WHAT: The 2015 Walmart Bass Fishing League season will continue with six tournaments on Saturday, May 2. The Arkie Division will take on Lake Dardanelle, the Bama Division competes on Logan Martin Lake, the LBL Division season continues on Kentucky and Barkley lakes, the North Carolina Division stops on Kerr Lake, the Northeast Division opens their tournament season on the Chesapeake Bay and the Ozark Division heads to Table Rock Lake. Up to 400 boaters and co-anglers will be competing for top awards of up to $8,000 and $3,000 respectively in the one-day events.
WHEN: Saturday, May 2, 2015
Arkie Division
Lake Dardanelle
Lake Dardanelle State Park
2428 Marina Road
Russellville, Ark.
NOTES: Lake Dardanelle is historically known as one of the most productive bass fisheries in the state of Arkansas. In the Arkie division BFL event on April 11th, Shawn Gordon caught a mix of spawning and postspawn Dardanelle bass to take home the title. In the morning, Gordon targeted shallow grass with Yum Swim’n Dingers. Later in the day, he caught spawning fish with a Yum Baits Lizard. A ledge bite using deep diving crankbaits or jigs could come into play in early May. The previous event took a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds, 7 ounces to win.
Bama Division
Logan Martin Lake
Lakeside Park
2801 Stemly Bridge Road
Pell City, Ala.
NOTES: Logan Martin Lake is a great fishery with abundant numbers of both largemouth and spotted bass. Flipping and pitching in shallow water with jigs and creature baits is a popular pattern among tournament anglers this time of year. Deep fish can be caught on main-lake humps and points using crankbaits, football-head jigs, and spinnerbaits. Anglers that weigh in 20 pounds of bass will have a good chance to win the event.
LBL Division
Kentucky/Barkley Lake
Kenlake Marina
888 Kenlake Marina Drive
Hardin, Ky.
NOTES: Kentucky/Barkley Lakes produce bass no matter what season. In early May, bass will likely be found in a postspawn phase. Bass will be moving from spawning flats back to deep water. Anglers can target bass staging on brush piles located on main and secondary points with jigs, umbrella rigs, and drop-shot rigs. Winning weights in the past have ranged from 18 to 30 pounds but considering current conditions is expected to be right around 23 pounds.
North Carolina Division
Kerr Lake
New Nutbush Park
115 Jack Wade Farm Road
Henderson, N.C.
NOTES: Kerr Lake has very high numbers of bass. Anglers can catch numerous fish in the 2- to 3-pound range but will need to find the larger fish in order to win the event. Anglers will most likely choose to target bass busting on shad in the early morning. Later in the day, bass will often school near off-shore points. Heddon Zara Spooks, Rebel Pop-Rs and flukes will be popular baits among tournament anglers. A five-bass limit weighing 16 to 18 pounds will put anglers in contention to win the event.
Northeast Division
Chesapeake Bay
Anchor Marina
36 Iroquois Drive
North East, Md.
NOTES: Chesapeake Bay bass fishing is expected to be good in this tournament. Fishing reports suggest bass are in a prespawn phase right now. Come tournament time, many bass will be looking to move to shallower coves and creeks to spawn. Prespawn bass can be targeted with jerkbaits and spinnerbaits. Spawning bass can be caught off of beds with jigs, creature baits and other soft plastic lures. Twenty pounds of bass will likely be needed to take home the title.
Ozark Division
Table Rock Lake
Port of Kimberling Marina
11863 State Highway 13
Kimberling City, Mo.
NOTES: The infamous Ozark chain lake is setting up perfectly for big bags of bass. The fish will likely be in full spawn mode and bass beds will be spotted throughout the lake. Sight fishing will likely be a dominant pattern. Stickbaits, drop-shot rigs and other soft plastics will be popular baits among tournament anglers. If weather conditions render sight fishing impossible, search baits like squarebill crankbaits and spinnerbaits will come into play. A five-bass limit of 20 pounds will place anglers near the top of the leaderboard.
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. The 2015 BFL All-American is being held June 18-20 on Kentucky Lake in Buchanan, Tennessee. 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 2014 over the course of 229 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
