Florida’s Garrett Takes Co-angler Title
Boater Adam Brown of Rainbow City, Alabama, brought five bass to the scale Saturday weighing 17 pounds even to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bama Division tournament on Lake Neely Henry. For his efforts, Brown pocketed $3,917.
Brown said he spent his day fishing the backs of three creeks in the mid-river area, including Big Wills Creek.
“I didn’t do well until the sun got up around 10 a.m. and the fish started holding tight to cover, then I was able to target them better,” said Brown, who logged his first win in FLW competition. “I fished stumps, bushes – basically any type of cover that was back there. Almost every fish I caught came from 2 feet or less of water.”
Brown’s primary bait was a white Stan Sloan’s The Aggravator long-arm spinnerbait with No. 5 willow leaf blades and a trailer hook. He said he followed it up with a 3/8-ounce black and blue-colored Bo’s jig with a Zoom Super Chunk Jr. trailer of the same color. By the end of the day, Brown said he caught around 15 keepers.
“I ran the spinnerbait across the stumps and then pitched the jig,” said Brown. “I had to fish slow and steady. I hit each creek at least twice, and as far as the big fish go, I caught about two from each creek.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Adam Brown, Rainbow City, Ala., five bass, 17-0, $3,917
2nd: Kyle Dorsett, Odenville, Ala., five bass, 16-11, $2,478
3rd: Johnathan Stuckey, Tallassee, Ala., five bass, 16-1, $1,507
4th: Bradley Jones, Aragon, Ga., five bass, 15-10, $1,014
5th: Wes Logan, Springville, Ala., five bass, 14-13, $783
6th: Andy Kilgore, Kingston, Ga., five bass, 14-10, $718
7th: Allen Yarborough, Birmingham, Ala., five bass, 13-9, $620
7th: Terry Tucker, Gadsden, Ala., five bass, 13-9, $620
9th: Josh Bragg, Jacksonville, Ala., five bass, 13-5, $522
10th: Hunter Hayes, Rainbow City, Ala., five bass, 12-14, $457
Dorsett brought a 5-pound, 14-ounce, bass to the scale – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $520.
Mike Garrett of Pensacola, Florida, won the Co-angler Division and $1,958 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 12 pounds, 1 ounce.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Mike Garrett, Pensacola, Fla., five bass, 12-1, $1,958
2nd: Matthew O’Connell, Brooks, Ga., five bass, 10-5, $1,179
3rd: Jacob Robinson, Temple, Ga., five bass, 9-14, $703
4th: Chris Hawkins, Adger, Ala., five bass, 9-7, $684
4th: Chris Harcrow, Dawson, Al a., three bass, 9-7, $424
6th: Wayne Kilgore, Attalla, Ala., four bass, 9-1, $359
7th: Sam McLean, LaGrange, Ga., five bass, 8-15, $326
8th: Tanner Ellison, Jemison, Ala., four bass, 8-12, $294
9th: Radney Atchison, Prattville, Ala., five bass, 8-11, $261
10th: Larry McNeil, Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 8-8, $228
Hawkins caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 5 pounds, 5 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $260.
The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bama Division tournament on Lake Neely Henry was hosted by the City of Gadsden.
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.
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.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com.
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.
By: Brian Johnson, FLW
