Nicely wins co-angler title
Eddie Armstrong of West Point, Mississippi, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 14 pounds, 14 ounces, Saturday to win the third FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mississippi Division of 2016 on Columbus Pool. Armstrong took home $4,839 for his victory.
“At the start of the day I picked apart some shallow grass near the gravel pit with a white Spro Dean Rojas Bronzeye Frog 65,” said Armstrong, who earned his second win in BFL competition. “I fished it extremely slow and caught two keepers.”
Around midday, Armstrong said he ran up the Tenn-Tom Waterway to a slough that had cypress trees and stumps. He said he rotated between a green-pumpkin-orange Booyah jig with a Sapphire Blue-colored Zoom Super Chunk Jr. trailer and a Tennessee Shad-colored Bagley Balsa Kill’r B Crankbait.
“I fished the jig next to the cypress trees in about three feet of water,” said Armstrong. “With the crankbait, I killed it when it was next to stumps and then gave it a little shake. The bulk of my fish came on the jig, but my biggest was caught on the crankbait.”
The Oklahoma angler said he ended up catching approximately 15 keepers throughout the event.
“Everything I wanted to try from practice ended up working out in the tournament,” said Armstrong. “As long as I switched baits at the right time, everything went right.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Eddie Armstrong, West Point, Miss., five bass, 14-14, $4,839
2nd: Jason Mitchell, Hamilton, Miss., five bass, 14-11, $2,419
3rd: David Dove, Steens, Miss., five bass, 14-1, $1,371
3rd: Michael Savell, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 14-1, $1,371
5th: Timmy Ming, Louisville, Miss., four bass, 13-15, $1,698
6th: Bobby Foskey, Biloxi, Miss., four bass, 13-5, $846
6th: Teddy Cranford, Seminary, Miss., five bass, 13-5, $846
8th: Grant Galloway, Houlka, Miss., five bass, 13-1, $685
8th: Jeff Johnston, Marion, Ark., five bass, 13-1, $685
10th: Norman Foskey, Biloxi, Miss., five bass, 12-4, $565
Ming caught a 5-pound, 15-ounce bass – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $730.
Kevin Nicely of Ethelsville, Alabama, weighed in five bass totaling 14 pounds, 10 ounces, Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $2,419.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Kevin Nicely, Ethelsville, Ala., five bass, 14-10, $2,419
2nd: Kelly Bock, Cedar Bluff, Miss., four bass, 9-12, $1,575
3rd: Austin Navarre, Carriere, Miss., five bass, 9-5, $807
4th: David Best, Bartlett, Tenn., five bass, 9-4, $565
5th: Richard Keene, Caledonia, Miss., four bass, 8-15, $484
6th: Heath Gilmore, Meridian, Miss., two bass, 7-11, $444
7th: Joel Ross, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 7-4, $403
8th: Ray Higginbotham, Brooksville, Miss., two bass, 7-2, $363
9th: Rickey McKenzie, Brandon, Miss., three bass, 7-1, $323
10th: Lee Fesmire, Marion, Ark., three bass, 6-14, $282
Bock caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 4 pounds, 8 ounces and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $365.
The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 27-29 Regional Championship on Lake Dardanelle in Russellville, Arkansas. 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
