Grovetown’s Deufel claims Co-angler title
Brock Taylor of Pendleton, South Carolina, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 22 pounds, 10 ounces, Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Savannah River Division event on Clarks Hill Lake. Taylor pocketed $5,565 for his win.

“I started out fishing a brush pile in about 20 feet of water,” said Taylor, who notched his third career-win in FLW competition. “The area was within three miles of the takeoff ramp and near the dam. After about 30 minutes, I caught my biggest bass on a green-pumpkin-colored Zoom Trick Worm, rigged on a shaky-head.”
Taylor said his other productive stop was a nearby creek channel swing that was covered with chunk rock. There he opted for an Alabama Craw-colored jig.
“The fish didn’t hit the jig until it was about 20-feet-down,” said Taylor. “Every time the jig would get caught up in the slime when I was reeling in, I’d give it a jerk and that’s when they would bite. I ended up catching two that I weighed in on that channel swing.”
Taylor said he was able to put eight keepers in the boat throughout the tournament.
“After a couple hours, the wind picked up so I ran along any bank that had a mud line,” said Taylor. “I used a white spinnerbait, and caught my last keeper fairly close to the takeoff ramp at 3:15 p.m. I guess it was my time to do well.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Brock Taylor, Pendleton, S.C., five bass, 22-10, $5,565
2nd: Chris Rodwell, Evans, Ga., five bass, 21-14, $2,783
3rd: Charles Doyle, Augusta, Ga., five bass, 20-8, $1,853
4th: Marcus Church, Seneca, S.C., five bass, 19-13, $2,199
5th: Franklin Ramey, Abbeville, S.C., five bass, 19-6, $1,113
6th: Jimmy Gooch, Jefferson, Ga., five bass, 19-0, $1,020
7th: Daniel Atkins, Anderson, S.C., five bass, 18-6, $1,428
8th: Hunter Eubanks, Inman, S.C., five bass, 18-3, $835
9th: Kevin Dearth, Cumming, Ga., five bass, 17-7, $742
10th: James Redd, Lincolnton, Ga., five bass, 17-3, $616
10th: Michael Chandler, Anderson, S.C., five bass, 17-3, $616
Church caught a bass weighing 8 pounds even – the largest of the event – which earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $900.
Matt Deufel of Grovetown, Georgia, weighed in five bass totaling 17 pounds, 10 ounces Saturday to win the Co-angler division and the top prize of $2,737.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Matt Deufel, Grovetown, Ga., five bass, 17-10, $2,737
2nd: Jimmi Leuthner, Tamassee, S.C., five bass, 15-2, $1,369
3rd: Chad Hamm, Aiken, S.C., five bass, 14-10, $913
4th: Justin Kimmel, Athens, Ga., five bass, 14-7, $593
4th: Stephen Reasoner, Harlem, Ga., four bass, 14-7, $593
6th: Robert Gambrell, Clermont, Ga., five bass, 13-14, $502
7th: Eric Cerny, Alpharetta, Ga., five bass, 13-9, $456
8th: Stephen Burress, Mills River, N.C., five bass, 13-1, $611
9th: Brian Nappier, Huntersville, N.C., five bass, 12-9, $392
9th: Brody Manley, Pickens, S.C., five bass, 12-9, $342
Renee Price of Westminster, South Carolina, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 6 pounds, 15 ounces, and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $435.
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. 19-21 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Georgia. 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 2017 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.
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 2017 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 274 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa 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
