Tyree wins co-angler title
– Matt Gunter of Wheatland Missouri, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 15 pounds, 3 ounces, Saturday to win the fourth FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Ozark Division tournament of 2016 on Lake Truman presented by Power-Pole. Gunter took home $4,804 for his victory.
“I split my day between the lower Osage and Pomme de Terre arms,” said Gunter, who earned his first win in BFL competition. “I burned an entire tank of gas getting to my areas, but it paid off.”
Gunter said he flipped cedar trees and other types of wood using a Texas-rigged 10½-inch Zoom Ol’ Monster Worm. He said he used two colors – plum and green-pumpkin – to catch his limit.
“I flipped the Ol’ Monster all day,” said Gunter. “I caught fish in water that was 2- to 20-feet deep. If I was in 2 feet of water, the fish were on the bottom. In 20 feet, they were suspended.”
Gunter said he used a slow retrieve and lighter ¼- and 1/8-ounce weights on his lure.
“I had four limit-fish within the first two hours on the water,” said Gunter. “Around 12:30 p.m. I caught two more keepers, culled once and then brought in what I had.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Matt Gunter, Wheatland, Mo., five bass, 15-3, $4,804
2nd: Marcus Sykora, Osage Beach, Mo., five bass, 13-14, $1,902
3rd: Wes Endicott, Joplin, Mo., five bass, 13-13, $1,267
4th: Lance Williams, Billings, Mo., five bass, 12-8, $888
5th: Jeffrey Smith, Knob Noster, Mo., five bass, 12-3, $761
6th: Ted Collins, Gainesville, Mo., five bass, 11-3, $997
7th: Dennis Berhorst, Holts Summit, Mo., five bass, 9-15, $634
8th: Lawson Hibdon, Versailles, Mo., four bass, 9-8, $571
9th: Tyler Matlock, Omaha, Ark., two bass, 9-1, $1,012
10th: Ben Verhoef, Osage Beach, Mo., three bass, 8-12, $444
Matlock caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 11 ounces – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $505.
Derrick Tyree of Owensville, Missouri, weighed in four bass totaling 10 pounds, 5 ounces, Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $1,897.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Derrick Tyree, Owensville, Mo., four bass, 10-5, $1,897
2nd: Vincent Jones, Robertsville, Mo., four bass, 9-2, $949
3rd: Ronald Smith Jr., Kansas City, Kan., three bass, 8-11, $633
4th: Cory Schuh, Hillsboro, Mo., two bass, 7-6, $690
5th: Jeremy Guzman, Lees Summit, Mo., three bass, 6-7, $379
6th: Zach Bechtel, Cuba, Mo., two bass, 6-0, $348
7th: Joshua Dyrland, Imperial, Mo., two bass, 5-9, $316
8th: Johnnie Cook, Houston Lake, Mo., two bass, 5-5, $285
9th: James Hosford, Jefferson City, Mo., two bass, 5-0, $253
10th: Joseph Dorcy, Smithville, Mo., two bass, 4-14, $221
Schuh caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 4 pounds, 12 ounces, and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $247.
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
