Williams wins co-angler title
Derek Brown of Charlottesville, Virginia, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 18 pounds, 4 ounces, Saturday to win the FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Shenandoah Division tournament on the James and Chickahominy rivers presented by Navionics. For his victory, Brown took home $4,729.
“I spent the majority of the tournament in Herring Creek,” said Brown, who earned his second win in FLW competition. “I trolled along a 50-yard stretch all day, back and forth.”
Brown said he mainly targeted bass near lily pads and wood, catching most of his fish from the latter.
“In the morning I used a black and white-colored Lobina Lures Rico topwater bait with the incoming tide,” said Brown. “When the tide changed around 10 a.m., the bite changed. After that I began locating bass with the Rico and catching them on a shaky-head rig with a junebug-colored Zoom Trick Worm.
“I caught seven keepers and ended up with three of my limit-fish on the Rico and two on the Trick Worm,” said Brown. “It was a great day of fishing.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Derek Brown, Charlottesville, Va., five bass, 18-4, $4,729
2nd: David Keisel, Chesapeake, Va., five bass, 15-11, $2,364
3rd: Brian Stack, Nanjemoy, Md., five bass, 15-5, $1,576
4th: David Deciucis, Chester, Va., five bass, 15-3, $1,024
5th: Brett Meyn, Mechanicsville, Va., five bass, 15-3, $1,729
6th: Rick McFaul, Phoenix, Md., five bass, 14-5, $867
7th: Ed Loughran, Mechanicsville, Va., five bass, 14-2, $788
8th: Wayne Vaughan, Chester, Va., five bass, 13-12, $709
9th: Richard Owen, Chester, Va., five bass, 13-10, $631
10th: Kelly Pratt, Williamsburg, Va., five bass, 13-9, $524
10th: Shawn Hammack, Gasburg, Va., five bass, 13-9, $524
Meyn caught an 8-pound, 9-ounce bass – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $705.
David Williams of Fredericksburg, Virginia, weighed in five bass totaling 13 pounds, 7 ounces, Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $2,364.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: David Williams, Fredericksburg, Va., five bass, 13-7, $2,364
2nd: Austin Burdette, Lindside, W. Va., five bass, 12-3, $1,182
3rd: Braxton Moore, Mechanicsville, Va., five bass, 12-0, $788
4th: Ryan Johnson, Elkridge, Md., five bass, 11-13, $552
5th: Dean Gibbs, Richmond, Va., five bass, 11-11, $473
6th: Mike Gardner, South Hill, Va., five bass, 11-4, $433
7th: Tevinn Rollins, Newport News, Va., five bass, 10-12, $394
8th: Gary Peters, Surveyor, W. Va., five bass, 10-6, $355
9th: Randy Ruffin, Norfolk, Va., five bass, 10-3, $315
10th: Zachary Whitt, Newport News, Va., five bass, 9-14, $276
Jim Petrous of Stafford, Virginia, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 4 pounds, 2 ounces and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $352.
The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 6-8 Regional Championship on Kerr Lake in Henderson, North 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
