Smith wins co-angler title
John Duvall of Madison, Georgia, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 10 pounds, 13 ounces Saturday to win the Walmart Bass Fishing League (BFL) Regional on Lake Sinclair presented by Quaker State with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 36 pounds, 13 ounces. For his win, Duvall earned $20,000, a new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and a berth into the 2016 BFL All-American Championship.
Duvall won the tournament by flipping boat docks in the northern part of the Little River arm using a green pumpkin Katch-Her Lures jig rigged with a green pumpkin Zoom Super Speed Craw. He also mixed in a Picasso buzzbait to catch his stringers.
“The jig was my primary bait, but the topwater definitely was important,” said Duvall, who now has two career wins in FLW competition.
The Georgia angler said that there wasn’t anything unique about the docks that were holding active fish.
“I figure fish live around docks, so I just kept fishing them and figured I would eventually get a bite,” said Duvall. “I’d hit around 60 docks and then turn around and start fishing back the other way.”
Duvall said he struggled the most on day three to catch his limit.
“The weather conditions changed immensely overnight,” said Duvall. “There was rain in the morning and it was overcast. I thought I might have blown it when I didn’t adjust my pattern, but I was committed to the docks. Luckily it worked out in the end.”
The top six boaters that qualified for the 2016 BFL All-American were:
1st: John Duvall, Madison, Ga., 15 bass, 36-13, $20,000 + Ranger Z518C w/ 200-horsepower outboard
2nd: Tony Couch, Buckhead, Ga., 15 bass, 36-3, $5,000
3rd: Raymond Trudeau, Saint Cloud, Fla., 15 bass, 35-15, $4,000
4th: Kip Carter, Social Circle, Ga., 15 bass, 35-12, $3,000
5th: Kyle Welcher, Opelika, Ala., 13 bass, 33-7, $2,000
6th: Clabion Johns, Covington, Ga., 14 bass, 32-5, $1,800
Rounding out the top-10 boaters were:
7th: Willie McMullen, Oxford, Ga., 15 bass, 30-13, $1,600
8th: Cole Huskins, Mount Holly, N.C., 15 bass, 29-3, $1,400
9th: Adam Wagner, Cookeville, Tenn., 14 bass, 27-5, $1,200
10th: Robert Beatty, Clermont, Fla., 15 bass, 27-2, $1,000
Randy Smith of Fayetteville, Georgia, won the co-angler division and a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower outboard with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 26 pounds, 3 ounces.
The top six co-angers that qualified for the 2016 BFL All-American were:
1st: Randy Smith, Fayetteville, Ga., 15 bass, 26-3, Ranger Z518C w/ 200 horsepower outboard
2nd: Radney Atchison, Prattville, Ala., 13 bass, 21-2, $2,500
3rd: Ronald Harrell, Mitchell, Ga., 13 bass, 20-15, $2,000
4th: Ernest Stephens, Orrum, N.C., 10 bass, 18-8, $1,500
5th: Gerald Williams, Scottsville, Ky., 10 bass, 17-6, $1,000
6th: John Wilkerson, Nashville, Tenn., 11 bass, 17-0, $900
Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers were:
7th: Justin Kimmel, Athens, Ga., 13 bass, 16-15, $800
8th: A.J. Schuh, Mulberry, Fla., 10 bass, 16-6, $700
9th: Roy Beneteau, Swainsboro, Ga., seven bass, 15-0, $600
10th: Richie Dixon, Camden, S.C., 11 bass, 13-8, $500
The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 50 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the Walmart BFL All-American. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Rayovac FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.
ABOUT FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2015 over the course of 240 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.
By: Brian Johnson, FLW
