of all-time. He was extremely humbled and proud of his accomplishment Saturday.

“I still can’t believe it happened for me today,” he went on to say. “I grew up watching Stacey (King) fishing on television and he has been the man here for many years. Dennis Berhorst wins everything. I told my wife back when I started that if I could compete with Dennis, Roger (Fitzpatrick) and Marcus Sykora that I could survive anywhere. And that was back in 2005. I have so much respect for all of those guys. It feels good to be on top this week, but next week I’m sure one of those guys will be on top again.”

The top 10 pros on Lake of the Ozarks finished:

1^st: Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 15 bass, 46-3, $88,500

2^nd: Garrett Paquette, Canton, Mich., 14 bass, 43-6, $16,500

3^rd: Dennis Berhorst, Holts Summit, Mo., 15 bass, 43-5, $12,700

4^th: Stacey King, Reeds Spring, Mo., 13 bass, 43-3, $10,800

5^th: Austin Brown, Benton, Ky., 12 bass, 40-14, $9,600

6^th: Jason Vance, Battle Ground, Ind., 15 bass, 40-11, $8,250

7^th: Arnold Payne Jr., Kokomo, Ind., 14 bass, 39-11, $7,200

8^th: James Watson, Lampe, Mo., 14 bass, 39-8, $6,200

9^th: Shawn Kowal, Linn Creek, Mo., 14 bass, 39-7, $5,200

10^th: David Ryan, Levasy, Mo., 11 bass, 36-13, $4,100

Complete results for the remaining field can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Will Yelverton of Hazel Green, Alabama, caught a 7-pound, 1-ounce fish on Thursday that earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $300. King won the Boater Big Bass award on Friday with a 6-pound, 13-ounce bass worth $300.

Steve Freeman of Eddyville, Kentucky, won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger Z175 with a 90-horsepower outboard motor plus a $5,000 Ranger Cup bonus with a three-day total catch of 13 bass weighing 33 pounds, 12 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers on Lake of the Ozarks finished:

1^st: Steve Freeman, Eddyville, Ky., 13 bass, 33-12, $27,350 + Ranger Cup ($5,000)

2^nd: J.P. Sims, Cookeville, Tenn., 13 bass, 30-15, $5,250

3^rd: Phil Williams Jr., Jamestown, Ky., nine bass, 28-14, $4,250

4^th: Scott Parsons, Rogers, Ark., 11 bass, 28-14, $3,600

5^th: Max Wilson, Everton, Mo., 11 bass, 28-0, $3,100

6^th: Mike Youngblood, St. Louis, Mo., 11 bass, 25-9, $2,600

7^th: Brad Hostetler Jr., Franklin, Ind., nine bass, 24-6, $2,100

8^th: Jason Sandidge, Centerton, Ark., 10 bass, 23-7, $1,800

9^th: Joshua Dyrland, Imperial, Mo., eight bass, 22-2, $1,520

10^th: Tyrone Phillips, Little Rock, Ark., 10 bass, 20-1, $1,270

Ray Larson of Springfield, Illinois, caught a 6-pound, 1-ounce bass on Thursday that won the day one Co-angler Big Bass award worth $200. Rick Parker of Kaufman, Texas, won the Co-angler Big Bass award on day two with a 5-pound, 9-ounce fish worth $200.

The Costa FLW Series on Lake of the Ozarks was presented by Evinrude and hosted by the Tri-County Lodging Association. It was the third and final FLW Series Central Division tournament of the 2018 regular season. The next Costa FLW Series tournament will be the the season-ending Costa FLW Series Championship, held Nov. 1-3 on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama, and hosted by the Marshall County Convention and Visitors Bureau. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Costa FLW Series on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.

by AnglersChannel

Bassmaster Opens Championship Will Decide Classic Berths At Table Rock Lake

October 12, 2018

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A year-long tournament circuit that included eight events in eight states and thousands of anglers from across the country will reach its conclusion next week with the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens Championship on Table Rock Lake.

The Top 28 pro and co-anglers from the regular-season standings will fish Oct. 18-20, with daily takeoffs at 7:15 a.m. CT from Long Creek Marina. Weigh-ins the first two days will be back at the marina at 3:15 p.m., with the final-day weigh-in shifting to the Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Mo., at 4:30 p.m.

All three bass species — largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass — could play a role in deciding the seven berths that are at stake for the Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods.

“The lake is full of fish, but it’s like fall fishing anywhere else,” said Brock Mosley, a Bassmaster Elite Series pro from Collinsville, Miss. “You can expect a lot of bites. But with the 15-inch minimum size limit, it can be hard to find keepers.

“You’ll catch a mixture of all three species — and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some 15-pound bags that have at least one of each.”

That diversity in the bass population will force competitors to make difficult choices, and no one can say for sure which anglers’ strengths will play best.

If smallmouth and spots are the dominant species, deep-water specialists could locate big schools of offshore fish and grab center stage. But shallow-water anglers might also dial in a largemouth bite that gives them an advantage.

Another wild card could be the weather. Fall is trying to take hold in the area with temperatures expected to be in the low 30s Monday night, but then back into the mid-60s by Saturday.

“This is not going to be a straight, down-the-line, this-is-what-will-happen kind of tournament,” said Carl Jocumsen, an Australian-born angler who now lives in Texas. “The lake is going to change every day at this time of year. Keeping an open mind and keeping an eye on the conditions is going to be a massive part of this tournament.”

The regular-season Opens circuit included four tournaments each in the Central and Eastern divisions. The Top 10 from the season points standings in each division qualified for the championship, along with the winners of all eight events.

When the dust settles at Table Rock, the overall winner of the Opens Championship will receive a Classic berth, plus $10,000 cash and a Triton 19 TrX with Mercury 200 Pro XS package worth $45,000. The Top co-angler receives a Nitro Z18 with a Mercury 150 Pro XS outboard.

The Top 3 pro anglers in points from each division following the championship will also be invited to the Classic.

Frank Talley, Brad Whatley and Toby Hartsell currently occupy the Top 3 spots in the Central Division standings, while Bobby Lane, Brandon Lester and Garrett Paquette lead the Eastern Division.

John Cox, a Florida pro who finished the regular season fourth in the Eastern standings, said a Classic berth is his main objective — and he doesn’t believe it’ll happen unless he hoists the Opens Championship trophy.

“The way the standings line up, there’s no way I’m going to make it into the Top 3 in points,” Cox said. “So really, the only way I’m going to make it into the Classic is if one of the guys in front of me wins or if I win.

“So, it would be nice to take some of the mystery out of it and just win.”

Jocumsen said he’ll be working from a similar game plan.

“This is the best tournament I’m ever going to fish because it’s win or nothing,” he said. “I have to win to get that Classic berth. There’s no other option. There’s no risk in doing that. I have to do that.

“That makes it fun.”

by AnglersChannel

Rogers State University Takes the Lead After Day 1 in the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open

San Antonio, TX (October 12, 2018) – The scales are closed as competition for day one of the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open has come to an end. Lake Dardanelle provided a difficult test for nearly 400 of the best college anglers in the nation. Mother Nature played a part in today’s outcome as well. A steady rain pestered the anglers for most of the morning, and increased cloud cover provided a different setting than the past two days leading up to competition. None the less, this field of collegiate anglers found a way to catch them and fill their livewells with fish.

The team that figured out Lake Dardanelle the best today by bringing 15.99 lbs of bass to the scales is Ty Crutchfield and Alec Murphy from Rogers State University. The Oklahoma anglers feel very comfortable at this body of water. The Arkansas River runs just miles away from their campus in Claremore, OK. Crutchfield and Murphy are very familiar with this river system. They used this knowledge to their advantage by flipping shallow cover. Unlike many teams in the field who caught their fish in quick flurries throughout the day, the pair from Rogers State maintained a solid bite all day long. With a total weight of 15.99 lbs, Crutchfield and Murphy lead 2nd place by just 0.79 lbs.

Sitting in that 2nd place spot, less than a pound out of first, are Cole Lamb and Tristan Weaver. Representing Arkansas Tech University, the Arkansas natives wrangled up 15.20 lbs. “The day went pretty much as planned. We just stuck to our gameplan, and we caught fish pretty much all day long,” says Lamb. Lake Dardanelle is known for having a variety of cover. That includes rock, flooded timber, and shoreline vegetation. Lamb & Weaver fished all types of water focusing solely on shad and baitfish.

Being located here in Russellville, AR, one would assume that local knowledge played a key today. For these underclassmen, that was not the case. “We actually fished a spot we’ve never fished before. It helped a little, but we did some stuff today, places we’ve never fished, something we’ve never done,” adds Lamb. Going into tomorrow the team sounds fairly confident. They believe that if they can catch 15 lbs again that they will have a solid chance of claiming the title here at the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open.

Completing the top three are Griffin Heffington and Mason Cizek with 15.10 lbs. Fishing for Bryan College, this duo was just one of four teams to break the 15 lb mark. Currently ranked outside of the top 20 for the Cabela’s School of the Year Presented by Abu Garcia, Bryan College is looking to regain their recent success. The team from Tennessee claimed the SOY title in 2017, a first for their university. With valuable points on the line this week, Heffington and Cizek will be looking to help their team by finishing high up on the leaderboard tomorrow.

For a complete look at the day one standings, click here.

Focusing on the current race for Cabela’s School of the Year Presented Abu Garcia, Grand Valley State University is the lone team in the top three of the SOY standings to have a strong showing today. Lucas Murphy and Bill Mathews weighed in 12.83 lbs to claim 10th place overall going into day two of the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open. This is a double points event, and with GVSU only sending one team to Russellville, AR, they will only be able to earn points for one team. Bethel University, on the other hand, sent a total of 11 boats to compete this week. The reigning SOY champions are set up well to cash in on the double points format. Bethel has two teams inside the top 13 following today’s action. This gives them a good opportunity to end Saturday much higher up in the standings for Cabela’s School of the Year Presented by Abu Garcia. Entering the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open, Bethel is 8th overall in the SOY race.

To see the current SOY standings, click here.

Day two is shaping up to be an exciting final day of competition. Weather will once again play a key role in tournament action. There is a 100% chance of rain forecasted for Saturday. The chance of rain is at its highest during the afternoon. With the top 10 separated by less than 3.5 lbs, there is a good chance to see change near the top of the leaderboard. Be sure to stay up to date through our live blog and social media channels tomorrow as we prepare to crown a winner for the 2018 AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open.

by AnglersChannel

Martin Truex Jr. Foundation Sweepstakes offers chance to win a Toyota Tundra and Bass Tracker Boat

Time is running out for fishing and racing fans to take a chance at winning a Toyota Tundra and a TRACKER Heritage Edition Boat, simply by making a $25 donation to a very good cause.

NASCAR Cup Series Champion and avid angler Martin Truex Jr., and The Martin Truex Jr. Foundation, have created a sweepstakes where one lucky winner will receive a 2018 Toyota Tundra and Bass TRACKER® Heritage Edition Boat.

A portion of the proceeds will help in the construction of the Martin Truex Jr. Pediatric Emergency Department at Novant Health in Charlotte, N.C., and help raise awareness, boost advocacy, and generate financial support for initiatives specific to ovarian and childhood cancers.

In May, Truex, the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series Champion, and long-time partner Sherry Pollex presented a check for $1.2 million from the foundation to Novant Health for these projects during the foundation’s ninth annual Catwalk for a Cause charity event.

“It’s great to have two of my long-time sponsors, Bass Pro Shops and Toyota, come together to support the long-term efforts of the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation and SherryStrong.org,” said Truex, “Novant Health has been such an important part of our lives the past few years so it’s an honor to give back to them for all they’ve done for Sherry and me. This program also allows us to continue other ongoing programs in the fight against ovarian and childhood cancers.”

“I can’t thank you enough for supporting Martin Truex Jr. Foundation and Sherry Strong,” said Pollex. “You are helping us by providing financial support for underfunded cancer research initiatives specific to ovarian and childhood cancers. You truly are a part of our family by donating $25.00 to help improve lives, inspire smiles and realize dreams. Who knows, you may win an awesome Toyota Tundra and Bass Boat as well. Martin and I appreciate your donation very much!”

The Toyota truck is a 2018 Tundra Crew Max SR5 4x4. Factory Options include the TRD Off Road Package, Entune Premium Audio, SR5 Upgrade Package. The exterior color is Super White 040 and the interior is Black FB20.

The Bass TRACKER 40^th Anniversary Heritage Edition boat pays homage to the fishing boat TRACKER founder Johnny Morris first introduced in the late 1970s that revolutionized the boating industry. The classically-styled design features chocolate brown carpet, rich tan marine-grade upholstery, white wheels and moon-style chrome hubcaps. Each Heritage Edition boat carries the original Bass TRACKER logo and is equipped with a Mercury

by AnglersChannel

AC Insider Podcast - What the Pro's are saying about the "Goat Farm" - AKA, The MLF Bass Pro Tour

With Jason in Africa, Chris spent a few days at the Strike King/Lews Media event before he left for vacation and interviewed a couple of Veterans and a couple of young guns and talked about why they chose to make the move to MLF. Some of the answers might surprise you, guess you'd better listen to find out! #GoatFarm

by AnglersChannel

BASS PRO SHOPS FLW HIGH SCHOOL FISHING OPEN TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY YETI SET FOR GRAND LAKE

Advisory for Tuesday, October 9, 2018

WHAT: Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) High School Fishing will continue the 2018 fishing season with the upcoming Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Grand Lake Open bass-fishing tournament presented by YETI. The no-entry fee event is open to High School Fishing teams from across the country, and the top 10-percent of finishers will automatically advance to the 2019 High School Fishing National Championship.

WHEN: Saturday, October 20, 2018

WHERE: Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Grand Lake Open presented by YETI

Grove City Ramp at Wolf Creek Park

1007 N. 16^th St. W.

Grove, Okla.

NOTES: The Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Grand Lake Open is a two-person (team) event for students in grades 7-12. Registration for anglers and their coach, who will provide the boat they compete in, is online at FLWFishing.com. Takeoff will be at Grove City Ramp at Wolf Creek Park at 7:30 a.m. CDT and the weigh-in will also be held at the ramp, beginning at 3:30 p.m. High School Fishing takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public. For more information about this event contact the FLW High School Fishing National Youth Director Scott Ellison at (270)-205-6864.

A preliminary list of schools participating will not be available as teams can still register up until the morning of the event. Complete event details can be found here.

All FLW and TBF High School Fishing tournaments are free to enter. The tournaments are two-person (team) events for students in grades 7-12 and open to any Student Angler Federation-affiliated high school club. The top 10 percent of each Challenge, Open, and state championship field will advance to the 2019 High School Fishing National Championship on a body of water that has yet to be revealed. The High School Fishing national champions will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship to the school of their choice.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Opens on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.

About FLW

by AnglersChannel

KENTUCKY LAKE SET FOR T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE REGIONAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY EVINRUDE

GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (Oct. 9, 2018) – The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) is heading to Kentucky and Barkley lakes Oct. 18-20 for one of six BFL Regional Championship Tournaments. The three-day event, presented by Evinrude, will feature the highest-ranked 45 boaters and 45 co-anglers from each of the Hoosier, Ozark, Michigan and Mississippi BFL divisions, along with the five individual qualifying event winners.

The winning boater will receive a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Evinrude outboard and a check for $20,000, while the winning co-angler will receive a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Evinrude outboard. The top six boaters and co-anglers at each regional will advance to one of the longest-running championships in bass fishing – the 2019 BFL All-American, which will take place May 30-June 1 on the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland.

“It’s going to be tough out there. It’s been abnormally warm for October – the water temperature is still around 80 degrees,” said 23-year FLW Tour veteran Terry Bolton of Paducah, Kentucky. “I think the fish have been on early morning, late evening and overnight feeding patterns. I know there’s some cooler weather on the way, which should drop water temperatures. Hopefully that will make them more active during the day.”

Bolton said that both Kentucky and Barkley lakes will be utilized by the field.

“If a competitor wants shallow, off-color water, it’ll be in Barkley. If he or she wants more open, cleaner water, it’ll be Kentucky Lake,” said Bolton. “Shallow flats will always be the key piece of the equation. But which lake will it be on? Will it be on the main lake, or in the mouth or back of a creek? Those will be key decisions.”

Bolton went on to say that he expects a variety of lures to make an appearance.

“Topwater baits will always play a major role this time of year. I also think we’ll see someone do well using a shallow-running, lipless crankbait in the back of a shallow creek,” said Bolton. “Spinnerbaits are a big producer here in the fall. Anything that mimics a shad – like swimbaits – are also good. Going against the norm will be key, just based on the way the lakes have been fishing.”

Anglers will take off from Moors Resort & Marina, located at 570 Moors Road in Gilbertsville, at 7 a.m. CDT each day. Weigh-ins will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

The T-H Marine BFL Regional Tournament on Kentucky and Barkley lakes is hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau.

by AnglersChannel

Down but not Out, How BASS Plans to Become ELITE again -AC Insider Podcast

This week the boys talk with Dave Precht, VP & Director of Communications for BASS about the impact the loss of 68 anglers made when they moved to Major League Fishing's new tournament trail. They also discuss field size and how they plan to market each Elite Series Angler in 2019 & Beyond. They boys also welcome in 2014 Classic Champ and recent addition to the MLF Tour, Randy Howell. Check it out, one you wont want to miss!

by AnglersChannel

NOBLESVILLE HIGH SCHOOL WINS BASS PRO SHOPS FLW HIGH SCHOOL FISHING LAKE MONROE OPEN

Courtesy of FLW Outdoors

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Oct. 8, 2018) – The Noblesville High School duo of Jackson Baltz and Carter Bell, both of Noblesville, Indiana, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 13 pounds, 4 ounces to win the 2018 Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Lake Monroe Open.

According to post-tournament reports, the duo caught their limit targeting grass with topwaters, buzz frogs and a Texas-rigged Yamamoto Senko worm.

A field of 33 teams competed in the no-entry fee tournament, which launched from the Cutright Boat Ramp. In FLW/TBF High School Fishing competition, the top 10-percent of teams competing advance to the High School Fishing National Championship.

The top three teams on Lake Monroe that advanced to the 2019 High School Fishing National Championship were:

1st: Noblesville High School, Noblesville, Ind. – Jackson Baltz and Carter Bell, both of Noblesville, Ind., five bass, 13-4

2nd: Mount Vernon High School, Fortville, Ind. – Casey Cornelius, Indianapolis, Ind., and Devan Skaggs, Fortville, Ind., four bass, 10-5

3rd: Bloomington South High School, Bloomington, Ind. – Colby Reed and Jenna Albertson, both of Bloomington, Ind., four bass, 9-1

Rounding out the top 10 teams were:

4th: Trinity High School, Louisville, Ky. – Justin Risk, Louisville, Ky., and Hayden Bailey, Goshen, Ky., three bass, 7-9

5th: Spencer County High School, Taylorsville, Ky. – Dillon Stallings and Max Sullivan, Taylorsville, Ky., four bass, 6-15

6th: Owen Valley Community High School, Spencer, Ind. – Nathan Phelps and Aiden Clark, both of Spencer, Ind., three bass, 6-15

7th: Westfield High School, Westfield, Ind. – William Dobbs and Keyden Effinger, both of Westfield, Ind., one bass, 6-13

8th: Scottsburg High School, Scottsburg, Ind. – Hunter Breedman, Underwood, Ind., and Wyatt Harmon, Scottsburg, Ind., two bass, 6-2

9th: Crothersville High School, Crothersville, Ind. – Taylor Tatlock and Joeseph Tatlock, both of Crothersville, Ind., three bass, 5-1

10th: Bloomington South High School, Bloomington, Ind. – Gregory Dobbs and Dillan White, both of Bloomington, Ind., two bass, 4-3

Complete results from the event can be found at FLWFishing.com.

The 2018 Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Lake Monroe Open was a two-person (team) event for students in grades 7-12, open to any Student Angler Federation (SAF) affiliated high school club in the United States. The top 10 percent of each Challenge, Open, and state championship field will advance to the 2019 High School Fishing National Championship on a body of water that has yet to be revealed. The High School Fishing national champions will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship to the school of their choice.

In addition to the High School Fishing National Championship, all High School Fishing anglers nationwide automatically qualify for the world’s largest open high school bass tournament, the 2019 High School Fishing World Finals, held in conjunction with the National Championship. At the 2018 World Finals more than $150,000 in scholarships and prizes were awarded.

Full schedules and the latest announcements are available at HighSchoolFishing.org and FLWFishing.com.

by AnglersChannel

Simms wins Mobile Delta ABA AFT D41 Event

Courtesy of ABA

Jimmy Sims of Mobile, Alabama won the American Fishing Tour District 41 tournament presented by American Bass Anglers. Running out of Live Oak Landing near Stockton, Alabama, Sims brought back five-fish that locked in the scales at 9.71 pounds anchored by a 3.37-pound kicker. For the victory, Sims took home a check for $522.

Second place was claimed by Chip Lindy with five-fish and a total weight of 9.44-pounds. For his efforts, Lindy took home $308 in prize money.

Jackson Hamil took third with five-fish and a total weight of 9.42-pounds and took home $101 in prize money.

The Biggest Bass of the tournament was caught by Jimmy Sims. His fish locked in the scales at 3.37-pounds earning him $95.

Top five finishers:

1. Jimmy Sims		9.71 pounds
2. Chip Lindy		9.44 pounds
3. Jackson Hamil		9.42 pounds
4. Larry Foshee		6.24 pounds
5. Scott Wiley Jr		5.03 pounds

The next tournament in this division will take place on November 17 launching from Live Oak Landing.

For more information on this event or division please contact local director Barry Woodward at 251-423-0753 or visit www.americanbassanglers.com

These anglers earn valuable points toward the divisional angler of the year title. The points champion from each division will compete in the annual American Bass Anglers AFT Angler of The Year Final Round at the AFT Championship. In addition, the top 500 anglers from the various divisions will earn the right to compete in the three-day ABA, AFT National Championship tournament.

The American Fishing Tour offers low cost, close to home bass tournaments that are designed for the weekend angler. All anglers fish for money and points. The points advance the angler to their divisional championship and the top 500 anglers in the US are invited to the American Fishing Tour National Championship.

by AnglersChannel

Sportsmans Warehouse Product Spotlight - October 8, 2018

AC's John Byrne and Sportsman's Warehouse Fishing Manager Sam Johnson talk about fall fishing and what you need to put more fish in the boat.

by AnglersChannel

Jeffrey & Clay Ross Win Anglers Choice Marine Championship on Smith Mountain Lake

The team of Jeff and Clay Ross were the big winners at the Angler’s Choice Team Tournament Classic event held at Smith Mountain Lake.

Their 2 Day total of 39.84 lbs won them a 2018 Ranger Z518 with a Mercury motor valued just over $42,000

2018 Classic Final

by AnglersChannel

TEXAN DICKERSON WINS COSTA FLW SERIES SOUTHWESTERN DIVISION FINALE ON FORT GIBSON LAKE PRESENTED BY MERCURY

Courtesy of FLW Outdoors

Tommy Dickerson wraps up 2018 Costa FLW Series Southwestern Division season with win, earns $80,503

WAGONER, Okla. (Oct. 6, 2018) – Pro Tommy Dickerson of Orange, Texas, brought three bass weighing 5 pounds, 13 ounces, to the scale Saturday to win the Costa FLW Series Southwestern Division finale on Fort Gibson Lake presented by Mercury. Dickerson’s three-day total of 13 bass weighing 32 pounds, 6 ounces, was enough to earn him the top prize of $80,503, including a brand new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.

Dickerson actually finished with the same three-day total weight as Coweta, Oklahoma, pro Kyle Cortiana. However, according to tournament rules, ties on day three are resolved by day two standings. Dickerson was in first place after day two, and Cortiana in fourth, so Dickerson was declared the champion.

The Texas pro caught his fish using a Santone spinnerbait in the back of a creek far up the Grand River. Accessing the creek required him to pull and grind his way over a shallow shoal with his trolling motor – a perfect scenario to avoid the heavy fishing pressure from other competitors on the main lake. On day one, accessing the creek went smooth and easy. On day two, getting in and out was a much bigger challenge due to falling water.

“I got stuck several times and began to think I wasn’t going to get back out,” Dickerson recalls.

By the final morning, the water had dropped enough that, despite 30 minutes of work, Dickerson couldn’t get in. He spent a couple hours fishing secondary areas on the main river, where he noticed a clue that eventually led to his winning move.

“The current was running in the river, and the water was coming back up,” he says. “I’ve heard this lake can come up a foot in a couple of hours, so I decided to fish out on the river for a while, bide my time and try it [getting into the smaller creek] again later.”

When Dickerson returned, he skated easily over the shoal and into the deeper water beyond it. Dickerson slow-rolled his spinnerbait in waters that were about 4 feet deep, intentionally making contact with rocky areas and boulders that were about 2 feet down.

“The water was too stained to see the rocks, so I just fluttered the spinnerbait down there until I felt the rock,” he says. “If I could get that spinnerbait to deflect off a rock, one would eat it.”

With his time cut short due to the falling water, Dickerson wasn’t able to work the creek over as thoroughly as he’d have liked, but with three keepers he weighed in just enough to get his third FLW victory.

“Yeah, you might say it’s been a week of ounces and inches,” Dickerson adds. “That just shows you how hard it is to win one of these things. The last one I won was 12 years ago at Lake Texoma. And trust me, the older you get, the more you appreciate these wins because you just don’t know how many more chances you’re going to get.”

The top 10 pros on Fort Gibson Lake finished:

1^st: Tommy Dickerson, Orange, Texas, 13 bass, 32-6, $80,503

2^nd: Kyle Cortiana, Coweta, Okla., 13 bass, 32-6, $13,199

3^rd: Brady Winans, Caddo Mills, Texas, 9 bass, 32-0, $10,371

4^th: Cody Bird, Granbury, Texas, 14 bass, 29-14, $8,451

5^th: Tommy Biffle, Wagoner, Okla., 9 bass, 29-14, $7,606

6^th: Mitchell Webb, Skiatook, Okla., 13 bass, 27-11, $6,761

7^th: Brandon Mosley, Choctaw, Okla., 11 bass, 27-9, $5,916

8^th: Ryan Wilbanks, Wagoner, Okla., 10 bass, 23-6, $5,070

9^th: Joel Baker, Talala, Okla., 9 bass, 23-5, $4,225

10^th: Darrel Robertson, Jay, Okla., 7 bass, 22-15, $3,380

A complete list of results will be posted at FLWFishing.com.

Randy Despino of Colfax, Louisiana, caught a 6-pound, 7-ounce fish on Thursday that earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $230. Brady Winans of Caddo Mills, Texas, won the Boater Big Bass award on Friday with a 4-pound, 10-ounce bass worth $230.

Johnny Burke of Bristow, Oklahoma, won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger Z175 with a 90-horsepower outboard motor plus a $5,000 Ranger Cup bonus with a three-day total catch of 7 bass weighing 17 pounds, 2 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers on Fort Gibson Lake finished:

1^st: Johnny Burke, Bristow, Okla., 7 bass, 17-2, $27,100 + Ranger Cup ($5,000)

2^nd: Mason Roach, Willis, Texas, 5 bass, 11-0, $4,309

3^rd: Tate Brumnett, Wagoner, Okla., 4 bass, 10-5, $3,407

4^th: David See, Beggs, Okla., 4 bass, 10-1, $2,982

5^th: Charles Parker, Broken Arrow, Okla., 4 bass, 9-14, $2,556

6^th: Robin Babb, Tulsa, Okla., 3 bass, 9-14, $2,130

7^th: Johnny Horton, Collinsville, Okla., 3 bass, 9-5, $1,857

8^th: Phillip McBrien, Fairland, Okla., 4 bass, 9-5, $1,491

9^th: Toby Wallace, Tolar, Texas, 3 bass, 8-14, $1,431

10^th: Ronnie Kane, Gravois Mills, Mo., 3 bass, 7-14, $1,065

Toby Wallace of Tolar, Texas, caught a 4-pound, 13-ounce bass on Thursday that won the day one Co-angler Big Bass award worth $153. Johnny Horton of Collinsville, Oklahoma, won the Co-angler Big Bass award on day two with a 4-pound, 6-ounce fish worth $153.

The Costa FLW Series on Fort Gibson Lake was presented by Mercury and hosted by the Wagoner Area Chamber of Commerce. It was the third and final FLW Series Southwestern Division tournament of the 2018 regular season. The next Costa FLW Series tournament will be the Central Division finale, held Oct. 10-12 on Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri, and is presented by Evinrude. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.

The Costa FLW Series consists of five U.S. divisions – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western – along with the International division. Each U.S. division consists of three regular-season tournaments with competitors vying for valuable points that could earn them the opportunity to compete in the season-ending Costa FLW Series Championship. The 2018 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Nov. 1-3 on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama, and is hosted by the Marshall County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

by AnglersChannel

FLW TAPS HUNT AS NEW HIGH SCHOOL FISHING DIRECTOR, ANNOUNCES SCHEDULE, RULES AND ENTRY DATES FOR 2019 YETI FLW COLLEGE FISHING, BASS PRO SHOPS FLW HIGH SCHOOL FISHING

Both Members of Winning Team at YETI FLW College Fishing National Championship Advance to the Forrest Wood Cup, Second, Third and Fourth-place Teams Advance to the T-H Marine BFL All-American to Compete as Boaters.

MINNEAPOLIS (Oct. 4, 2018) – FLW announced Thursday the schedule, rules and entry dates for the 2019 YETI FLW College Fishing and Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing seasons, highlighted by expanded FLW Live on-the-water coverage at the 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship on the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland, new advancement opportunities for young anglers to compete in the T-H Marine BFL All-American, Costa FLW Series Championship and the FLW Cup, and implementation of a new National School of the Year title, as well as titles in each individual conference.

Among the changes for FLW College Fishing in 2019 is the elimination of the National Championship Fish-Off. Now both members of the winning team at the YETI FLW College Fishing National Championship will advance to the FLW Cup where they are each guaranteed $10,000 plus a shot at winning $300,000. Both members of the second, third, and fourth-place teams at the 2020 National Championship will advance to the T-H Marine BFL All-American to compete as boaters where they are guaranteed $1,500 plus a shot at winning $120,000. Both members of the fifth and sixth-place teams at the 2020 National Championship advance to the All-American to compete as co-anglers where they are guaranteed $750 plus a shot at winning $60,000. Additionally, each angler finishing in the top 10 at the 2020 National Championship receives priority entry into the 2021 FLW Series.

Each FLW College Fishing angler competing in the All-American has a chance to qualify for the FLW Series Championship plus a second shot at qualifying for the FLW Cup.

“I am excited for the 2019 season and am confident that it will be the biggest and best College Fishing season yet,” said Kevin Hunt, Director of Tournament Operations, College and High School Fishing. “The fact that both anglers from the National Championship winning team will now advance to the FLW Cup, along with multiple qualifiers to the BFL All-American, is a fantastic opportunity for the teams and something that no other circuit can offer. I expect that these improvements will be very well received by college anglers, and I’m looking forward to getting the season kicked off in early February on Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia.”

In addition to FLW Live on-the-water coverage at the FLW College Fishing National Championship, each regular-season tournament and the Open will feature FLW Live weigh-in coverage.

Other improvements to the program include new YETI FLW College Fishing School of the Year titles, awarded to the top overall school of the season as well as the top school from each of the five conferences. Schools earn points based on their top two teams in each tournament. The school with the most points in each conference and overall at the end of the season win.

All FLW College Fishing anglers are now eligible for FREE Bass Pro Shops FLW Tournament Incentives at basspro.com/flwincentives. FLW College Fishing anglers receive a VIP discount card for 25 percent off Bass Pro Shops branded merchandise all year plus tournament bonuses. A nominal entry fee of $75 per team will be implemented for each event. Entries will be accepted starting Dec. 10 2018. Teams can register at FLWFishing.com or by calling 270.252.1000.

FLW College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top ten teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open advance to the following year’s FLW College Fishing National Championship. Additional teams qualify for the National Championship if the field size in regular-season events exceeds 100 boats or 200 boats in the Open. The 2019 YETI FLW College Fishing National Championship is on the Potomac River, June 4-6, and hosted by the Charles County Board of Commissioners and the Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism.

For 2019 FLW College Fishing tournaments in the Central, Northern, Southern and Southeastern conferences will be held on Fridays. Western conference tournaments will continue to be held on Saturdays.

2019 FLW College Fishing Schedule:

FLW College Fishing Open

March 12-13 Kentucky Lake Gilbertsville, Ky.

Central Conference

April 12 Lake Cumberland Burnside, Ky.
July 19 Mississippi River Wabasha, Minn.
Oct. 18 Lake of the Ozarks Osage Beach, Mo.

Northern Conference

April 26 Smith Mountain Lake Huddleston, Va.
May 31 Chesapeake Bay Edgewood, Md.
Sept. 6 Lake Erie Sandusky, Ohio

Southeastern Conference

Feb. 8 Lake Seminole Bainbridge, Ga.
March 1 Lake Guntersville Guntersville, Ala.
Nov. 1 Lake Hartwell Hartwell, Ga.

Southern Conference

Feb. 22 Sam Rayburn Reservoir Zavalla, Texas
April 5 Lake Texoma Pottsboro, Texas
Sept. 20 Arkansas River North Little Rock, Ark.

Western Conference

March 2 Lake Mead Las Vegas, Nev.
May 18 Clear Lake Lakeport, Calif.
Sept. 28 California Delta Bethel Island, Calif.

FLW College Fishing National Championship

June 4-6 Potomac River Marbury, Md.

2019 FLW College Fishing Payouts:

YETI FLW College Fishing Open

Place Club

1 $30,000 Ranger Z175 with a 115-horsepower outboard

Top 20 teams advance to the 2020 National Championship. One additional team advances for every 10 teams over 200 competing.

Qualifiers

Place Club

1 $2,000

2 1,000

3 500

4 500

5 500

Top 10 teams advance to the 2020 National Championship. One additional team advances for every 10 teams over 100 competing.

2019 National Championship – No Entry Fee

Place Club

1 $30,000 Ranger Z175 with a 115-horsepower outboard + 2019 FLW Cup entry

2 5,000

3 4,000

4 3,000

5 2,000

Both members of the winning team advance to the 2019 FLW Cup where they are guaranteed $10,000 and can win as much as $300,000.

Complete rules for the 2019 YETI FLW College Fishing program can be found online at FLWFishing.com.

In addition to his FLW College Fishing duties, Hunt has been tapped to lead FLW’s High School Fishing tournaments. He succeeds tournament director Dave Maxfield, who will lead two BFL divisions as tournament director.

Hunt has served as an FLW tournament director since 2004 and overseen the implementation and growth of the FLW College Fishing circuit since its implementation in 2008.

“I’m thrilled for the opportunity to continue to work with college anglers and look forward to helping cultivate the next generation of anglers through the FLW High School Fishing program,” Hunt said. “I expect the transition will be near seamless, and I am excited to introduce myself to and work with the hundreds of high school fishing teams and coaches along with the tens of thousands of young anglers participating in High School Fishing.”

To foster mentoring opportunities between college and high school teams and introduce High School Fishing anglers to college opportunities awaiting them as they continue their education, all Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Opens will be held on Saturdays following a YETI FLW College Fishing tournament. This will allow students and parents to network with prospective college teams and coaches during Friday’s registration immediately following the college weigh-ins. California and Nevada tournaments will be held on Sundays with registration on Saturdays following college weigh-ins.

FLW also unveiled an unprecedented new opportunity for high school anglers participating in the Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Opens and The Bass Federation/Student Angler Federation State Championships and Challenge tournaments to advance to the BFL All-American as co-anglers. In addition to receiving a $10,000 scholarship ($5,000 per student), both members of the winning team at the 2019 High School Fishing National Championship qualify to compete as co-anglers in the 2020 All-American, where they are each guaranteed $750 and can win as much as $60,000. Students must be at least 16 years old as of the 2020 All-American or the next highest finishing student who meets age requirements will advance.

All FLW High School Fishing anglers are eligible for FREE Bass Pro Shops FLW Tournament Incentives, including valuable tournament bonuses. Sign up at basspro.com/flwincentives.

2019 Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Opens Schedule:

Feb. 9 Lake Seminole Bainbridge, Ga.
Feb. 23 Sam Rayburn Reservoir Zavalla, Texas
March 2 Lake Guntersville Guntersville, Ala.
March 3 Lake Mead Las Vegas, Nev.
April 6 Lake Texoma Pottsboro, Texas
April 13 Lake Cumberland Burnside, Ky.
April 27 Smith Mountain Lake Huddleston, Va.
May 19 Clear Lake Lakeport, Calif.
June 1 Chesapeake Bay Edgewood, Md.
July 20 Mississippi River Wabasha, Minn.
Sept. 7 Lake Erie Sandusky, Ohio
Sept. 21 Arkansas River North Little Rock, Ark.
Sept. 29 California Delta Bethel Island, Calif.
Oct. 19 Lake of the Ozarks Osage Beach, Mo.
Nov. 2 Lake Hartwell Hartwell, Ga.

2019 High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship

TBA Watch FLWFishing.com and HighSchoolFishing.org for details.

All FLW and TBF High School Fishing tournaments are free to enter. The tournaments are two-person (team) events for students in grades 7-12 and open to any Student Angler Federation-affiliated high school club. The top 10 percent of teams in each tournament advance to the High School Fishing National Championship. Tournaments held before June 9, 2019, advance teams to the 2019 National Championship. Tournaments held after June 9, 2019, advance teams to the 2020 National Championship. All participating teams automatically qualify to compete in the High School Fishing World Finals for more than $150,000 in scholarships and prizes. Visit FLWFishing.com and HighSchoolFishing.org for schedules.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow YETI FLW College Fishing and the Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Opens on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.

by AnglersChannel

CORTIANA LEADS THE PACK AT FORT GIBSON

October 4, 2018

Courtesy FLW Fishing - Rob Newell

Given the stingy state of fishing affairs at Oklahoma’s Fort Gibson Lake, many pros fishing the Costa FLW Series Southwestern Division event presented by Mercury this week predicted local anglers would be hard to beat. In fact, Kyle Cortiana of nearby Coweta, Okla., was one pro who was pretty candid in offering his opinion that the home court advantage would go a long way in such a challenging Fort Gibson event.

After day one, Cortiana is looking like a prophet. Not only did he take the early lead with five fish for 15 pounds, 8 ounces, but the top five also includes Fort Gibson legend Tommy Biffle and Ryan Wilbanks, both from Wagoner.

Complete results

“When the water is up and the current is flowing and the fish are biting here, it’s anyone’s game,” Cortiana says. “But the lake is fishing pretty stingy right now. Whenever that happens, the local guys shine.”

A small line of showers rolled through Fort Gibson this morning during takeoff, which Cortiana saw as bonus.

“Anytime you have some kind of change like that, it helps,” he says. “I had my limit this morning by 8:50. It happened pretty quickly. After that I left the area and just starting running new water and caught two more keepers, one of which helped me.”

Before the event began, Cortiana mentioned that finding something out of the norm and off the beaten path would be key in this tournament. That’s what he looked for in practice.

“Where I fished this morning is pretty standard stuff here, but I’m fishing for those fish in a unique way,” he explains. “I had some special things happen to me this morning. Things went my way for sure. After that I ran some water that includes something that’s somewhat new to this lake. I have one place where I caught two 4-pounders in practice, and I have not been back to that yet. I’m trying to save it for later.”

Cortiana enters day two with a 1-pound, 1-ounce lead. He has an early boat number tomorrow, which he hopes might help his cause even more.

Top 10 pros

1. Kyle Cortiana – Coweta, Okla. – 15-8 (5)

2. Tommy Dickerson – Orange, Texas – 14-7 (5)

3. Tommy Biffle – Wagoner, Okla. – 12-15 (4)

4. Ryan Wilbanks – Wagoner, Okla. – 12-5 (5)

5. Casey Scanlon – Lake Ozark, Mo. – 12-1 (5)

6. Randy Despino – Colfax, La. – 11-8 (4)

7. Justin Wojcik – Bulverde, Texas – 11-7 (4)

8. Mitchell Webb – Skiatook, Okla. – 11-1 (5)

9. Joel Baker – Talala, Okla. – 10-6 (4)

10. Cody Bird – Granbury, Texas – 10-4 (5)

Babb leads co-anglers

Robin Babb of Tulsa, Okla., leads the co-angler division after day one with two bass weighing 8 pounds, 7 ounces. Babb spent the day fishing behind pro Derek Fulps of Broken Arrow, Okla., who won the Fort Gibson Costa FLW Series event in 2016.

“I had a good ride today,” Babb says. “Derek was a great boater. He is very considerate and obviously had me around some good fish.”

Top 10 co-anglers

1. Robin Babb – Tulsa, Okla. – 8-7 (2)

2. David See – Beggs, Okla. – 8-3 (3)

3. Charles Parker – Broken Arrow, Okla. – 7-3 (3)

4. Toby Wallace – Tolar, Texas – 6-11 (2)

5. Mason Roach – Willis, Texas – 6-10 (3)

6. Randy Baskins – Owasso, Okla. – 6-6 (3)

6. Johnny Burke – Bristow, Okla. – 6-6 (3)

8. Cameron Foster – Wagoner, Okla. – 6-3 (2)

9. Alan Bernicky – Joliet, Ill. – 6-0 (2)

10. John Moon – Brookeland, Texas – 5-13 (3)

by AnglersChannel

FLW ANNOUNCES OLD HICKORY LAKE AS 2018 BFL WILD CARD VENUE

MINNEAPOLIS (Oct. 4, 2018) – FLW announced today that the 2018 T-H Marine BFL Wild Card tournament will take place on Old Hickory Lake in Gallatin, Tennessee, Nov. 9-10. The two-day event, hosted by the Sumner County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, will launch from the Bulls Creek Access at Flipper’s Bait and Tackle, located at 200 Odoms Bend Road in Gallatin, Tennessee.

In order to be eligible to fish the no-entry-fee BFL Wild Card tournament, anglers must have entered all five events within a BFL division during the 2018 season and fished at least two of them. In addition, anglers who have already qualified for a BFL regional are ineligible.

During the BFL Wild Card tournament, the full field competes both days, with winners determined by the heaviest two-day catch. The top six boaters and top six co-anglers will advance to the 2019 T-H Marine BFL All-American, held on the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland, May 30-June 1, hosted by the Charles County Board of Commissioners and the Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism.

An optional pot is available to anglers who elect to participate at the BFL Wild Card tournament. Entry fees for the optional pot will be $250 for boaters and $125 for co-anglers, with the top 20 percent of anglers who elect to participate in the optional pot receiving checks. There will be no official practice period or off-limits period prior to the pretournament meeting for the Wild Card. No contestant may be on tournament waters for the purpose of locating bass or potential fishing waters after the start of the pretournament meeting except during tournament hours.

Entry for the BFL Wild Card is now open and runs through Thursday, November 8, 2018, at 6 p.m. CDT. You may enter by phone on or before Wednesday, November 7, at 270.252.1000. Entries on November 8 will be taken onsite at the pretournament meeting at the Bulls Creek Access.

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. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.

by AnglersChannel

AC Insider PRO-Files Featuring 2019 FLW Tour Rookie Joel Willert

On this episode of the AC Insider PRO-Files Chris and Jason catch up with former FLW Co-Angler Joel Willert and talk about his move to the front of the boat and starting his rookie campaign on the 2019 FLW Tour. Great angler you will want to learn more about!

by AnglersChannel

Major League Fishing Announces 80 Anglers Set for New Bass Pro Tour

Several Major League Fishing anglers were present during league planning activities held this week at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri, at which the 80-angler field for the new MLF Bass Pro Tour was announced. (Back row, left to right) Dean Rojas, James Watson, Wesley Strader, Scott Suggs, Fred Roumbanis, Mark Davis, Gary Klein, Skeet Reese, Kevin VanDam and Boyd Duckett. (Front) Mark Rose, Mike McClelland, Jeff Kriet, Shaw Grigsby, Keith Poche, Kelly Jordon and Tim Horton.

RIDGEDALE, Mo. (October 3, 2018) - Major League Fishing (MLF) leadership today announced the official roster of the 80 anglers who have committed to compete in the new-for-2019 Bass Pro Tour and MLF Cup events. The final list was made public during an MLF meeting held this week at Big Cedar Lodge with several of its sponsors and anglers present to discuss plans in follow up to the league's recent announcement of significant expansion for the purpose of growing the sport.

"We understand how difficult this decision was for pro anglers ... everyone who has faced a potential career-changing move can relate to it, but the deadline has passed for the invitees and we now proudly have 80 individuals who have committed to a dream that goes beyond just a tournament payday," said MLF co-founder and PBTAA Vice President Boyd Duckett. "Sure, higher payouts are part of it, but for us this is not a competition we're in against other trails. It doesn't matter what B.A.S.S. or FLW does; our goal is different. These anglers know that and we're ecstatic to have them on board with the new MLF plans."

The full 80-man field includes Bassmaster Classic champions, FLW Forrest Wood Cup winners, Anglers of the Year and top tour performers from throughout the world of competitive bass fishing.

The 2019 MLF anglers are: Casey Ashley, Justin Atkins, Adrian Avena, Josh Bertrand, Tommy Biffle, Zack Birge, Stephen Browning, Brent Chapman, Jason Christie, Luke Clausen, Gary Clouse, Dustin Connell, Brandon Coulter, Cliff Crochet, Mark Daniels Jr., Mark Davis, Ott DeFoe, Boyd Duckett, Brent Ehrler, James Elam, Paul Elias, Edwin Evers, Todd Faircloth, Shinichi Fukae, Shaw Grigsby, Greg Hackney, Roy Hawk, Brett Hite, Tim Horton, Randy Howell, Mike Iaconelli, Alton Jones, Alton Jones Jr., Kelly Jordon, JT Kenney, Gary Klein, Jeff Kriet, Jason Lambert, Bobby Lane, Chris Lane, Russ Lane, Jordan Lee, Matt Lee, Dave Lefebre, Jared Litner, Justin Lucas, Aaron Martens, Mike McClelland, Cody Meyer, Ish Monroe, Andy Montgomery, Andy Morgan, John Murray, Britt Myers, Michael Neal, Takahiro Omori, Cliff Pace, Brandon Palaniuk, Keith Poche, Jacob Powroznik, Skeet Reese, Marty Robinson, Dean Rojas, Mark Rose, Fred Roumbanis, Bradley Roy, Terry Scroggins, Fletcher Shryock, Gerald Spohrer, Wesley Strader, Scott Suggs, Gerald Swindle, Randall Tharp, Jonathan VanDam, Kevin VanDam, Greg Vinson, David Walker, James Watson, Jacob Wheeler and Jesse Wiggins.

"This is a new day in professional bass fishing, with MLF and its team of anglers and partners now on a fast track to elevate the sport to a level comparable to that of other major league sporting events," MLF Commissioner Don Rucks said. "Our game is played on a 'field," and we have celebrities, fast action, rules, officials, penalties and a clock. Our participants like being role models and giving autographs, and we're going to make it easier for anglers and fans to share the passion of fishing going forward."

"I, we, are going into this new MLF venture with a different mentality," said Kevin VanDam, holder of many bass fishing titles. "To me, looking at this list is a very powerful statement about the future of the league. This group of anglers accepted the opportunity because they all believe in the vision and that we have the chance to do something very special for the sport of fishing. With all the anglers working hard for the same end goal, the future is going to be very exciting."

MLF will continue its popular Cup events and World Championship, airing on Outdoor Channel and CBS, respectively. New are the Bass Pro Tour competitions and championship, and eventually tour qualifiers, all of which will use the same entertaining and conservation-friendly catch, weigh and immediate-release format.

"It might seem like this expansion roll out happened in a hurry, but in reality it's been six years in development. Ever since Gary Klein and Boyd first had the MLF concept, we've had a great team of people working diligently on the bigger picture," MLF President and CEO Jim Wilburn said. "The extensive strategic planning will become much more obvious over the next few weeks as we reveal more and more of the elements. The new MLF is fulfilling the dream of so many to grow this great sport."

The expansions have been made possible through enthusiastic support from Bass Pro Shops, Outdoor Sportsman Group (OSG) and several other fishing industry and non-endemic sponsors who have been involved since MLF's first TV show in 2012.

Today MLF airs on Outdoor Channel, World Fishing Network, CBS, CBS Sports Network and Discovery Channel, and is available on-demand on My Outdoor TV (MOTV).

For current MLF schedules, rules and sponsors, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

by AnglersChannel

CAL POLY WINS YETI FLW COLLEGE FISHING WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALE ON CALIFORNIA DELTA PRESENTED BY COSTA

BETHEL ISLAND, Calif. (Oct. 1, 2018) – The California Polytechnic State University duo of Sam Morita of Sebastopol, California, and Aren Abrahamian of Glendale, California, won the YETI FLW College Fishing event on the California Delta presented by CostaSaturday with five bass weighing 20 pounds, 1 ounce. The victory earned the Mustang’s bass club $2,650 and a slot in the 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship, scheduled for June 4-6, 2019 at the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland.

“We started our day fishing on the south-southeast side, near Mandeville Island,” said Abrahamian, a senior majoring in environmental science. “We were fishing riprap banks with squarebill crankbaits. We had figured out the squarebill deal in practice and we knew we could put together a quick 6- or 7-pound limit and then go looking for upgrades, so that’s what we did.”

The duo threw unnamed craw-pattern, light red squarebill crankbaits to put together an estimated 7-pound limit by 10 a.m., then moved to another pattern, fishing old dock pilings with Yamamoto Senkos.

“We moved to another spot that had a bunch of pilings – probably around 100 – and caught three big ones flipping Senkos,” Abrahamian said. “Sam was fishing a green-pumpkin and red flake color, Texas-rigged; I was fishing just a green Senko and had mine wacky-rigged. We only had three bites doing that, but they were 4-, 5- and 6-pounders.”

The Mustangs estimated that they caught around 20 keeper fish throughout the day – 40 total. They said that 95% of their bass came on the squarebill.

“We got lucky with the Senkos, but if we wouldn’t have thrown the squarebills early than we wouldn’t have had a limit,” Abrahamian went on to say. “We usually don’t throw that here, but it was a random call that Sam made in practice and it ended up working out – even better than we thought it would.”

The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2019 College Fishing National Championship are:

1^st: California Polytechnic State University – Sam Morita, Sebastopol, Calif., and Aren Abrahamian, Glendale, Calif., five bass, 20-1, $2,650

2^nd: Oregon State University – Biagio Capp, Discovery Bay, Calif., and Brandon Peeler, Lake Oswego, Ore., five bass, 14-7, $1,210

3^rd: California State University-Chico – Jack Geist, Davis, Calif., and Austin Crane, Oroville, Calif., five bass, 13-4, $500

4^th: Sonoma State University – Josh Hanna, Danville, Calif., and Tyler Owens, Santa Rosa, Calif., five bass, 11-9, $510

5^th: University of California-Merced – Herbie LeBlanc and Tshu Xiong, both of Merced, Calif., five bass, 10-12, $500

6^th: California State University-Chico – Matthew Pusateri, Grand Terrace, Calif., and Chad Sweitzer, Chico, Calif., five bass, 10-12

7^th: Arizona State University – Ryan Slivkoff, Tempe, Ariz., and Hayden Frey, San Tan Valley, Ariz., five bass, 9-15

8^th: Utah Valley University – Nick Forbush, Heber City, Utah, and Ben Levie, Salem, Utah, five bass, 9-15

9^th: Sonoma State University – B.J. Kendrick, Morgan Hill, Calif., and Brock Trudeau, Lancaster, Calif., five bass, 9-5

10^th: California State University-Chico – Frank Tomasello and Jakob Conlan, both of Chico, Calif., five bass, 8-10

Complete results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.

The YETI FLW College Fishing event on the California Delta presented by Costa was hosted by Russo’s Marina & Sugar Barge RV Resort. It was the third and final regular-season qualifying tournament for Western Conference anglers in 2018. The next YETI FLW College Fishing event takes place Nov. 3, when Southern Conference anglers compete at the final YETI FLW College Fishing event of the season on Toledo Bend Reservoir presented by Bass Pro Shops, in Many, Louisiana.

YETI FLW College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top ten teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open will advance to the 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship, June 4-6 at the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland. Additional teams will qualify for the National Championship if the field size in regular-season events exceeds 100 boats.

YETI FLW College Fishing is free to enter. All participants must be registered, full-time students at a college, university or community college and members of a college fishing club that is recognized by their school.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow YETI FLW College Fishing on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.

About FLW

by AnglersChannel

LEBANON’S ECKLER WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE MUSIC CITY DIVISION FINALE ON OLD HICKORY LAKE

Cookeville’s Sims Grabs Co-angler Title

GALLATIN, Tenn. (Oct. 1, 2018) – Boater Tony Eckler of Lebanon, Tennessee, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Music City Division tournament on Old Hickory Lake Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 28 pounds even. For his win, Eckler took home $4,749.

Eckler primarily flipped green-pumpkin-colored creature baits in 1- to 3-feet of water to catch his fish Saturday. He said he flipped wood and trash piles, fishing both the main-lake and in the creeks in the mid-section of Old Hickory Lake.

“On Sunday I caught a couple of keepers on a (Blue Chrome-colored) Heddon Super Spook at a spot with schooling fish, which was a main-river ledge near the mouth of a creek,” said Eckler. “I also lost a 2-pounder on a Keitech swimbait and a 3-pounder on the Spook – all in the first 15 minutes. I was pretty frustrated.

“After a few slow hours, I caught a 4-pounder on a Texas-rigged (Plum-colored) Zoom Ol’ Monster Worm off of a drop at the same spot they’d been schooling,” said Eckler. “My instincts told me to try dragging something and it worked.”

Eckler said he entered the final hour of the tournament with four fish totaling about 10 pounds. He said he went flipping and switched from green-pumpkin-colored baits to watermelon colors because of the clearer water.

“I caught my fifth fish and culled three times in the last hour and that’s what won me the tournament,” said Eckler. “Even though I’d lost the 2- and 3- pounders early, I didn’t give up.”

Eckler noted that his recently-purchased Nitro Z21 boat and Mercury outboard helped him stay focused on fishing.

“The Nitro and Mercury are a dependable combo. It eases my mind to know that I have good equipment after fishing out of a used boat for several years. I had some issues, but now I don’t have to worry as much and I have a good sense of security.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st: Tony Eckler, Lebanon, Tenn., 10 bass, 28-0, $4,749

2^nd: Adam Wagner, Cookeville, Tenn., nine bass, 23-4, $2,465

3^rd: Jason Dies, Lebanon, Tenn., nine bass, 21-10, $1,350

4^th: Joel Trevino, Mt. Juliet, Tenn., nine bass, 19-10, $875

5^th: Rocco Simeri, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 10 bass, 18-12, $1,050

6^th: Lance Oligschlaeger, Gallatin, Tenn., eight bass, 17-12, $687

7^th: Hunter Bouldin, McMinnville, Tenn., seven bass, 16-7, $625

8^th: Josh Tramel, Smithville, Tenn., seven bass, 13-0, $562

9^th: Alex Hester, Crossville, Tenn., six bass, 12-8, $500

10^th: Chris Holland, Winchester, Tenn., seven bass, 11-11, $437

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Wagner caught a bass weighing 3 pounds, 15 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $390.

J.P. Sims of Cookeville, Tennessee, caught a two-day total of seven bass weighing 11 pounds, 6 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $1,875.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st: J.P. Sims, Cookeville, Tenn., seven bass, 11-6, $1,875

2^nd: Robert Russell, Smyrna, Tenn., five bass, 9-13, $1,037

3^rd: Chris O'Bryan, Harned, Ky., four bass, 7-10, $625

4^th: Brian Reed, Cookeville, Tenn., four bass, 7-2, $437

5^th: Brandon Davis, Canton, Ga., four bass, 6-14, $375

6^th: James Davis, Springfield, Tenn., four bass, 5-15, $344

7^th: Darren Kelly, Wartburg, Tenn., two bass, 5-12, $557

8^th: Austin Mitchell, Antioch, Tenn., three bass, 4-14, $281

9^th: Charles Olson, Byrdstown, Tenn., three bass, 4-4, $250

10^th: Chad Hill, Marion, Ill., two bass, 3-12, $219

Kelly caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 4 pounds, 8 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $195.

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. 18-20 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Norman in Huntersville, North Carolina. 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.

by AnglersChannel

EVANSVILLE’S SISK WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE HOOSIER DIVISION FINALE ON ROUGH RIVER LAKE

Co-angler Title Goes To Tennyson’s Schmitt

FALLS OF ROUGH, Ky. (Oct. 1, 2018) – Boater Aaron Sisk of Evansville, Indiana, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Hoosier Division tournament on Rough River Lake Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of eight bass weighing 22 pounds, 7 ounces. Sisk took home $4,457 for his catch.

Sisk said he mainly fished in the North Fork area of Rough River Lake, focusing on docks.

“I mainly fished docks on the inside of pockets – close to the main lake – and mixed it up between a ChatterBait and a buzzbait,” said Sisk, who notched his first win BFL competition. “The only areas I focused on were ones that had shade. If I pulled up and it was sunny, I wouldn’t even fish it. I had to plan my day around the sun.

“I probably fished 60 docks a day. I didn’t really sit in one area – I was running and gunning,” Sisk continued. “The biggest key was timing out my day to work with the sun. When the sun was out, I’m sure the fish were suspended out deeper, and once the bank got shady, the fish would move up to feed.”

Sisk said he caught six keepers total Saturday, following it up with another three on Sunday. He used a Green Shad-colored Z-Man/Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait with a White Ice- or Smoking Shad-colored Zoom Super Fluke Jr. For the buzzbait, he preferred a black ½-ounce R&S Baits/Bass Alarm Chatterbuzz with a trailer hook.

“First I’d throw the buzzbait for fish that were likely right near the docks, and then then I’d turn and come back with the ChatterBait for the fish that were suspended 3 or 4 feet down.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st: Aaron Sisk, Evansville, Ind., eight bass, 22-7, $4,457

2^nd: Sean Gillenwater, Bloomington, Ind., nine bass, 18-14, $2,228

3^rd: Luke Foli, Fishers, Ind., eight bass, 15-9, $1,420

4^th: Chris Martinkovic, Hamilton, Ohio, 10 bass, 14-5, $993

5^th: Michael Bays, Bellevue, Ky., seven bass, 13-7, $851

6^th: Joshua Brown, Corydon, Ind., six bass, 12-10, $780

7^th: Thomas Foster, Terre Haute, Ind., five bass, 12-9, $709

8^th: Jimmy Shepherd, Indianapolis, Ind., six bass, 12-7, $639

9^th: Jay Ellis, Celina, Ohio, seven bass, 10-9, $568

10^th: Trevor Windgassen, Alexandria, Ky., five bass, 10-0, $969

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Windgassen caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 6 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $472.

Robert Schmitt of Tennyson, Indiana, caught a two-day total of eight bass weighing 13 pounds, 5 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $2,329.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st: Robert Schmitt, Tennyson, Ind., eight bass, 13-5, $2,329

2^nd: Jeff Hale, New Castle, Ind., nine bass, 11-7, $1,064

3^rd: Dustin Burk, Brookville, Ind., six bass, 9-13, $709

4^th: Chad Ellis, Brownsburg, Ind., four bass, 8-2, $783

5^th: Derek Buchanan, Madison, Ind., six bass, 7-14, $426

6^th: Jeff Turner, Plainfield, Ill., five bass, 7-12, $390

7^th: Tim Knight, Bargersville, Ind., four bass, 5-14, $355

8^th: Nicole Foor, Greens Fork, Ind., four bass, 5-12, $319

9^th: James Rockhill, Anderson, Ind., three bass, 5-1, $284

10^th: Chad Sims, Brownsburg, Ind., four bass, 4-15, $248

Ellis caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 3 pounds, 12 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $236.

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. 18-20 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.

by AnglersChannel

TEXAN BEEBEE WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE COWBOY DIVISION FINALE ON TOLEDO BEND LAKE

Pineville’s Lewis Grabs Co-angler Title

MANY, La. (Oct. 1, 2018) – Boater Joe Beebee of The Woodlands, Texas, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Cowboy Division tournament on Toledo Bend Lake Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 27 pounds, 14 ounces. For his win, Beebee netted $5,632.

Beebee spent the event fishing in Housen Bayou, focusing on a mile-long stretch of hydrilla, pepper grass and lily pads where they all mixed together.

“I fished in 2 feet of water or less, but there was deep water nearby – that was key,” said Beebee, who earned his first win in BFL competition. “I primarily caught them on two lures – frogs and Texas rigs.”

Beebee used a Black Shadow-colored Strike King KVD Popping Perch to catch the majority of his fish Saturday. He also caught one keeper on a Texas-rigged, green-pumpkin Xcite Baits Hawgalicious.

“On Sunday there were some shad flickering, so I used the same Strike King frog in white and caught a 3½-pounder right off of the bat,” said Beebee. “Soon after that I picked up a (Green Tree-colored Spro Dean Rojas Bronzeye 65) frog and caught a 6-pounder – my biggest of the tournament.”

Beebee said the frog bite subsided following the big catch, so he slowed down and started fishing hydrilla off of the bank. He used the same Texas-rigged Xcite Baits Hawgalicious and finished out his limit, culling once in the process.

“I used a 7-foot, 4-inch extra-heavy Impulse Original Series rod and a Shimano Curado (200XG) reel and they were key for me, especially getting that 6-pounder out of the lily pads.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st: Joe Beebee, The Woodlands, Texas, 10 bass, 27-14, $5,632

2^nd: Travis Kelehan, Lafayette, La., 10 bass, 27-1, $2,816

3^rd: Glen Freeman, Zwolle, La., 10 bass, 27-0, $2,077

4^th: Darold Gleason, Many, La., 10 bass, 26-15, $1,414

5^th: Thomas McMillan, Choudrant, La., 10 bass, 25-15, $1,126

6^th: Stephen Reitzell, Colfax, La., 10 bass, 25-5, $1,033

7^th: Kevin Lasyone, Dry Prong, La., seven bass, 24-1, $939

8^th: Derrick Fontenot, Krotz Springs, La., 10 bass, 23-15, $845

9^th: Jame Dubroc, Bunkie, La., nine bass, 23-2, $751

10^th: Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., 10 bass, 22-11, $657

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Dwight Abshire of Santa Fe, Texas, caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $735.

Russell Lewis of Pineville, Louisiana, caught a two-day total of seven bass weighing 20 pounds, 3 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $3,183.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st: Russell Lewis, Pineville, La., seven bass, 20-3, $3,183

2^nd: Craig Strickland, Lumberton, Texas, eight bass, 18-10, $1,408

3^rd: Randy Pewthers, Pearland, Texas, seven bass, 18-1, $1,141

4^th: Fred Martin, North Little Rock, Ark., eight bass, 17-12, $707

5^th: Bobbie Moore, Temple, Texas, five bass, 16-8, $563

6^th: Lindy Hadley, Sam Rayburn, Texas, six bass , 16-3, $516

7^th: Douglas Littleton, New Caney, Texas, seven bass, 16-0, $469

8^th: Ben Faucheaux, Natchitoches, La., eight bass, 15-15, $422

9^th: Elbia Ebert, Porter, Texas, five bass , 14-8, $375

10^th: James Callaghan, De Berry, Texas, seven bass, 13-7, $329

Lewis also caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $367.

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. 25-27 BFL Regional Championship on Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. 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.

by AnglersChannel

AC Insider Episode 37 - Featuring BASS AOY Champ Justin Lucas and Elite Series Pro Bill Lowen

This week Chris & Jason catch up with 2018 BASS Angler of the Year Justin Lucas and talk about his AOY Victory and his recent announcement to move to Major League Fishing. The boys also welcome Elite Series Pro Bill Lowen to the show to discuss why he chose to forgo the MLF Invitation and remain at BASS moving forward. Both conversation you will not want to miss! Check it out!

by AnglersChannel

James “Worldwide” Watson Joins Cashion Rods

SANFORD, North Carolina – Cashion Rods is proud to announce their partnership with US Army Veteran, US Bass Team angler and FLW, Major League Fishing professional angler, James Watson.

Cashion Fishing Rods was founded by Dr. Matthew Cashion who received a Ph.D. in chemistry with a concentration in advanced materials from Virginia Tech. Upon graduation his ambition was to combine his knowledge of material science with his passion for fishing. With that combination came the birth of Cashion Fishing Rods. Each rod is designed to be the best fishing rod for each type of fishing. Matthew and his team have an undeniable obsession for fishing and it shows.

“Adding James Watson to the Cashion Family from the angler side is a no
brainer but we are most proud to have him represent us with the manner in
which he conducts himself as a veteran and in the benevolence side of his
charity and community service contributions. James is a giver and does not
take for granted his public position as a professional angler.” Dr. Matthew Cashion. President and Founder.

“We are really excited to bring James on board for 2019. His energy and enthusiasm stand out and we feel his ability to connect to anglers on all levels will be key. James takes pride in what he does on and off the water and we feel he will add a lot to the family atmosphere we have created here at Cashion Fishing Rods. We look forward to his new ideas and input with products will we be introducing early next year!” Paul Benson. Vice President.

Having known James for a while, the first thing we noticed is that he offers all his sponsors is his unbelievable work ethic. James is the first one in and last one out at almost every show we have worked together. He finds a way to make time for all the folks he represents and even some for companies he just considers friends. His knowledge base of the business side of the industry is invaluable and he truly understands what it takes to help a company grow and increase sales year over year. James is always a team player and his positivity and leadership style lends to help others in our organization grow and become a better tighter knit family.

Cashion Fishing Rods are American made and they stand behind each and every every fishing rod they build.

James says, “I had the pleasure of drawing Paul Benson when I won the BASS Open three years ago. We've been friends ever since. Matthew and Paul are great people. Cashion's business model is one that I believe in and want to be involved with. As a professional angler my future direction must be with companies that I have influence and input with.”

James Watson, also known as JMFW Worldwide, began his fishing career in 2009 at the back of the boat earning himself a trip to the Forrest Wood Cup. The following year Watson made the move to the front of the boat. Residing in Lampe, Missouri Watson has had a successful journey thus far. As an exceptional leader in the U.S. Army, he quickly established himself and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant First Class. Upon being honorably discharged from the U.S. Army Watson began a real estate career with Realty Executives quickly climbing to the top with over $100 million in residential homes sales. Watson has qualified to fish the Bassmaster Classic, Forrest Wood Cup, PAA Events and the Texas Toyota Bass Classic. Watson was this year’s winner of the FLW Sportsman and Community Leadership Award winner for his philanthropy efforts and support of Shriners Hospital for Children. As a Shriner himself he will continue to support Shriners throughout his fishing career.

Watson adds, “I am pumped to join the Cashion Rods team and work closely with some of my aristocrats like Fat Cat Newton. His two Classic victories in June of 1987 are still unprecedented. I hope that I get his autograph and possibly get some schooling from he and Bobby soon!”

by AnglersChannel

FLW ANNOUNCES 2019 T-H MARINE BASS FISHING LEAGUE SCHEDULE, NEW ADVANCEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Beat Five Anglers From Your Regional at the All-American and Advance to the FLW Series Championship

MINNEAPOLIS (Oct. 2, 2018) – FLW announced today the schedule, rules and increased regional payouts for the 2019 T-H Marine Bass Fishing League (BFL), which includes the opportunity to fish 10 no-entry-fee championships awarding more than $3 million. Fishing the BFL puts local anglers in front of the largest fan base in the sport with coverage on FLWFishing.com and FLW’s social media outlets, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, that reach more than 1 million fans each month. Boaters and co-anglers also have the convenience of fishing close to home for advancement to seven BFL Regional Championships, the T-H Marine BFL All-American and the Forrest Wood Cup, plus a new opportunity to advance directly to the Costa FLW Series Championship.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers plus qualifying tournament winners in each division advance to Regional Championships.
Enter all five events in a division, fish at least two and automatically advance to the Wild Card Regional.
The top six boaters and co-anglers from each Regional Championship and the Wild Card Regional advance to the All-American.
The highest-finishing boater and co-angler from each Regional Championship and the Wild Card Regional at the All-American advance to the FLW Series Championship – you only have to beat five anglers from your regional to advance.
The winning boater at the All-American advances to the FLW Cup.
The winning boater and co-angler at the FLW Series Championship advance to the FLW Cup. The winning co-angler also receives use of a Ranger Z520L from the championship through the FLW Cup to fish as a pro. Minimum payout at the FLW Cup is $10,000.

For 2019 BFL anglers are eligible for FREE Bass Pro Shops FLW Tournament Incentives at basspro.com/flwincentives. BFL anglers receive a VIP discount card for 25 percent off Bass Pro Shops branded merchandise all year plus incredible tournament bonuses. Lucrative bonuses are also available from Ranger, Triton, Nitro, Evinrude, Mercury, Costa, Leer, Toyota, Power-Pole, T-H Marine and other FLW sponsors.

Guaranteed no-entry-fee Regional Championship payouts have increased to $70,000 for winning boaters and $50,000 for winning co-anglers, up from $65,000 and $45,000 in 2018. Each regional payout includes $10,000 for second and $5,000 for third on the boater side and $5,000 for second and $2,500 for third on the co-angler side. The top 24 boaters and co-anglers in each regional receive checks.

The 2019 All-American will feature FLW Live on-the-water coverage just like the FLW Tour to showcase BFL anglers and their sponsors to FLW’s worldwide audience. FLW Live weigh-in coverage will also be available from every BFL tournament in 2019 for enhanced media coverage at every level.

Entry fees have increased slightly to $300 per qualifier for boaters and $150 per qualifier for co-anglers. Super tournament entry fees remain the same at $350 for boaters and $175 for co-anglers. The popular “Win and You are In” format that automatically qualifies the winners from each of the 96 one-day qualifying tournaments and 24 two-day super tournaments to the Regional Championships along with the top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division based on point standings remains unchanged. In the BFL, anglers are never out of contention for advancement to a no-entry-fee championship.

"FLW was founded on providing affordable, close-to-home weekend tournaments for bass anglers," said T-H Marine BFL tournament director Daniel Fennel. "BFL anglers are the heart and soul of FLW, and we take great pride in providing them with the best possible tournaments along with a clear pathway for advancement to the sport's next levels - namely the Costa FLW Series and the FLW Tour. Nowhere else do anglers have the opportunity to fish five close-to-home tournaments with a shot at advancing to not just one, but three of the sport’s biggest championships, the All-American, FLW Series Championship and FLW Cup, where a BFL angler can win a total of $520,000."

For the complete 2019 BFL schedule, rules and payouts, visit FLWFishing.com.

DIVISION	TOURNAMENT	LOCATION	DATE
Arkie	Ouachita	Mount Ida, AR	February 23, 2019
Arkie	Dardanelle	Russellville, AR	March 23, 2019
Arkie	Hamilton	Hot Springs, AR	April 13, 2019
Arkie	Greers Ferry	Greers Ferry, AR	May 18, 2019
Arkie	Dardanelle	Russellville, AR	September 7 - 8, 2019
Bama	Martin	Alexander City, AL	March 9, 2019
Bama	Eufaula	Eufaula, AL	March 23, 2019
Bama	Lay	Columbiana, AL	May 11, 2019
Bama	Neely Henry	Gadsden, AL	June 8, 2019
Bama	Eufaula	Eufaula, AL	September 28 - 29, 2019
Buckeye	Grand Lake-St. Marys	Celina, OH	May 11, 2019
Buckeye	Ohio River-Tanners Creek	Lawrenceburg, IN	June 8, 2019
Buckeye	Indian	Lakeview, OH	July 27, 2019
Buckeye	Ohio River-Tanners Creek	Lawrenceburg, IN	August 17, 2019
Buckeye	Mosquito	Cortland, OH	September 21 - 22, 2019
Bulldog	Lanier	Gainesville, GA	February 23, 2019
Bulldog	Oconee	Buckhead, GA	March 23, 2019
Bulldog	Sinclair	Milledgeville, GA	April 13, 2019
Bulldog	Eufaula	Eufaula, AL	June 22, 2019
Bulldog	Lanier	Gainesville, GA	September 28 - 29, 2019
Choo Choo	Guntersville	Scottsboro, AL	February 16, 2019
Choo Choo	Wheeler	Rogersville, AL	March 16, 2019
Choo Choo	Lewis Smith	Jasper, AL	April 6, 2019
Choo Choo	Neely Henry	Gadsden, AL	May 4, 2019
Choo Choo	Guntersville	Guntersville, AL	September 14 - 15, 2019
Cowboy	Toledo Bend	Many, LA	January 26, 2019
Cowboy	Sam Rayburn	Brookeland, TX	March 2, 2019
Cowboy	Toledo Bend	Many, LA	April 13, 2019
Cowboy	Sam Rayburn	Brookeland, TX	June 8, 2019
Cowboy	Sam Rayburn	Brookeland, TX	September 21 - 22, 2019
Gator	Okeechobee	Clewiston, FL	January 26, 2019
Gator	Okeechobee	Okeechobee, FL	February 16, 2019
Gator	Okeechobee	Okeechobee, FL	March 16, 2019
Gator	Okeechobee	Clewiston, FL	March 30, 2019
Gator	Okeechobee	Clewiston, FL	September 21 - 22, 2019
Great Lakes	MS River-La Crosse	La Crosse, WI	May 18, 2019
Great Lakes	Wolf River Chain	Winneconne, WI	June 15, 2019
Great Lakes	MS River-La Crosse	La Crosse, WI	July 20, 2019
Great Lakes	MS River-Prairie Du Chien	Prairie Du Chien, WI	August 17, 2019
Great Lakes	MS River-La Crosse	La Crosse, WI	September 7 - 8, 2019
Hoosier	Patoka	Birdseye, IN	March 30, 2019
Hoosier	Patoka	Birdseye, IN	May 4, 2019
Hoosier	Monroe	Bloomington, IN	June 29, 2019
Hoosier	Ohio River-Rocky Point	Cannelton, IN	July 20 - 21, 2019
Hoosier	Ohio River-Tanners Creek	Lawrenceburg, IN	September 28, 2019
Illini	Rend	Whittington, IL	April 27, 2019
Illini	Shelbyville	Shelbyville, IL	June 8, 2019
Illini	Rend	Whittington, IL	June 29, 2019
Illini	Ohio River-Golconda	Golconda, IL	July 27, 2019
Illini	Shelbyville	Shelbyville, IL	September 7 - 8, 2019
LBL	Kentucky-Barkley	Buchanan, TN	March 2, 2019
LBL	Kentucky-Barkley	Gilbertsville, KY	March 23, 2019
LBL	Kentucky-Barkley	Gilbertsville, KY	May 18, 2019
LBL	Kentucky-Barkley	Buchanan, TN	June 15, 2019
LBL	Kentucky-Barkley	Gilbertsville, KY	September 14 - 15, 2019
Michigan	St. Clair	Harrison Township, MI	June 22, 2019
Michigan	St. Clair	Harrison Township, MI	July 13, 2019
Michigan	St. Clair	Harrison Township, MI	August 3, 2019
Michigan	Detroit River	Trenton, MI	August 24, 2019
Michigan	Detroit River	Trenton, MI	September 21 - 22, 2019
Mississippi	Ross Barnett	Brandon, MS	March 9, 2019
Mississippi	Pickwick	Iuka, MS	April 6, 2019
Mississippi	Pickwick	Iuka, MS	May 18, 2019
Mississippi	Ross Barnett	Brandon, MS	June 15, 2019
Mississippi	Pickwick	Iuka, MS	September 28 - 29, 2019
Mountain	Dale Hollow	Byrdstown, TN	February 23, 2019
Mountain	Cumberland	Burnside, KY	March 16, 2019
Mountain	Dale Hollow	Byrdstown, TN	May 4, 2019
Mountain	Barren River	Scottsville, KY	June 22, 2019
Mountain	Cherokee	Morristown, TN	September 7 - 8, 2019
Music City	Percy Priest	Smyrna, TN	March 9, 2019
Music City	Center Hill	Sparta, TN	March 30, 2019
Music City	Tims Ford	Winchester, TN	May 11, 2019
Music City	Old Hickory	Gallatin, TN	June 8, 2019
Music City	Old Hickory	Gallatin, TN	September 21 - 22, 2019
North Carolina	Norman	Mooresville, NC	February 23, 2019
North Carolina	Wylie	Lake Wylie, SC	March 23, 2019
North Carolina	Kerr	Henderson, NC	April 27, 2019
North Carolina	High Rock	Salisbury, NC	June 8, 2019
North Carolina	Norman	Mooresville, NC	September 21 - 22, 2019
Northeast	Chesapeake Bay	North East, MD	May 18, 2019
Northeast	Chesapeake Bay	North East, MD	June 15, 2019
Northeast	Champlain	Plattsburgh, NY	July 13, 2019
Northeast	Oneida	Brewerton, NY	August 3 - 4, 2019
Northeast	1000 Islands	Clayton, NY	September 14, 2019
Okie	Grand	Grove, OK	February 23, 2019
Okie	Arkansas River	Muskogee, OK	April 6, 2019
Okie	Eufaula	Eufaula, OK	April 27, 2019
Okie	Ft. Gibson	Wagoner, OK	June 22, 2019
Okie	Grand	Grove, OK	September 7 - 8, 2019
Ozark	Lake of the Ozarks	Osage Beach, MO	March 2, 2019
Ozark	Table Rock	Branson, MO	March 16, 2019
Ozark	Stockton	Greenfield, MO	May 4, 2019
Ozark	Truman	Warsaw, MO	June 29, 2019
Ozark	Lake of the Ozarks	Osage Beach, MO	September 14 - 15, 2019
Piedmont	Kerr	Henderson, NC	April 13, 2019
Piedmont	Smith Mountain	Huddleston, VA	May 11, 2019
Piedmont	High Rock	Salisbury, NC	June 22, 2019
Piedmont	James River	Henrico, VA	July 13, 2019
Piedmont	Smith Mountain	Huddleston, VA	September 7 - 8, 2019
Savannah River	Keowee	Seneca, SC	February 9, 2019
Savannah River	Clarks Hill	Appling, GA	March 2, 2019
Savannah River	Hartwell	Lavonia, GA	April 6, 2019
Savannah River	Hartwell	Anderson, SC	May 11, 2019
Savannah River	Hartwell	Anderson, SC	September 14 - 15, 2019
Shenandoah	Kerr	Henderson, NC	April 6, 2019
Shenandoah	Smith Mountain	Huddleston, VA	June 29, 2019
Shenandoah	Potomac	Marbury, MD	July 27, 2019
Shenandoah	Potomac	Marbury, MD	August 17, 2019
Shenandoah	James River	Henrico, VA	September 14 - 15, 2019
South Carolina	Hartwell	Anderson, SC	February 16, 2019
South Carolina	Santee Cooper	Summerton, SC	March 9, 2019
South Carolina	Clarks Hill	Appling, GA	March 30, 2019
South Carolina	Wylie	Lake Wylie, SC	May 18, 2019
South Carolina	Hartwell	Anderson, SC	September 28 - 29, 2019
Volunteer	Watts Bar	Rockwood, TN	March 2, 2019
Volunteer	South Holston	Bristol, TN	March 30, 2019
Volunteer	Douglas	Kodak, TN	April 27, 2019
Volunteer	Cherokee	Morristown, TN	May 18, 2019
Volunteer	Watts Bar	Rockwood, TN	September 14 - 15, 2019

The BFL is the nation’s largest and most rewarding weekend bass-fishing circuit. Nobody offers better rewards and media coverage to local anglers for a lower cost to compete. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division and tournament winners receive priority entry into the 2020 Costa FLW Series while All-American champions may advance directly to the FLW Tour, the world’s most competitive professional bass-fishing circuit.

Anglers can register for the 2019 BFL season at FLWFishing.com or by calling 270.252.1000 on the dates listed below:

November 12, 2018 – Hoosier, Michigan, Music City and Volunteer
November 13, 2018 – Bulldog, Cowboy, Great Lakes, Illini and Mississippi
November 14, 2018 – Bama, Buckeye, Choo Choo, Mountain and Ozark
November 15, 2018 – Arkie, LBL, North Carolina, Northeast and Okie
November 16, 2018 – Gator, Piedmont, Savannah River, Shenandoah and South Carolina

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the sport’s top anglers on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.

About FLW

by AnglersChannel

Kayak Bass Series Cancels KBS Classic set for Lake Fork later this month.

By Vance McCullough

October is here and with it comes cooler weather and shallower bites. Few anglers will be disappointed with that. For a number of kayak anglers who had qualified to fish the Kayak Bass Series Classic on Lake Fork, however, disappointment has indeed come.

The tourney, slated for October 12^th-14^th, has been cancelled.

Kori Whitchurch, who fishes with Kayak Anglers of Missouri, won KBS Angler of the Year for 2018.

Terry L. Manley posted this statement on the KBS Facebook page on behalf of himself and his partner Leigh Sullivan Roberge:

“Due to circumstances beyond our control we are going to cancel the KBS Classic. Everyone that paid for the classic will get a full refund and those that paid a membership in the last 30 days will also get a refund. Leigh Sullivan Roberge will be doing the refunds over the next few days.

“We are truly sorry, Leigh and I have put over 4 years and well over $200,000.00 into the KBS with no return, we have lost everything trying to keep going because we thought eventually it would grow enough to gain back just our loss.

“God Bless you all...!”

Author Vance McCullough is an avid Outdoorsman and Football Coach from Jacksonville, Florida. You can Follow Vance here on Facebook or here on Instagram.

by AnglersChannel

BROOKS HIGH SCHOOL WINS BASS PRO SHOPS FLW HIGH SCHOOL FISHING WHEELER LAKE OPEN PRESENTED BY YETI

DECATUR, Ala. (Oct. 1, 2018) – The Brooks High School duo of Karsten Rotten and Mason Hunt, both of Killen, Alabama, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 13 pounds, 12 ounces to win the 2018 Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Wheeler Lake Open presented by YETI.

According to post-tournament reports, the duo caught their limit targeting rocky bottoms with a green-pumpkin-colored jig near the dam.

A field of 43 teams competed in the no-entry fee tournament, which launched from Ingalls Harbor. In FLW/TBF High School Fishing competition, the top 10-percent of teams competing advance to the High School Fishing National Championship.

The top four teams on Wheeler Lake that advanced to the 2019 High School Fishing National Championship were:

1st: Brooks High School, Killen, Ala. – Karsten Rotten and Mason Hunt, both of Killen, Ala., five bass, 13-12

2nd: Cedar Bluff High School, Cedar Bluff, Ala. – Colin McCullough, Cedar Bluff, Ala., and Justin Hamlin, Fort Payne, Ala., five bass, 12-10

3rd: Union County High School, Blairsville, Ga. – William Harkins and Logan Anderson, both of Blairsville, Ga., five bass, 12-1

4th: Sylvania High School, Sylvania, Ala. – Riley Johnson, Henegar, Ala., and Drake Casey, Sylvania Ala., five bass, 8-15

Rounding out the top 10 teams were:

5th: Fairview High School, Fairview, Ala. – Levi Harris and Bryar Chambers, both of Cullman, Ala., five bass, 8-10

6th: Tuscaloosa County High School, Northport, Ala. – Kole Key and Logan Hicks, both of North Port, Ala., five bass, 8-2

7th: Tuscaloosa County High School, Northport, Ala. – Austin Sullivan, Northport, Ala., and Christian Boyd, Berry, Ala., five bass, 7-12

8th: Fairhope High School, Fairhope, Ala. – Mason Guinn and Emilie Ann Eastman, both of Fairhope, Ala., five bass, 7-7

9th: Sylvania High School, Sylvania, Ala. – Dawson Campbell, Henegar, Ala., and Andrew Smart, Pisgah, Ala., four bass, 7-3

10th: Helena High School, Helena, Ala. – J.C. Sivley and Skyler Stevens, both of Helena, Ala., five bass, 6-13

Complete results from the event can be found at FLWFishing.com.

The 2018 Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Wheeler Lake Open presented by YETI was a two-person (team) event for students in grades 7-12, open to any Student Angler Federation (SAF) affiliated high school club in the United States. The top 10 percent of each Challenge, Open, and state championship field will advance to the 2019 High School Fishing National Championship on a body of water that has yet to be revealed. The High School Fishing national champions will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship to the school of their choice.

Full schedules and the latest announcements are available at HighSchoolFishing.org and FLWFishing.com.

About FLW

by AnglersChannel

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STEVENS POINT WINS YETI FLW COLLEGE FISHING CENTRAL CONFERENCE FINALE ON LAKE OF THE OZARKS

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (Oct. 1, 2018) – The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point duo of Reed Fredrick of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, and Nick Dagel of Round Lake Beach, Illinois, won the YETI FLW College Fishing event on Lake of the Ozarks presented by Bass Pro Shops Saturday with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 8 ounces. The victory earned the Pointers’ bass club $2,400 and a slot in the 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship, scheduled for June 4-6, 2019 at the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland.

“We stayed in the Grand Glaize arm and fished the entire day barely a mile from the launch,” said Fredrick, a senior majoring in water resources. “We were fishing points where the channel swung up against them, just dragging a shaky-head off of the points and onto the ledges.”

“We had three to four areas that we were fishing, all of them 20- to 35-feet-deep,” added Dagel, a senior majoring in biochemistry. “We had 15 pounds by 9 a.m., then culled up slowly throughout the day. No one else was fishing out deep.”

The Pointers’ duo estimated they caught around 20 fish throughout the day – a dozen keepers – with green-pumpkin-magic-colored Zoom Magnum Trick Worms on 5/16-ounce shaky head rigs.

The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2019 College Fishing National Championship are:

1^st: University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point – Reed Fredrick, Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., and Nick Dagel, Round Lake Beach, Ill., five bass, 17-8, $2,400

2^nd: St. Charles Community College – Dale McCrackin, Lake St. Louis, Mo., and Alana Simonsen, Troy, Mo., five bass, 17-1, $1,000

3^rd: University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point – Neal Wisinski, Stevens Point, Wis., and Jesse Pliska, Custer, Wis., five bass, 16-6, $500

4^th: Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville – Justin Lowry, Moro, Ill., and Brendan Magruder, Edwardsville, Ill., four bass, 16-4, $500

5^th: Kansas State University – Nate Gardner, Nickerson, Kan., and Zach Vielhauer, Shawnee, Kan., five bass, 16-3, $500

6^th: Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville – Bryce Peters, Camp Point, Ill., and Matt Fors, Batavia, Ill., five bass, 14-6, $200

7^th: Southeast Missouri State University – Nick Moore, Desoto, Mo., and Jacob Harris, Bonne Terre, Mo., five bass, 14-5, $200

8^th: Campbellsville University – Adam Carman, Berea, Ky., and Hunter Adams, Campbellsville, Ky., five bass, 14-4

9^th: Campbellsville University – Nick Ratliff, Vine Grove, Ky., and Bradley Dunagan, Monticello, Ky., five bass, 14-3, $250

10^th: McKendree University – James Brown, Decatur, Ill., and Trey Schroeder, Crestwood, Mo., five bass, 14-0

Complete results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.

The YETI FLW College Fishing event on Lake of the Ozarks presented by Bass Pro Shops was hosted by the Tri-County Lodging Association. It was the third and final regular-season qualifying tournament for Central Conference anglers in 2018. The next YETI FLW College Fishing events takes place Nov. 3, when Southern Conference anglers compete at the final YETI FLW College Fishing event of the season on Toledo Bend Reservoir presented by Bass Pro Shops, in Many, Louisiana.

by AnglersChannel

Ranger Boats Strengthen Ties with the Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Series for the 2019 Season

The Association of Collegiate Anglers along with the Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Series is proud to announce their renewed partnership with Ranger Boats for the upcoming 2019 season. As part of their committed relationship, Ranger Boats will continue to reach collegiate anglers throughout the nation at events on the national level with the one-of-a-kind Ranger Cup University program.

“At Ranger, we’re very passionate about college fishing,” said Ranger Boats Marketing Director Matt Raynor. “Our partnership with Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Series lets us make an impact on the sport at an exciting level that’s only going to grow in participation and importance. We’re always looking to connect with the next generation of anglers, and this association lets us do that in a big way.”

Modeled after the most lucrative contingency reward program in the fishing industry, Ranger Cup University is the only program of its kind designed exclusively for collegiate anglers and is open to those competing in the Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Series events throughout the 2018-2019 season. Regardless of which boat brand they run, collegiate anglers in compliance with the guidelines can earn merchandise and prizes, as well as a once-in-a-lifetime fishing opportunity by qualifying for the Ranger Cup University Team Challenge held each Fall. Collegiate Anglers need to register for the program each year, regardless of past participation. Registration is completely free of charge and includes payout opportunities at each of the Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Series events this season.

“Ranger Boats’ support of bass fishing has always been legendary when you look at the history of our sport. It only goes without saying that their legacy in college fishing is also historical as they’re one of only a handful of companies that were involved in the early growth of college bass fishing. It continues to be an honor to call them our partners in the Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Series and the Ranger Cup University is one the top prize programs in all of college fishing,” said Wade Middleton, President of CarecoTV, and Director of the ACA.

by AnglersChannel

DISCOVERY BAY’S TROUGHTON WINS COSTA FLW SERIES WESTERN DIVISION FINALE ON CALIFORNIA DELTA

Gregory Troughton wraps up 2018 Costa FLW Series Western Division season with win, earns $77,000

BETHEL ISLAND, Calif. (Sept. 29, 2018) – Pro Gregory Troughton of Discovery Bay, California, brought five bass weighing 12 pounds, 13 ounces, to the scale Saturday to win the Costa FLW Series Western Division finale on the California Delta presented by Power-Pole. Troughton’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 60 pounds, 2 ounces, was enough to earn him the grand prize of $77,691, including a brand new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.

“I’ve worked really, really hard to get to this point. This [win] has been 30 years of work [in the making],” said Troughton, who earned his first career win in FLW Series competition. “I focused on this event, put in tons of time and effort and made it happen. It’s been an incredible week.”

Troughton said he started out Thursday expecting to put together a decent limit with a Don Iovino’s bass pattern-colored Splash-It Popper, but as conditions changed, so did his approach.

“My son Carter and I pre-fished together, and I did well with the Splash-It in the morning. I thought I could get limits fairly quickly for about 12 or 13 pounds, but things changed, as they always do in these tournaments,” said Troughton. “On Thursday, I didn’t have any bites for an hour and a half. My co-angler caught a few on a drop-shot and I felt things were changing, so I decided to get to the punching water and go to work.”

Troughton said he primarily worked through grass mats near three flooded islands in the central region of the Delta, adding that he fished slowly in 6 to 8 feet of water.

“I had confidence in the secondary deal. Within five minutes Thursday, I had my first bite – a 4-pounder,” said Troughton. “I made a little move to another small grass mat and stuck a 3-pound, 8-ouncer. I rotated amongst several small mats, focusing on key parts of them. I noticed a new mat had formed with ‘cheese’ on it, which is hydrilla grass that grows from the bottom to the surface. When it gets hot, it blooms yellow, and we call it cheese. It tells you that there’s a good canopy with lots of thick grass and that’s where the big ones live. I punched in there and caught a 7-pounder – my fifth fish.”

Troughton said that both Thursday and Friday’s limits came on a 4½-inch green-pumpkin-colored Yamamoto Baits Flappin’ Hog on a 4/0-sized Gamakatsu Super Heavy Cover Flippin’ Hook with a 1½-ounce River2Sea tungsten weight.

“I focused on one island Friday and did the exact same rotation through the mats. I started out with two 5-pounders, and after about an hour I caught a 3. Then, after an hour and a half, boom – I caught the big one – a 9-pound, 4-ouncer,” said Troughton. “I followed that up with a 7, and then another 3. Then I stopped fishing and helped my co-angler catch his fish, that was enough for the day.”

On Saturday, Troughton mixed in some new baits, catching two keepers punching mats, two on the Splash-It, one on a ½-ounce, green-pumpkin Z-Man/Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait with a Yamamoto Zako trailer. He also used a wacky-rigged, green-pumpkin Yamamoto Senko. He said the early bite died as the sun got up, so he finished out his day at one of his primary islands, noting that the conditions had changed.

“The wind blew out the cheese and there were clouds so you couldn’t see the grass underneath. We scrambled a bit – it was tough today,” said Troughton.

The top 10 pros on the California Delta finished:

1^st: Gregory Troughton, Discovery Bay, Calif., 15 bass, 60-2, $77,691

2^nd: Bobby Barrack, Maud, Texas, 15 bass, 53-7, $12,507

3^rd: Ish Monroe, Hughson, Calif., 15 bass, 52-15, $9,683

4^th: Ken Mah, Elk Grove, Calif., 15 bass, 52-12, $8,169

5^th: Jerred Jennings, Stockton, Calif., 15 bass, 51-4, $7,369

6^th: Jason Cordiale, Orinda, Calif., 15 bass, 51-2, $6,455

7^th: Nick Nourot, Benicia, Calif., 15 bass, 50-9, $5,648

8^th: Nicholas Cloutier, Oakley, Calif., 15 bass, 48-6, $4,842

9^th: Kyle Grover, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., 15 bass, 45-10, $4,035

10^th: Jeremy McKay, Creswell, Ore., 13 bass, 39-15, $3,228

A complete list of results will be posted at FLWFishing.com.

Troughton’s 9-pound, 4-ounce, largemouth was the biggest of the tournament in the Pro Division and earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $214.

Jacob Traba of Pacifica, California, won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger Z175 with a 90-horsepower outboard motor with a three-day total catch of 14 bass weighing 40 pounds, 2 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers on the California Delta finished:

1^st: Jacob Traba, Pacifica, Calif., 14 bass, 40-2, $27,142

2^nd: Jack Farage, Discovery Bay, Calif., 15 bass, 38-15, $4,174

3^rd: Rodney Brinser, Discovery Bay, Calif., 15 bass, 35-15, $3,309

4^th: Blaine Christiansen, San Jose, Calif., 15 bass, 35-2, $2,851

5^th: Daniel Lutz, Las Vegas, Nev., 15 bass, 34-11, $2,444

6^th: Aaron Sok-Jung Yun, Northridge, Calif., 14 bass, 34-1, $2,037

7^th: Chuck Kavros, Grass Valley, Calif., 14 bass, 29-0, $1,629

8^th: Scott Bern, San Rafael, Calif., 11 bass, 25-7, $1,426

9^th: Brad Shepherd, Templeton, Calif., 12 bass, 24-15, $1,222

10^th: Richard Rodriguez, Modesto, Calif., nine bass, 23-10, $1,089

Rodriguez caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday, a fish weighing 7 pounds, 3 ounces. For his catch, Rodriguez earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $71.

The Costa FLW Series on the California Delta was presented by Power-Pole was hosted by Russo's Marina and Sugar Barge RV Resort and Marina. It was the third and final FLW Series Western Division tournament of the 2018 regular season. The next Costa FLW Series tournament will be the Southwestern Division finale, held Oct. 4-6 on Fort Gibson Lake in Wagoner, Oklahoma, and is presented by Mercury. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.

by AnglersChannel

FORT GIBSON LAKE SET FOR COSTA FLW SERIES SOUTHWESTERN DIVISION FINALE PRESENTED BY MERCURY

WAGONER, Okla. (Sept. 25, 2018) – As many as 250 regional boaters and co-anglers are set to fish Fort Gibson Lake Oct. 4-6 for the Costa FLW Series Southwestern Division finale at Fort Gibson Lake presented by Mercury. Hosted by the Wagoner Area Chamber of Commerce, the three-day bass-fishing tournament will feature a top prize of up to $85,000, including a brand new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard engine.

“The lake is going to fish differently than it has in previous years because of the amount of rain Oklahoma has received in the past week,” said Gene Larew pro Jeff Sprague of Point, Texas, who finished in eighth place when the FLW Series visited Fort Gibson Lake in September 2016. “The lake is going to be high this week and will eventually be falling. If it stabilizes by the time we get there, the fish will be set up on new stuff.

“There’s also a cold front coming in – the first one of the year – so the fishing is about to change,” continued Sprague. “There’s probably going to be a lot of fish in transition and moving around, and I think that’s going to be a big factor in how well someone does in this event. Trying to find them and stay ahead of them will be the key.”

Sprague said that a lot of Fort Gibson Lake will be in play for this event, and that he expects to see fish caught from one end to the other.

“The thing about Fort Gibson Lake is that they live all the way from the dam to the river,” said Sprague. “I think that guys will be spread out and we’ll see fish come from each end of the lake because the water’s been up and it’s going to pull a lot of the fish from the deeper water to the bank, or just up to feed at shallower rock piles and stuff like that.

“It’s going to come down to whoever finds the right rock pile or stretch of hard bottom where there’s a group of fish feeding and moving back out staging. If the bait’s positioned right, that will be key,” continued Sprague. “Just finding that right little area where the bait has moved in and the fish are keyed in on it. Where the current has positioned some fish due to the amount of high water will be a big deal.”

Sprague said that football-head jigs, spinnerbaits, shaky-head rigs, walking baits and buzzbaits will likely be favored by anglers.

“Gene Larew hard heads have been and always will be a big deal there. You can cover a lot of water with them and they can catch the big ones,” said Sprague. “Competitors are going to be able to catch fish in a lot of different ways.”

The Texas pro said that a three-day total of 51 pounds should be enough to take top honors.

Anglers will take off from Taylor's Ferry North, located on Dock Road, in Wagoner, at 7:30 a.m. CDT each day. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will also take place at Taylor’s Ferry North, and will begin at 3:30 p.m. each day. Saturday’s final weigh-in will take place at Walmart, located at 410 S. Dewey Ave. in Wagoner and will begin at 4 p.m. All takeoffs and weigh-ins are free to attend and open to the public.

In Costa FLW Series regular-season competition, payouts are based on the number of participants competing in the event. At Fort Gibson Lake, pros will fish for a top prize of up to $85,000, including a brand new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard if Ranger Cup qualified. Co-anglers will cast for a brand new Ranger Z175 boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard, and $5,000 if Ranger Cup qualified.

by AnglersChannel

Bassmaster Elite Series To Visit Guntersville, Cayuga In 2019

The Bassmaster Elite Series will now be making stops at New York’s Cayuga Lake and Alabama’s Lake Guntersville in 2019.

Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.

September 27, 2018

B.A.S.S. officials announced major schedule changes Thursday for the 2019 Bassmaster Elite Series, responding directly to concerns voiced by anglers about the previous slate.

The trail is now set to visit Alabama’s famed Lake Guntersville on June 21-24 and Cayuga Lake in New York on Aug. 22-25.

When the Elite Series schedule was announced in July, two events were originally planned for the Western United States on the California Delta and the Columbia River in Washington. But after listening to anglers’ concerns about travel expenses and time away from their families, two venues that are more conveniently located to the anglers were selected.

“While it is our goal to take the Bassmaster Elite Series to new venues across the country, we are also very sensitive to the needs and wishes of our anglers,” said B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin. “Many of them had legitimate concerns about the travel demands of our original schedule, and that was the basis for this decision.

“We are confident we’ve chosen two great fisheries.”

Scottsboro, Ala., will be the tournament headquarters at Lake Guntersville, which ranked ninth on the 2018 list of BassmasterMagazine’s 100 Best Bass Lakes. It has been the site of 22 major B.A.S.S. events, including the 2014 Bassmaster Classic. The lake is known for giant largemouth and aquatic grass that makes for excellent summertime fishing.

The official practice period for the Guntersville tournament will begin Tuesday, June 18. The competition days will be the following Friday through Monday (June 21-24).

Cayuga, which is New York’s longest glacial finger lake at just under 40 miles, ranked 13th in the Northeastern Division of Bassmaster Magazine’s 100 Best Bass Lakes. The fishery has hosted three major B.A.S.S. tournaments, dating back to 2012.

The Cayuga tournament dates of Aug. 22-25 were chosen specifically to cut down on anglers’ travel time. The Elite Series already has an event scheduled for New York’s St. Lawrence River on Aug. 15-18.

The official practice period for Cayuga will begin Aug. 19, the day after the St. Lawrence event ends.

“Guntersville is widely known as one of the best bass fisheries in the country, and it’s very centrally located for many of our competitors,” Akin said. “Cayuga is also an excellent fishery, and the timing of that tournament will allow our anglers to make one great trip to the Northeastern United States.”

The Cayuga event will be hosted by The Village of Union Springs with weigh-ins held at Frontenac Park. The City of Scottsboro, Ala., will host the Guntersville Elite event, which will be held at Goose Pond Colony Resort.

by AnglersChannel

B.A.S.S. Celebrates The 50th Birthday Of The B.A.S.S. Nation

Harold Sharp (left), the first tournament director at B.A.S.S. and a pioneer in competitive bass fishing, was the first to affiliate his Chattanooga Bass Club with B.A.S.S., and he was a leader in establishing the network of clubs that is now known as the B.A.S.S. Nation.

Photo by B.A.S.S.

Sept. 27, 2018BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Fifty years ago, Harold Sharp, a young railroad employee who loved to bass fish, became the second member of the newly organized Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, or B.A.S.S.

Sharp soon organized the Chattanooga Bass Club and affiliated it with the B.A.S.S. “mothership,” as he called it, creating what would later become known as the B.A.S.S. Nation of affiliated bass clubs.

Along with Ray Scott, founder, and Bob Cobb, editor of Bassmaster Magazine, Sharp helped mold B.A.S.S. into the “keeper of the culture” of bass fishing. Sharp died three years ago this month, but his legacy lives on in the B.A.S.S. Nation, which has affiliated B.A.S.S. clubs in 47 states and 10 nations worldwide.

“The Nation has been an integral part of B.A.S.S., and the sport of bass fishing,” said Jon Stewart, B.A.S.S. Nation director. “Over the past 50 years, the grass-roots club members of the B.A.S.S. Nation have turned millions of young anglers on to the sport, instilling in them the conservation ethic and the love of competition.”

The conservation ethic in bass fishing began with the B.A.S.S. “Don’t Kill Your Catch” program in 1972. Now, catch and release is the sporting standard in bass fishing. B.A.S.S. continues to lead on the conservation front through the state conservation directors of the B.A.S.S. Nation, who are dedicated to the improvement of local fisheries, lobby for angler access and focus on fish care during tournaments.

The Nation, which has enjoyed steady growth over the past five years and now numbers more than 30,000 members, is one of the prime organizers of high school bass tournaments at the local level. In addition, B.A.S.S. now has 958 high school clubs affiliated with the organization, which includes 10,585 young anglers. Growth in the college ranks continues to rise, as well, as B.A.S.S. now has over 200 colleges affiliated, including over 1,400 anglers. This spike in youth participation has injected new enthusiasm throughout the bass fishing industry.

“Nation club members are some of the most active and engaged anglers among our 500,000 members,” said B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin. “They’re also some of the best amateur anglers in the world. Current Bassmaster Elite Series stars Michael Iaconelli and Brandon Palaniuk were B.A.S.S. Nation champions before earning their way into the Elite Series.”

Sharp’s other legacy was through his work as the original tournament director of the B.A.S.S. Tournament Trail, which he helped make the most competitive, fair and popular tournament series in the world.

“Today’s tournament anglers owe a huge debt of gratitude to Harold Sharp,” said Trip Weldon, B.A.S.S. tournament director. “For 50 years, a competition to see who can catch the heaviest daily limits of bass has been the gold standard all other tournaments are judged by.”

In the Bassmaster Elite Series, professional anglers fish for four days to determine who can catch the five heaviest each day. In the regular season finale on the St. Lawrence River at Waddington, N.Y., Matt Lee set a new record by weighing in the heaviest limit of smallmouth in Elite Series history, 27 pounds, 12 ounces.

That event, the Huk Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River presented by Black Velvet, witnessed the establishment of another record. Attendance over the four-day event totaled 36,200, according to local authorities, which exceeded the previous mark of 34,100, set in Waddington in 2013.

“Attendance is just one of the facets of growth we’re seeing in the sport,” Akin added. “Fans are consuming content about the Elite Series in increasing numbers. Our Bassmaster LIVE live-stream programs of Elite competition, which we are expanding to four days and more cameras next year, have already hit incredible marks with the season not yet over. Through last week’s Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship, LIVE programming drew almost 2.7 million views and recorded a total of 62 million minutes viewed.”

Akin noted that live programming is only part of the exposure focused on professional bass fishing and its athletes. In addition, many of the 1.1 million monthly unique visitors to Bassmaster.com go there for information about Elite Series tournaments, which also are covered by B.A.S.S. Times and Bassmaster Magazines, read by 4.4 million people per issue, according to independent media research statistics, he said. Add to that the 1.7 million social media followers of B.A.S.S., and there is no louder voice in the sport of bass fishing.

Exposure goes highest for anglers competing in the annual Bassmaster Classic, which will be held March 15-17, 2019, on the Tennessee River out of Knoxville, Tenn.

“We set attendance records for the Classic in Greenville, S.C., earlier this year,” said Akin. “It will surprise us if we don’t exceed those numbers in Knoxville next spring.” Alongside the incredible number of bass fishing fans attending the Classic and the anglers who qualified to fish the biggest event in bass fishing, there will stand an army of B.A.S.S. Nation volunteers behind the scenes to ensure the sport’s continued rise. After all, that is what this grass-roots group has done for half a century.

About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 500,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), television show (The Bassmasters on ESPN2), radio show (Bassmaster Radio), social media programs and events. For 50 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.

The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open Series, Academy Sports + Outdoors B.A.S.S. Nation Series presented by Magellan Outdoors, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods, Bassmaster Team Championship and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods.

by AnglersChannel

AC Insider Podcast - National Signing Week.......

They boys wrap up the week with another Podcast talking "National Signing Day" as it seems to be on the interwebs this week. The boys talk the latest in BASS/MLF/FLW Rumors and facts and welcome newly announced MLF BPT Pro's Skeet Reese & Jason Lambert to the program. Its an educational filled podcast to say the least! Check it out!

by AnglersChannel

COSTA FLW SERIES SET TO VISIT CAL DELTA FOR TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY POWER-POLE

BETHEL ISLAND, Calif. (Sept. 18, 2018) – More than 150 pros and co-anglers are set to close the Costa FLW Series Western Division regular season next week, Sept. 27-29, at the Costa FLW Series at the California Delta presented by Power-Pole. The tournament, hosted by Russo’s Marina and the Sugar Barge RV Resort and Marina, is the third and final regular-season event scheduled in the FLW Series Western Division. The event will feature anglers competing for a top award of up to $75,000, including a brand new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.

“Overall, the Delta is fishing a little differently than we’ve gotten used to,” said Yamamoto Baits pro Jimmy Reese of Witter Springs, California, a two-time Forrest Wood Cup qualifier. “We can always catch fish doing the normal, Delta-type fishing – current-related, flipping, a ChatterBait, a spinnerbait – all of those standard ways of catching fish are still there. But, a lot of the grass has been killed off. Guys are going to be searching – not for fish, but for vegetation. It’s going to bring quite a few different things into play.”

Reese said that he expects anglers that move around and have multiple different areas to do well as he doesn’t expect one area will hold enough fish to last for three days of competition.

“You can rely on one spot for a day, maybe a day and a half, but nothing will hold up for three days,” Reese said. “I think the key will be dialing in on something off-the-wall that people overlook in the community areas where people normally fish. I think someone who fishes outside the box will do really well.”

Reese predicted that the winner would weigh in around 23 pounds on Day One, 18 pounds on Day Two and 15 pounds on third and final day.

“What is that, 56 pounds?” Reese said. “That’s my prediction – a winning three-day total of 56 pounds and 2 ounces.”

Anglers will take off and weigh-in each day at Russo’s Marina, located at 2995 Willow Road, in Bethel Island. Takeoff will be held at 7 a.m. PDT each day of competition and weigh-ins will start at 3 p.m. All takeoffs and weigh-ins are free to attend and open to the public.

In Costa FLW Series regular-season competition, payouts are based on the number of participants competing in the event. At the California Delta event, pros will fish for a top prize of $75,000, including a brand new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard if Ranger Cup qualified. Co-anglers will cast for a brand new Ranger Z175 boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard, and $5,000 if Ranger Cup qualified.

by AnglersChannel

Jump Starting Power Packs Upgraded with Increased Power and More Features

Weego Produces Two New-and-Improved Models to Wow Outdoor Enthusiasts and Pros

WESTAMPTON, N.J. (September 25, 2018) – Weego announces the launch of its new and improved, innovative Jump Starting Power Packs, Weego 44 and Weego 66. These compact, rugged power packs feature increased power and additional features to ensure that users are never left without the ease of use and power they need to keep moving.

Spec’d out with 10 percent more true cranking amps of power, Weego 66 now offers an incredible 660 cranking amps (2500 peak amps) while Weego 44 has increased to 440 cranking amps (2100 peak amps). Tremendous power for such a compact size, Weego Jump Starting Power Packs are built to satisfy any of the jump starting needs of outdoor enthusiasts and professionals alike, including tow operators on land and sea doing multiple jumps a day. Users get the safest, most powerful, reliable and compact portable jump starters on the market.

The new and improved Weego 44 is also outfitted with Weego’s AutoBoost™ technology. Built into Weego 66, the technology enhances the jump starting experience for extra-challenging, low-voltage vehicle batteries. With AutoBoost, maximum power is automatically sent to dead batteries (batteries down to 1/2 volt) without an override button which can compromise safety. This new feature eliminates all guesswork but is still incredibly safe for the user.

“We listened and responded to what our customers want,” said Gerry Toscani, CEO, Weego. “The upgraded capabilities of Weego 44 and 66 provide increased power and ease of use at an unmatched value. The fact that our Jump Starting Power Packs can jump at such a low voltage without compromising safety for the user, their Weego or their vehicle is a testament to our continuous improvement initiatives. Weego’s mission is to always give customers safe, reliable, easy-to-use products that last. This is what sets us apart from the rest.”

Also new to both products are space-saving, vertical-format packaging. Their on-shelf presence is more arresting for the brick-and-mortar shopper because of the bright graphics with clear callouts to the increased cranking amps, updated Jump Starting Power Pack name and more expansive gas and diesel engine size compatibilities. Each sku is identified with new model numbers: 44.1 and 66.1.

The upgraded Weego 44 will be available this October and the upgraded Weego 66 will debut in December.

For more information on the entire line of Weego High Performance Jump Starting Power Packs, visit www.myweego.com.

by AnglersChannel

AC Insider - The AOY Episode

This week the boys head back to the root of the show and talk about the Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship last week on Lake Chatuge. They guys speak with the event winner James Elam and how he went wire-to-wire and grab himself a blue trophy. They boys also introduce you to Rookie of the Year Jake Whitaker. Never heard of him? You will know! Those interviews along with the Progressive Bass Wrap Up, The Costa Countdown to Blast off and more all right here!

by AnglersChannel

YETI FLW COLLEGE FISHING EVENT PRESENTED BY BASS PRO SHOPS SET FOR LAKE OF THE OZARKS

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (Sept. 18, 2018) – The YETI FLW College Fishing season will continue with an event Sept. 29, at the YETI FLW College Fishing on Lake of the Ozarks presented by Bass Pro Shops. The tournament, hosted by the Tri-County Lodging Association, is the third and final regular-season event for college anglers in the Central Conference and will award a top prize of a $2,000 club scholarship and an invitation to compete in the 2019 College Fishing National Championship to the winners.

“Lake of the Ozarks is the best lake in Missouri, and the best part about it is that you can win the tournament anywhere on the lake,” said FLW Tour pro Jeremy Lawyer of Sarcoxie, Missouri, the 2016 BFL All-American and a two-time Forrest Wood Cup qualifier. “The college teams are going to be able to fish their strengths 100-percent. There is not a bad part of the lake to fish.”

After a mostly warm and pleasant summer, a cold front is predicted for the Ozark region over the next week as fall looks to be making its return. Lawyer said that the weather change should only improve the fishing conditions.

“When it gets cold and rainy here it goes from mediocre fishing to really good fishing,” Lawyer said. “If there is one lake in the country where the fish really start to chew when a front comes in, it’s Lake of the Ozarks. With three days of rain coming at the end of the week, I expect the fishing to really pick up.”

Lawyer said that he expects moving baits to be the bait of choice amongst most anglers – he suggested topwater baits, squarebill crankbaits and Zoom Super Flukes.

“The fish are going to be more apt to chase it, so you want something that you can tease them with,” Lawyer said. “I think anyone that can catch a solid limit above 18 pounds is going to be competing for the win. I predict the winner will have between 18½ to 19 pounds.”

Competitors will take off from Public Beach No. 2 at the Lake of the Ozarks State Park Grand Glaize Recreation Area, located at 711 Public Beach Road, in Osage Beach, at 7 a.m. CDT Saturday. Weigh-in will be held at the takeoff location beginning at 3 p.m. Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.

Schools are allowed to register up until the morning of the tournament. Entries may be made either by phone or at CollegeFishing.com.

Schools currently registered to compete in the Lake of the Ozarks tournament include:

Bellarmine University – Andrew Kuebler, Louisville, Ky., and Jacob Schmidt, Medina, Ohio

Bellarmine University – Trevor Hulsey, Louisville, Ky., and Patrick McPhillips, Floyds Knobs, Ind.

Campbellsville University – Adam Carman, Berea, Ky., and Hunter Adams, Campbellsville, Ky.

Campbellsville University – Gavin Barnes and Ezra Oliver, both of Campbellsville, Ky.

Central College – Cameron Timok, Glen Allen, Va., and Steven Candley, Pella, Iowa

Eastern Kentucky University – Blake Riley, Henderson, Ky., and Corey Elliott, London, Ky.

Greenville University – Evan Seggerman, Minonk, Ill., and Cale Jausel, Coulterville, Ill.

Greenville University – Ricky Huge, Carlyle, Ill., and Cordell Beckmann, Breese, Ill.

Illinois State University – Anthony Fazio, Channohn, Ill., and Justin Schick, Morton, Ill.

Illinois State University – Benjamin Stedman and Hayden Damery, both of Moweaqua, Ill.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis – Ethan Maag, Kendallville, Ind., and Jacob Sanders, Marion, Ill.

Iowa State University – Taggert Tesdal, Jefferson, Wis., and Josef Rogers, Ames, Iowa

Kansas State University – Cole Miller, Kansas City, Mo., and Andrew Easterday, Overland Park, Kan.

Kansas State University – Michael Mueting and Jake Elwood, both of Lincoln, Neb.

Kansas State University – Hunter French, Buhler, Kan., and Laine Werth, Manhattan, Kan.

Lewis University – Joe Skvarla, Tinley Park, Ill., and Zachary Spesia, Coal City, Ill.

Southern Illinois University – Kyle Wagner and Jake Wagner, both of Waterloo, Ill.

Southern Illinois University – Mason Bishop, Goreville, Ill., and Levi Rogers, Albion, Ill.

Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville – Bryce Peters, Camp Point, Ill., and Matt Fors, Batavia, Ill.

Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville – Brendan Magruder, Edwardsville, Ill., and Justin Lowry, Moro, Ill.

Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville – Tristan Friesner, Cabot, Ark., and Cole Hammel, McLean, Ill.

University of Iowa – Jake Usher, Ionia, Iowa, and Bryan Mouser, Iowa City, Iowa

University of Nebraska – Charle Deshazer, Fremont, Neb., and Sean Mulchrone, Maple Grove, Minn.

University of North Dakota – Zachery Oldre, Lakeville, Minn., and Noah Levesseur, Prior Lake, Minn.

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh – Zachary Schnepf, Waukesha, Wis., and Michael Anderson, Lake Tomahawk, Wis.

University of Wisconsin-Platteville – Eric Rasmussen and Bradley Winkel, both of Platteville, Wis.

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point – Reed Fredrick, Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., and Nick Dagel, Round Lake Beach, Ill.

Winona State University – Colton Haney, Baldwin, Wis., and Chase Pomeroy, Winona, Minn.

YETI FLW College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top ten teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open will advance to the 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship. Additional teams will qualify for the National Championship if the field size in regular-season events exceeds 100 boats. The Potomac River and Marbury, Maryland, will play host to the 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship, June 4-6, 2019.

by AnglersChannel

LABELLE’S MILICEVIC WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE GATOR DIVISION FINALE ON LAKE OKEECHOBEE

Palm Spring’s Panozzo Takes Co-angler Title

OKEECHOBEE, Fla. (Sept. 24, 2018) – Boater Gary Milicevic of Labelle, Florida, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Gator Division tournament on Lake Okeechobee Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 53 pounds, 2 ounces. For his win, Milicevic earned $8,374.

Milicevic was unable to be reached for details, but according to post-tournament reports he caught his fish near Harney Pond, flipping a Medlock Jig in the cloudy and rainy conditions to catch his limits.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st: Gary Milicevic, Labelle, Fla., 10 bass, 53-2, $6,374 + $2,000 Ranger Cup

2^nd: Larry Cahan, East Palatka, Fla., 10 bass, 48-0, $2,937

3^rd: Bryan Honnerlaw, Moore Haven, Fla., 10 bass, 45-10, $2,057

4^th: Donny Bass, Naples, Fla., 10 bass, 40-14, $1,371

5^th: Jared McMillan, Belle Glade, Fla., 10 bass, 40-7, $1,175

6^th: Fred Chivington Jr., Welaka, Fla., 10 bass, 40-3, $1,077

7^th: Chuck Webb, Sarasota, Fla., 10 bass, 39-12, $979

8^th: Jim Joseph, Oakland Park, Fla., 10 bass, 39-1, $881

9^th: Chris Keith, Gainesville, Fla., 10 bass, 36-13, $783

10^th: Mason Boylan, Melbourne, Fla., 10 bass, 36-3, $685

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Steve Broughton of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, caught a largemouth weighing 8 pounds, 11 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $780.

John Panozzo of Palm Springs, Florida, caught a two-day total of nine bass weighing 36 pounds even to win the Co-angler Division and $2,937.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st: John Panozzo, Palm Springs, Fla., nine bass, 36-0, $2,937

2^nd: James Bullard, Glen Saint Mary, Fla., nine bass, 33-1, $1,568

3^rd: Vince Owen, Coral Springs, Fla., nine bass, 29-12, $979

4^th: Christian Greico, Tampa, Fla., 10 bass, 27-0, $685

5^th: Jackie Barber, Cocoa, Fla., nine bass, 24-7, $587

6^th: Christopher Gardner, Leesburg, Fla., nine bass, 23-0, $538

7^th: Alex Mut, Miami, Fla., seven bass, 23-0, $929

8^th: Cody Farnham, Port St. Lucie, Fla., 10 bass, 21-15, $441

9^th: General Johnson, Fort Myers, Fla., eight bass, 20-13, $392

10^th: Moses Wilson, Clewiston, Fla., 10 bass, 20-10, $343

Mut caught the largest largemouth bass in the Co-angler Division weighing 8 pounds, 15 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $390.

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. Johns 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.

by AnglersChannel

HOYLE WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE SOUTH CAROLINA DIVISION FINALE ON LAKE WYLIE

Piedmont’s Smith Takes Co-angler Title

ROCK HILL, S.C. (Sept. 24, 2018) – Boater Cody Hoyle of Rutherfordton, North Carolina, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) South Carolina Division tournament on Lake Wylie Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of nine bass weighing 25 pounds, 8 ounces. For his win, Hoyle netted $6,253.

Hoyle said he fished up the Catawba River each day, from just above the mouth of the south fork to the Interstate 85 bridge.

“I fished clay banks, riprap and docks in 1 to 15 feet of water,” said Hoyle, who notched his first win in FLW competition. “I fished docks with a jig and then between the docks I used a square-billed crankbait. I was just trying to cover as much water as possible.”

Hoyle said he caught seven keepers Saturday, some on a TO Craw-colored Lucky Craft 1.5 Silent Squarebill crankbait, and some on a green-pumpkin jig with a green-pumpkin and red Zoom Big Salty Chunk trailer.

“My dad made the jig and I caught my biggest fish on it each day,” said Hoyle. “I just put a set of Power-Poles on and they helped me get those fish as well. I set them down and was really able to pick apart those docks.”

Hoyle said his fish reloaded in the same spots Sunday and that he caught four keepers and two small fish to finish out the event.

“I caught my last fish at 2:55 (p.m.) with the jig from a dock right across the lake from the weigh-in. If I didn’t get that one I would’ve finished in second place.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st: Cody Hoyle, Rutherfordton, N.C., nine bass, 25-8, $6,253

2^nd: Jeff Jennings, Rock Hill, S.C., 10 bass, 24-0, $3,126

3^rd: Jason Wilson, Lincolnton, N.C., nine bass, 23-5, $2,018

4^th: Britt Myers, Lake Wylie, S.C., 10 bass, 23-2, $1,412

5^th: Austin Johnson, Chesnee, S.C., nine bass, 23-1, $1,211

6^th: Willie McMullen, Oxford, Ga., 10 bass, 19-13, $1,110

7^th: Shane Lineberger, Lincolnton, N.C., eight bass, 19-6, $1,009

8^th: Rob Digh, Denver, N.C., nine bass, 19-0, $908

9^th: Robby Rush, Gastonia, N.C., eight bass, 18-8, $807

10^th: Jake Frye, Charlotte, N.C., nine bass, 18-3, $1,006

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Fred Kauffman of Denver, North Carolina, caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 2 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $817.

Michael Smith of Piedmont, South Carolina, caught a two-day total of six bass weighing 12 pounds, 13 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $3,143.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st: Michael Smith, Piedmont, S.C., six bass, 12-13, $3,143

2^nd: Bobby Henderson, Charlotte, N.C., five bass, 10-8, $1,522

3^rd: Donald Poteat, Morganton, N.C., five bass, 9-0, $980

4^th: Cole Drummond, Effingham, S.C., four bass, 8-1, $687

5^th: Beau Wilder, Charlotte, N.C., five bass, 8-0, $589

6^th: Harold Addison II, Columbia, S.C., four bass, 7-12, $540

7^th: Khris Williams, Mount Holly, N.C., four bass, 7-11, $491

8^th: Kate Hough, Gilbert, S.C., three bass, 7-7, $441

9^th: Jarrod Egolf, Frederick, Md., three bass, 6-14, $392

10^th: Jason Byrd, Lugoff, S.C., three bass, 6-12, $343

Tom Brown of Newton, North Carolina, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 3 pounds, 12 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $397.

The 2018 T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) South Carolina Division finale on Lake Wylie was hosted by the Rock Hill/York County Convention & Visitors Bureau.

by AnglersChannel

VANDIVER’S STRACNER WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE BAMA DIVISION FINALE ON LAKE JORDAN

Sylacauga’s Scott Grabs Co-angler Title

WETUMPKA, Ala. (Sept. 24, 2018) – Boater Josh Stracner of Vandiver, Alabama, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bama Division tournament on Lake Jordan Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 30 pounds, 8 ounces. For his win, Stracner netted $4,110.

Stracner said he fished on the south end of the lake throughout the event. On Saturday, he primarily used a 6½-inch green-pumpkin-colored Netbait T-Mac Straight Tail worm on a Davis Bait Company shaky-head jig. He also used a homemade jig with a green-pumpkin Zoom Super Chunk Jr. trailer.

“I caught pretty much everything I weighed on the Netbait worm in brush piles and one from docks on the jig,” said Stracner. “I would pull up and throw that shaky-head and if I didn’t get anything in three or four casts, I moved on.

“I skipped the jig under the deepest docks I could find,” continued Stracner. “The one I weighed was from a dock near the launch ramp and it ended up being my biggest of the day.”

Stracner said he fished 30 to 40 brush piles each day, in anywhere from 12 to 20 feet of water.

“I started with the shaky-head rig in brush piles Sunday but couldn’t get a bite,” said Stracner. “I picked up a (bone-colored) Zara Spook and was able to catch a limit really quick – including my biggest fish of the event.

“As the sun got up, I switched to a (Sexy Blue Back Herring-colored) Strike King 6XD crankbait and caught them well late in the day,” continued Stracner. “In the last couple of hours, I could get them at a brush pile on the first cast.”

Stracner said he ended up putting nearly 10 keepers in the boat on Saturday and 30 on Sunday.

“I got some new rods that really helped me out, especially the 7-foot, 6-inch Shimano (Expride A) heavy casting rod. It’s versatile and you can fish a lot of different techniques with it.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st: Josh Stracner, Vandiver, Ala., 10 bass, 30-8, $4,110

2^nd: Michael Smith, Andalusia, Ala., 10 bass, 28-7, $2,255

3^rd: Anthony Goggins, Clanton, Ala., 10 bass, 27-7, $1,469

4^th: Dusty Robinson, Eclectic, Ala., 10 bass, 27-3, $959

5^th: Shaye Baker, Tallassee, Ala., 10 bass, 27-2, $822

6^th: Erick Sommers, Deatsville, Ala., 10 bass, 25-12, $754

7^th: Chad Schroeder, Lowndesboro, Ala., 10 bass, 25-10, $685

8^th: Joe Wikoff, Phenix City, Ala., 10 bass, 25-1, $617

9^th: Jeremy Green, Gadsden, Ala., 10 bass, 24-3, $990

10^th: Terry Tucker, Gadsden, Ala., seven bass, 21-9, $480

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Bueltmann caught a bass weighing 4 pounds, 9 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $442.

Caleb Scott of Sylacauga, Alabama, caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 23 pounds, 11 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $2,055.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st: Caleb Scott, Sylacauga, Ala., 10 bass, 23-11, $2,055

2^nd: Jeff Morgan, Kennesaw, Ga., 10 bass, 21-15, $1,228

3^rd: Radney Atchison, Prattville, Ala., 10 bass, 21-2, $684

4^th: David McMurphy, Wilsonville, Ala., 10 bass, 20-11, $480

5^th: Mike Grose, Salem, Ala., nine bass, 20-6, $461

6^th: Jennings Earnest, Guin, Ala., 10 bass, 20-4, $377

7^th: Lew Moore, Roanoke, Ala., eight bass, 18-9, $343

8^th: Ryan Sweeney, Springville, Ala., nine bass, 17-12, $308

9^th: Tyler Conn, Wetumpka, Ala., seven bass, 14-1, $274

10^th: Larry Purdie, Columbus, Ga., seven bass, 13-12, $240

Jacob Robinson of Temple, Georgia, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 3 pounds, 3 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $221.

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 St. Johns 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.

by AnglersChannel

BENTON’S WRIGHT WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE ARKIE DIVISION FINALE ON LAKE HAMILTON PRESENTED BY GEARED

Delaney Takes Co-angler Title

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (Sept. 24, 2018) – Boater Adam Wright of Benton, Arkansas, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Arkie Division tournament on Lake Hamilton Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 31 pounds, 10 ounces. For his win, Wright pocketed $6,387.

Wright said he fished all over the main lake Saturday and Sunday, hitting 15 diffeent areas Saturday and 20 on Sunday. He said he was able to put 17 keepers in the boat, mostly with a white Stanley Ribbit frog and a Black’s Custom Lures buzzbait with a white Zoom Horny Toad.

“I used a medium retrieve and made thousands of casts. They were just getting to the bank in shallow grass,” said Wright, who logged his fourth career win as a boater in BFL competition – third on Lake Hamilton. “On Saturday, I had them by 10 a.m. – it was the perfect storm. It rained the night before and it played into my strategy. I had some brush piles ready, but when it rains they go shallow.”

Wright said that when it rained during the tournament he used the buzzbait, and when it subsided, he switched to the frog.

“On Sunday I caught my largest – a 4-pound, 13-ouncer – on two ‘donkey-rigged’ white Zoom Super Flukes. It came from a 5-foot-deep creek channel at around 12:30 (p.m.). They were breaking there Saturday, but I couldn’t catch them. It was my fifth fish and ended up being my kicker as well.”

Wright said he used blue and green-colored 60-pound-test Sunline FX2 braided line on a a 7-foot, 1-inch G. Loomis NRX heavy casting rod and Lew’s Tournament Pro reel .

“The NRX is the perfect rod for swimming a frog,” said Wright. “And the Lew’s high speed reel gave me the right cadence – more repetitions and faster casts.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st: Adam Wright, Benton, Ark., 10 bass, 31-10, $6,387

2^nd: Cody Kemp, Donaldson, Ark., 10 bass, 28-5, $2,694

3^rd: Wayne Dixon, Morrilton, Ark., 10 bass, 26-5, $1,795

4^th: Matt Wood, Jessieville, Ark., 10 bass, 25-13, $2,147

5^th: Chip Hawkins, Little Rock, Ark., 10 bass, 23-10, $1,177

6^th: Teddy Bogard, Rison, Ark., 10 bass, 20-14, $988

7^th: Quincy Houchin, Mabelvale, Ark., 10 bass, 20-8, $898

8^th: Steve Howard, Conway, Ark., 10 bass, 19-13, $808

9^th: Leland Nixon, Bee Branch, Ark., 10 bass, 19-12, $718

10^th: Keith Green, Arkadelphia, Ark., 10 bass, 19-5, $628

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Wood caught a bass weighing 4 pounds, 13 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $690.

Trevor Delaney of Benton, Arkansas, caught a two-day total of eight bass weighing 18 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $2,694.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st: Trevor Delaney, Benton, Ark., eight bass, 18-12, $2,694

2^nd: Dusty Rhoades, Gravelly, Ark., 10 bass, 17-7, $1,547

3^rd: Ethan Sutton, Hot Springs, Ark., 10 bass, 17-3, $899

4^th: Daniel Elam, Lamar, Ark., 10 bass, 15-1, $628

5^th: Robert Bogard Jr., Conway, Ark., 10 bass, 14-11, $539

6^th: Kevin Clark, Malvern, Ark., 10 bass, 14-6, $544

7^th: Jody Jones, Harvey, Ark., nine bass, 14-3, $449

8^th: John McCullar, Benton, Ark., nine bass, 12-0, $404

9^th: Cody Nickles, Vanndale, Ark., five bass, 11-12, $359

10^th: Brian Choate, Conway, Ark., seven bass, 11-2, $314

McCullar caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 4 pounds, 10 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $345.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. 25-27 BFL Regional Championship on Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. 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.

by AnglersChannel

MATTOON’S MCDOWELL WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE ILLINI DIVISION FINALE ON LAKE SHELBYVILLE

Co-angler Title Goes to Walnut Hill’s Arning

SHELBYVILLE, Ill. (Sept. 24, 2018) – Boater Garrett McDowell of Mattoon, Illinois, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Illini Division tournament on Lake Shelbyville Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 26 pounds, 3 ounces. McDowell earned $6,540 for his win.

“I went from one end of the lake to the other running the backs of coves in a foot or less of water,” said McDowell, who earned his first win in FLW competition. “The water was pretty clear but my polarized Solar Bat sunglasses were key for me. If you didn’t have sunglasses where you could see the wood on the bottom, I wouldn’t have caught what I did. A lot of the stumps were a foot or more under the water where you just can’t see them without the polarized lenses.”

McDowell said he primarily used a custom white swimjig with a White Pearl-colored Zoom Super Chunk. He also rotated in a ChatterBait with a white Keitech swimbait when he needed to cover more water, and noted that it caught one of his largest fish of the day Saturday.

“I probably hit 12 to 15 coves each day, with stumps and laydowns being the deal,” said McDowell. “I saved my southern coves for Sunday. I thought they held better-quality fish.”

McDowell said he ended up catching about eight keepers each day.

“Making multiple casts to the same target was important. Sometimes I had to cast 10 times to a stump before they’d eat the bait.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st: Garrett McDowell, Mattoon, Ill., 10 bass, 26-3, $4,540 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus

2^nd: Jeremy Mull, Chatham, Ill., 10 bass, 23-5, $2,470

3^rd: Brennon McCord, West Frankfort, Ill., 10 bass, 22-7, $1,515

4^th: Brian Tschudy, Mascoutah, Ill., nine bass, 20-15, $1,159

5^th: Darren Frazier, Anna, Ill., seven bass, 20-13, $908

6^th: Michael Black, Toledo, Ill., eight bass, 20-12, $832

7^th: Mike McGill, Findlay, Ill., nine bass, 20-4, $757

8^th: Dan Morehead, Paducah, Ky., nine bass, 20-1, $981

9^th: Andrew Harper, Shelbyville, Ill., eight bass, 19-2, $605

10^th: Bobby McMullin, Pevely, Mo., nine bass, 17-15, $530

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Nick Koehne of Manteno, Illinois, caught a bass weighing 4 pounds, 12 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $532.

Aaron Arning of Walnut Hill, Illinois, caught a two-day total of eight bass weighing 18 pounds, 15 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $2,470.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st: Aaron Arning, Walnut Hill, Ill., eight bass, 18-15, $2,470

2^nd: David Duzan, Oakland, Ill., seven bass, 15-11, $1,135

3^rd: Mark Carlock, Hillsboro, Ill., five bass, 12-10, $757

4^th: Ryan Murphy, Paris, Ill., six bass, 11-12, $530

5^th: Dale Renth, Mascoutah, Ill., seven bass, 11-10, $504

6^th: Adrian Lungu, Palos Hills, Ill., five bass, 11-5, $682

7^th: Aaron Wehmeyer, Odell, Ill., five bass, 11-0, $378

8^th: Austin Sloan, Shelbyville, Ill., four bass, 9-14, $341

9^th: Mario Rossi Jr., Granite City, Ill., five bass, 9-10, $303

10^th: Shane Campbell, Highland, Ill., four bass, 9-7, $265

Lungu caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 4 pounds, 3 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $266.

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. 25-27 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tennessee. 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.

by AnglersChannel

BYRDSTOWN’S REAGAN WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE MOUNTAIN DIVISION FINALE ON BARREN RIVER

Scottsville’s Bennington Takes Co-angler Title

GLASGOW, Ky. (Sept. 24, 2018) – Boater Robert Reagan of Byrdstown, Tennessee, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mountain Division tournament on the Barren River Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of nine bass weighing 30 pounds, 7 ounces. For his win, Reagan took home $7,329.

Reagan said he caught most of the fish he weighed on a homemade football-head jig with a Watermelon Meat-colored Strike King Rage Tail Craw trailer in 18 to 20 feet of water.

“I got on a shallow bite early in practice, so I went to the river Saturday but only caught one small fish by 1:30 p.m.,” said Reagan, who earned his fourth career win in BFL competition. “I ran back down to the main lake to the mid-lake area and ran some ledges. I marked fish and got four bites by the end of the day and they were the right ones.”

Reagan flipped shallow wood with a green-pumpkin Zoom Speed Craw with a 3/8-ounce weight to catch his keeper from the river.

“I returned to the same mid-lake area Sunday and caught two fish from a place I’d caught them Saturday, and the other two from ledges I hadn’t fished yet,” said Reagan. “I marked them and fished them with the same jig – I never laid it down. I lost my “fifth” a couple of times Sunday – it just didn’t get into the net.”

Reagan noted that his Lowrance electronics were essential to his win.

“I couldn’t have won without my Lowrance unit – they showed me the fish. I idled the ledges and when I‘d see them I’d stop the engine and cast in there. It seemed like I could catch them on a first or second cast.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st: Robert Reagan, Byrdstown, Tenn., nine bass , 30-7, $5,329 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus

2^nd: Densmore Goodson, Letcher, Ky., 10 bass, 24-8, $2,664

3^rd: James Copeland, Bowling Green, Ky., 10 bass, 24-8, $2,118

4^th: Steve Whitaker, Scottsville, Ky., 10 bass, 23-13, $1,543

5^th: Tim Akers, Richmond, Ky., 10 bass, 23-10, $1,407

6^th: Mike Casada, Stearns, Ky., 10 bass, 22-7, $977

7^th: Keith Monson, Burgin, Ky., 10 bass, 21-6, $888

8^th: Ryan White, Lancaster, Ky., nine bass, 21-0, $799

9^th: Kenneth Patterson, Knifley, Ky., eight bass, 20-9, $910

10^th: Bennie Mutter, Glasgow, Ky., nine bass, 20-4, $722

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Copeland caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 8 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $341.

Ed Bennington of Scottsville, Kentucky, caught a two-day total of eight bass weighing 23 pounds, 5 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $2,664.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st: Ed Bennington, Scottsville, Ky., eight bass, 23-5, $2,664

2^nd: Tommy Glass, Verona, Ky., eight bass, 16-4, $1,532

3^rd: Jason Ratcliff, Eubank, Ky., seven bass, 15-12, $939

4^th: Doug Adkins, Gray Hawk, Ky., eight bass, 15-8, $622

5^th: Andy Spencer, Glasgow, Ky., nine bass, 13-3, $533

6^th: Matt Chiodi, West Chester, Ohio, seven bass , 13-1, $488

7^th: Les Reeves, Rockholds, Ky., five bass, 12-5, $444

8^th: Jonathan Sydnor, Canmer, Ky., four bass, 10-4, $400

9^th: Bobby Arms, Jamestown, Tenn., five bass, 10-3, $355

10^th: Bob Wiles, Huntington, W. Va., six bass, 10-3, $311

Nick Haunert of Maineville, Ohio, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 3 pounds, 7 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $341.

The 2018 T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mountain Division finale on the Barren River was hosted by the Glasgow-Barren County Tourist & Convention Commission.

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. 25-27 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tennessee. 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.

by AnglersChannel

SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY BASS CLUB WINS BASS PRO SHOPS FLW HIGH SCHOOL FISHING RAYSTOWN LAKE OPEN PRESENTED BY COSTA

HESSTON, Pa. (Sept. 24, 2018) – The Susquehanna Valley Bass Club duo of Cadin Sheesley and Gavin Enders, both of Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 15 pounds, 5 ounces to win the 2018 Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Raystown Lake Open presented by Costa.

According to post-tournament reports, the duo caught their limit by working a green-pumpkin-colored worm very slowly on the lower end of Raystown, near the dam.

A field of 20 teams competed in the no-entry fee tournament, which launched from Seven Points Marina. In FLW/TBF High School Fishing competition, the top 10-percent of teams competing advance to the High School Fishing National Championship.

The top two teams on Raystown Lake that advanced to the 2018 High School Fishing National Championship were:

1st: Susquehanna Valley Bass Club, Lewisburg, Pa. – Cadin Sheesley and Gavin Enders, both of Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania., five bass, 15-5

2nd: Central High School, Martinsburg, Pa. – Kasey Imler and Ken Imler, both of East Freedom, Pa., five bass, 15-2

Rounding out the top 10 teams were:

3rd: Susquehanna Valley Bass Club, Lewisburg, Pa. – Dylan Edwards, Milton, Pa., and Zachary Stroud, South Williamsport, Pa., five bass, 14-15

4th: Archbishop Curley High School, Baltimore, Md. – Reed Barra and Travis Nale, both of Pasadena, Md., five bass, 12-9

5th: Central High School, Martinsburg, Pa. – Hunter Klutz and Gerald Brumbaugh, both of Martinsburg, Pa., five bass, 12-3

6th: Lancaster Junior Hog Hunters – Ben Wright, Lititz, Pa., and Andrew Fields, Myerstown, Pa., five bass, 11-6

7th: Berkeley Springs High School, Bath, W.Va. – Landon Harrington and Sam Ambrose, both of Berkeley Springs, W.Va., five bass, 10-11

8th: Camp Hill High School, Camp Hill, Pa. – Andrew Zulli and Casey Zulli, both of Camp Hill, Pa., five bass, 8-9

9th: Susquehanna Valley Bass Club, Lewisburg, Pa. – Tyler Mowery and Dominic Cecco, both of Winfield, Pa., five bass, 8-8

10th: Chambersburg High School, Chambersburg, Pa. – Dylan Barefoot and Carson Forrester, both of Chambersburg, Pa., five bass, 7-12

Complete results from the event can be found at FLWFishing.com.

The 2018 Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Raystown Lake Open presented by Costa was a two-person (team) event for students in grades 7-12, open to any Student Angler Federation (SAF) affiliated high school club in the United States. The top 10 percent of each Challenge, Open, and state championship field will advance to the 2019 High School Fishing National Championship on a body of water that has yet to be revealed. The High School Fishing national champions will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship to the school of their choice.

Full schedules and the latest announcements are available at HighSchoolFishing.org and FLWFishing.com.

by AnglersChannel

2019 ABA Open Schedules

September 25, 2018

Athens, AL. American Bass Anglers announced today the 2019 ABA Open Series schedules with 81 tournaments in 18 divisions, in a Pro/Am style format. The series provides the path the 2020 Ray Scott Championship where the winning boater will be awarded $50,000 and a new Triton/Mercury Boat package valued over $70,000. The winning co-angler at the Ray Scott Championship will win $25,000 and a new Triton/Mercury Boat package valued over $55,000.

ABA will take top ten Boaters and top ten Co-Anglers from each division by points after the Area Championship to the 2020 Ray Scott Championship. Additionally, the top five Boaters and top five Co-Anglers at the Area Championship by place of finish, who do not advance by divisional points, will also advance.

Each division hold four one-day qualifying events and advance anglers to a two-day Area Championship. The Angler of the Year, both Boater and Co-Angler from each division will receive their entries paid for the 2020 season in the same division. This includes four Divisional events and Area Championship.

Area Championships are held in the fall of year and the full field competes both days of these events which gives all anglers the opportunity to qualify for the Ray Scott Championship.

The Ray Scott Championship is a four-day event held in the spring of the following year. The full field competes for 3 days and the top 25 Boaters and Co-Anglers advance to Championship Sunday.

Entry fees are; for the divisional one-day events are $210 for boaters and $105 for co-anglers, for the area Championships entries are $310 for boaters and $155 for co-anglers. Ray Scott Championship entries will be $310 for boaters and $155 for co-anglers.

Payout for all events will be based on number of entries, for one-day divisional events a guaranteed $5000 will go the wining boater based on a minimum of 60 boats, for each 2-day Area Championship a guaranteed $10,000 for boaters and $5,000 for co-anglers based on 100 boats.

ABA will introduce a new Arkansas division for 2019. Arkansas anglers will compete on Greer's Ferry, Hamilton, Ouachita, Pine Bluff. In October of 2019, this division will compete against the Oklahoma division at the two-day Area Championship on Lake Dardanelle.

ABA will also hold events in east Tennesseee in 2019. The division will hold events on Chickamauga, Cherokee, Douglas, and Watts Bar lakes.

Boaters are always guaranteed use of their boats at all events. Co-Anglers registering as a package entry will receive priority entry into each event in that division. Co-Anglers can guarantee their spot in an event by “linking” with a registered Boater.

Registration opens for the 2019 season on Monday October 1, 2018 at 8am central time. Early package (paying for all events) registrations will receive the following.

- Free one-year new or renewal ABA membership
- Freedom Pass (Allows anglers to not attend the Friday night meetings)
- Personal pre-event local information including best hotel rates at the location
- Personal points and divisional reports and tournament report after each event

More information can be viewed on the ABAOpenSeries.com website including payouts, schedules, and additional information. Registrations can be done online at ABAOpenSeries.com or by phone at (256)232-0406.

About American Bass Anglers: American Bass Anglers is committed to providing low cost, close to home tournaments for the weekend angler and at the same time offer each competitor an upward path for individual angler progression. For more information about American Bass Anglers Open Series, the American Fishing Tour, the American Couples Series, Military Team Bass Tournament and the Triton Boats 100% Plus Team Tour visit www.americanbassanglers.com or call (256) 232-0406. American Bass Anglers, Inc. is supported by Triton Boats, Mercury Marine, T-H Marine, Abu Garcia, Berkley, Hydrowave, SiriusXM® Radio, SiriusXM® Marine Weather, Garmin, Maui Jim, Power Pole, GEICO, and Optima Batteries.

Area 1
Division Dates Lake
Alabama North 03/02 Guntersville
Alabama North 04/13 Neely Henry
Alabama North 05/04 Guntersville
Alabama North 06/22 Weiss

East Tennessee 02/16 Chickamauga
East Tennessee 05/11 Cherokee
East Tennessee 06/08 Douglas
East Tennessee 07/13 Watts Bar

Area 1 Championship 09/07-08 Guntersville

Area 2
Division Dates Lake
Tennessee Central 02/23 Percy Priest
Tennessee Central 03/23 Center Hill
Tennessee Central 05/11 Old Hickory
Tennessee Central 06/15 Old Hickory

Kentucky 03/16 Kentucky Lake
Kentucky 04/20 Lake Barkley
Kentucky 06/08 Lake Barkley
Kentucky 06/29 Kentucky Lake

Area 2 Championship 09/28-29 Kentucky Lake

Area 3
Alabama South 02/02 Eufaula
Alabama South 03/02 Lay Lake
Alabama South 05/11 Eufaula
Alabama South 06/22 Logan Martin

Mississippi 02/16 Ross Barnett
Mississippi 03/16 Ross Barnett
Mississippi 06/22 Ross Barnett
Mississippi 07/13 Pickwick

Area 3 Championship 09/14-15 Logan Martin

Area 4
Georgia 01/26 Eufaula
Georgia 03/09 Hartwell
Georgia 04/27 Sinclair
Georgia 06/15 Oconee

South Carolina 01/26 Santee
South Carolina 02/23 Murray
South Carolina 04/13 Clark's Hill
South Carolina 06/22 Russell

Area 4 Championship 10/05-06 Hartwell

Area 5
Florida Central 01/12 Toho
Florida Central 02/23 Kissimmee Chain
Florida Central 04/13 Harris Chain
Florida Central 06/08 Kissimmee Chain

Florida South 01/19 Okeechobee
Florida South 02/09 Okeechobee
Florida South 03/23 Okeechobee
Florida South 05/18 Okeechobee

Area 5 Championship 09/28-29 Okeechobee

Area 6
Southeast Texas 02/23 Sam Rayburn
Southeast Texas 03/23 Sam Rayburn
Southeast Texas 06/29 Sam Rayburn
Southeast Texas 09/14 Sam Rayburn

East Texas 02/09 Cedar Creek
East Texas 03/30 Lake Palestine
East Texas 05/04 Lake of the Pines
East Texas 09/07 Ray Roberts

Area 6 Championship 10/26-27 Toledo bend

Area 7
Arkansas 03/09 Greer's Ferry
Arkansas 04/27 Hamilton
Arkansas 05/11 Ouachita
Arkansas 06/15 Pine Bluff

Oklahoma 03/02 Grand Lake
Oklahoma 04/13 Eufaula
Oklahoma 05/18 Tenkiller
Oklahoma 06/08 Ft Gibson

Area 7 Championship 10/12-13 Dardanelle

Area 8
North Carolina 02/02 Norman
North Carolina 03/09 Wylie
North Carolina 05/04 Hickory
North Carolina 06/15 High Rock

Virginia 03/02 Kerr
Virginia 03/23 Gaston
Virginia 05/18 Kerr
Virginia 06/29 Gaston

Area 8 Championship 09/28-29 Kerr

Area 9
Maryland 03/23 Potomac River
Maryland 04/13 Chesapeake Bay
Maryland 05/04 Potomac River
Maryland 06/01 Chesapeake Bay

New York 06/08 Lake Champlain Ticonderoga
New York 07/27 1000 Islands
New York 08/17 Lake Champlain Plattsburgh
New York 06/29 Oneida Lake

Area 9 Championship 09/28-29 Hudson River

by AnglersChannel

Justin Lucas wins Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Points Title

Courtesy of Alan McGuckin / Dynamic Sponsorships

Justin Lucas caught a momentous fire of top finishes this summer on the Bassmaster Elite Series trail that was hotter than his native State of California’s summer sun. He fished his way to five Top 12 finishes in a row to round out this season. And his laser focused competitiveness continued Sunday at Lake Chatuge, Georgia, where he finished 7^thto win the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year points title, something only 23 men in history have done.

He kept his emotions in check on stage in front of thousands of fans until he spoke of his grandfather taking him fishing. “My grandfather took me fishing in my first bass tournament around Sacramento when I was 12-years-old, he’s still alive today, and this trophy is for him,” said Lucas, choking back tears, and urging fans to take a kid fishing.

“I didn’t want to become a pro angler to collect logos on my shirt, I wanted to fish for a living purely because I love it, and when I think about being only the 23^rdguy in history to win this title in the 51 year history of B.A.S.S. -- that’s so humbling,” he said on stage.

Surrounded by family after raising the trophy, it became apparent Lucas is the product of a loyal group of souls that adamantly support his professional angling career, and likewise, Lucas has been hugely loyal to Toyota, buying three Tundras throughout his young but prolific career.

“I drive a Tundra because as a tournament angler, the Toyota Bonus Bucks program pays me cash money when I do well. I’m guessing I’ve won almost $15,000 during my career from the Bonus Bucks program. Plus, I love the way my ARE truck cap looks on it, and it’s just a really comfortable tow vehicle,” says Lucas.

Indeed, loyalty has its rewards, and so does a run of Top 12 finishes undeniably worthy of professional bass fishing’s most respected trophy.

However, you don’t have to be a Bassmaster Elite Series pro to win the “Bonus Bucks” – you just have to be a registered participant in the Toyota Bonus Bucks Program, and be the highest-placing participant in any of the dozens of tournaments supported by the Program.To learn more and get signed-up, please visit www.toyotatrucksbonusbucks.com or phone (918) 742-6424, and ask for Kendell and she can also help you get signed-up.

by AnglersChannel

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