Kimmel wins co-angler title
Dwight Fox of Gainesboro, Tennessee, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds, 14 ounces Saturday to win the second Walmart Bass Fishing League Music City Division tournament of 2015 on Center Hill Lake. For his victory, Fox earned $2,741.
“I had a great day of fishing,” said Fox. “I used a shad-colored Smithwick Lures Rattlin’ Rogue jerkbait all day and it ended up producing some quality bites for me.”
After a promising week of practice, Fox said he focused on big, loose chunk rock along banks in the main-lake area.
“It was really only three spots that did it for me,” said Fox. “They were each within a quarter mile of the takeoff ramp and all had the type of structure I was looking for.
“My boat sat in 15 to 18 feet of water and I threw into 5 to 8 feet,” continued Fox. “The water was about 83 degrees, so the fish were reacting well to the Rogue.”
Fox said he caught around 11 keepers during the tournament.
“I caught four of the five fish that I brought to the scale in those rocks so I just kept going back,” Fox said.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Dwight Fox, Gainesboro, Tenn., five bass, 16-14, $2,741
2nd: Danny Boggs, Fayetteville, Tenn., five bass, 16-9, $1,370
3rd: Brandon Tramel, Smithville, Tenn., five bass, 16-8, $914
4th: Tim Staley, Dowelltown, Tenn., five bass, 16-7, $639
5th: Adam Wagner, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 16-6, $548
6th: Dustin Barlow, Walling, Tenn., five bass, 15-1, $502
7th: Josh Tramel, Smithville, Tenn., five bass, 14-15, $457
8th: Matt Stanley, Alexandria, Tenn., five bass, 14-10, $411
9th: Densmore Goodson, Letcher, Ky., five bass, 14-2, $365
10th: Shane Thompson, Hendersonville, Tenn., five bass, 13-14, $320
Boggs caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 8 ounces and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $295.
Justin Kimmel of Monroe, Georgia, weighed in a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds, 1 ounce Saturday to win $1,324 in the co-angler division.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Justin Kimmel, Monroe, Ga., five bass, 16-1, $1,324
2nd: Chris Tarpley, Murfreesboro, Tenn., five bass, 12-14, $662
3rd: Billy Gardner, Livingston, Tenn., five bass, 12-0, $440
4th: Jeremy Nash, Cookeville, Tenn., four bass, 10-0, $309
5th: Paul Flatt, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 8-7, $265
6th: Timmy Gribbins, Lebanon, Ky., four bass, 8-3, $243
7th: Blake Whittaker, Monterey, Tenn., five bass, 8-1, $221
8th: Matthew Wyrick, Jamestown, Tenn., five bass, 8-0, $199
9th: Michael Birdwell, Granville, Tenn., five bass, 7-12, $177
10th: Greg Whittaker, Monterey, Tenn., two bass, 7-8, $154
Nash caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $142.
The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 8-10 Regional Championship on Lake Sinclair in Milledgeville, Georgia. 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 compete 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. 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 2015 over the course of 240 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
