Gaston’s Wingate Nabs Co-angler Title
Boater Willie McMullen of Oxford, Georgia, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) South Carolina Division tournament on Lake Wylie with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 26 pounds, 3 ounces. For his win, McMullen pocketed $5,082.
“I caught everything fairly shallow from isolated wood and docks,” said McMullen, who earned his first career-win in FLW competition. “I spent the tournament in the South Fork Catawba River arm and was able to catch seven keepers on Saturday and nine on Sunday.”
McMullen estimated that 12 of his bass bit a white Z-Man ChatterBait while the other four preferred a black Picasso Din R Bel Buzzbait or a June Bug-colored Zoom Dead Ringer Worm.
“I had a little milk run and hit the same stuff each day,” said McMullen. “Everything came from less than 3 feet of water. The water level actually dropped throughout the weekend, which both helped and hurt me. It isolated targets to where I could pick apart areas without fan casting, but it also dried out some spots by Sunday.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Willie McMullen, Oxford, Ga., 10 bass, 26-3, $5,082
2nd: Scott Hamrick, Denver, N.C., 10 bass, 23-8, $2,541
3rd: Timmy Thompkins, Myrtle Beach, S.C., nine bass, 22-8, $1,925
4th: Mel Long, Hampton, S.C., 10 bass, 21-11, $1,139
5th: Chuck Howard, Elloree, S.C., 10 bass, 20-15, $976
6th: Ron Brown, Santee, S.C., 10 bass, 20-13, $895
7th: Nathan Webber, Lake Wylie, S.C., 10 bass, 20-6, $814
8th: Shane Lineberger , Lincolnton, N.C., nine bass, 20-3, $732
9th: Bryan New, Belmont, N.C., nine bass, 19-9, $651
10th: Cole Huskins, Mount Holly, N.C., 10 bass, 18-15, $570
John Haas of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, caught a 4-pound, 12-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the Boater Big Bass award of $600.rolina, caught a two-day total of seven bass weighing 16 pounds, 4 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $2,634.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Mark Wingate, Gaston, S.C., seven bass, 16-4, $2,634
2nd: Jared Upchurch, Lugoff, S.C., seven bass, 14-6, $1,217
3rd: Tommy Floyd, Coward, S.C., seven bass, 14-1, $813
4th: Marcus Leech, Gastonia, N.C., seven bass, 13-7, $568
5th: Thomas Robbins, Jackson, S.C., eight bass, 13-2, $537
6th: Brandon Jeffcoat, Columbia, S.C., seven bass, 11-14, $446
7th: Terry Carteret, Charlotte, N.C., four bass, 10-13, $406
8th: Charles Wood, Thomasville, N.C., four bass, 10-12, $657
9th: Tristen Trull, Mount Holly, N.C., six bass, 10-8, $325
10th: Terry Coleman, Sumter, S.C., four bass, 9-5, $284
Wood caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 4 pounds, 12 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $292.
The T-H Marine FLW BFL South Carolina Division tournament on Lake Wylie was hosted by the Rock Hill/York County Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 19-21 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Georgia. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.
The 2017 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division.
The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they 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. The 2018 All-American will be held on Cross Lake in Shreveport, Louisiana, May 31-June 2 and is hosted by the Shreveport-Bossier City Sports Commission and the Red River Waterway Commission. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the 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 2017 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 258 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa 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
