Yocum wins co-angler title
Gary Ginter of Maplewood, Ohio, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 13 pounds, 4 ounces Saturday to win the first Walmart Bass Fishing League Buckeye Division tournament of 2015 on Grand Lake. For his victory, Ginter earned $3,963.
“I’m a local guy who grew up fishing this lake so to win is very special for me,” said Ginter.
Ginter said he started his day flipping a June Bug-colored Zoom Brush Hog to bedding fish along mid-lake seawalls.
“I managed to catch four keeper bass in the morning by 7 a.m. so that was a great start,” said Ginter. “I kept moving around the area looking for a big one and boated a couple of good ones.”
Around 9 a.m., Ginter ran to a few spots on the western end of the lake and culled three more fish by 10 o’ clock.
“I caught a 3-pounder up in Prairie Creek but I knew that I’d need bigger fish to win, so I headed back to my primary spot on the seawall,” Ginter said.
This time around, Ginter used a silver Rapala No. 7 Shad Rap to imitate the shad spawning along the walls.
“I was parallel with the wall and making the Shad Rap bounce off the bottom,” Ginter said. “This technique was triggering the fish and I caught five more before heading to the scale. I caught 14 keepers during the tournament so it was a very productive day.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Gary Ginter, Maplewood, Ohio, five bass, 13-4, $3,963
2nd: Mike Weiler, Sr., Wapakoneta, Ohio, five bass, 13-2, $1,981
3rd: Dan Fry, Marysville, Ohio, five bass, 12-8, $1,322
4th: Curt Fiessinger, Minster, Ohio, five bass, 11-4, $925
5th: Scott Manson, Covington, Ohio, five bass, 10-6, $793
6th: Bret Languell, Indianapolis, Ind., five bass, 10-3, $727
7th: Ronald Nutter, Newark, Ohio, five bass, 10-2, $660
8th: Ron Hiles, Piketon, Ohio, five bass, 9-4, $594
9th: Kenny Dials, Oak Harbor, Ohio, four bass, 9-3, $528
10th: Jack Landsaw, Jr., Ewing, Ky., five bass, 8-13, $462
Jim Lovelace of Liberty Township, Ohio, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division, a fish weighing 4 pounds, 4 ounces and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $535.
Ray Yocum of Waynesville, Ohio, weighed in five bass totaling 8 pounds, 13 ounces Saturday to win $1,944 in the co-angler division.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Ray Yocum, Waynesville, Ohio, five bass, 8-13, $1,944
2nd: Greg Marshall, Paris, Ky., four bass, 8-6, $972
3rd: Brent Jones, Okeana, Ohio, five bass, 7-14, $649
4th: Ryan Kriegel, Delphos, Ohio, four bass, 7-12, $454
5th: James Mayle, Newark, Ohio, four bass, 7-3, $389
6th: Cody Hall, Xenia, Ohio four bass, 7-2, $356
7th: Daniel Hurst, Troy, Ohio, four bass, 6-15, $324
8th: Doyle Donnett, Minster, Ohio, five bass, 6-3, $292
9th: Michael Schwomeyer, Noblesville, Ind., three bass, 6-1, $259
10th: Dylan Catlett, Indianapolis, Ind., four bass, 5-3, $227
Marshall and Hall tied for the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division and each earned the day’s Big Bass award of $357.
The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 8-10 Regional Championship on Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland. 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
