Whicker wins co-angler title
James Blankenship of Siler City, North Carolina, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 19 pounds, 2 ounces, Saturday to win the third FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Piedmont Division tournament of 2016 on High Rock Lake. For his victory, Blankenship took home $3,255.
“I ran up to a large bay on the Yadkin River, shut the boat off and fished there all day,” said Blankenship, who earned his fifth win in FLW competition. “I focused on shallow bushes and willow trees. The bass were in 18 inches of water, behind the bushes and into the willows. Once I realized that, it was a lot easier to catch them.”
Blankenship said he rotated between two jigs – one rigged with a Sapphire Blue-colored Zoom Super Chunk, the other with a black and blue-colored Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw.
“I split the day between the two, but it didn’t really matter which color I used once I found the fish,” said Blankenship. “I flipped and skipped it back into the willows and caught 17 keepers.”
Blankenship said he caught the majority of his winning limit between 11:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m.
“I never saw another boat in my area which helped,” said Blankenship. “I had the place to myself all day and it ended up paying off.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: James Blankenship, Siler City, N.C., five bass, 19-2, $3,255
2nd: Rick Dunstan, Pinehurst, N.C., four bass, 15-0, $1,628
3rd: Brad Younts, Lexington, N.C., five bass, 14-14, $1,084
4th: David Wright, Lexington, N.C., five bass, 13-12, $760
5th: Robert Walser, Lexington, N.C., five bass, 12-9, $951
6th: Chadd Eriksen, Wake Forest, N.C., four bass, 12-1, $597
7th: Jimmy Henderson, Wake Forest, N.C., three bass, 11-7, $543
8th: Rodney Bell, Salisbury, N.C., five bass, 10-13, $488
9th: Michael Bryant, Thomasville, N.C., four bass, 10-11, $434
10th: Mike McDonald, Randleman, N.C., four bass, 10-2, $380
Michael Belter of Reidsville, North Carolina, caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 5 ounces – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $400.
Landon Whicker of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, weighed in four bass totaling 14 pounds even Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $1,628.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Landon Whicker, Winston-Salem, N.C., four bass, 14-0, $1,628
2nd: Philip Morris Jr., Raleigh, N.C., four bass, 11-14, $814
3rd: Chip Crews, Trinity, N.C., five bass, 11-12, $542
4th: Dwayne Parton, Anderson, S.C., three bass, 9-9, $380
5th: Brian Transon, Sherrills Ford, N.C., five bass, 9-4, $326
6th: Mark Robertson, Henderson, N.C., three bass, 9-3, $298
7th: Derek Sewell, Forest, Va., four bass, 8-1, $271
8th: Nicholas Ireland, Raleigh, N.C., three bass, 6-12, $244
9th: Will White, Wake Forest, N.C., four bass, 6-10, $217
10th: Eric Jorgensen, Greensboro, N.C., three bass, 6-0, $190
Paul Foley of Mooresville, North Carolina, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 7 ounces and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $200.
The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 27-29 Regional Championship on Lake Hartwell in Seneca, South Carolina. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.
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 BFL All-American. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.
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 2016 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 235 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico and South Korea. 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
