Shonn Goodwin of Moore, Oklahoma, weighed four bass totaling 8 pounds, 11 ounces Saturday to win the Walmart Bass Fishing League (BFL) Regional on Lake of the Ozarks presented by Mercury with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 43 pounds, 13 ounces. For his win, Goodwin earned $20,000, a new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and a berth into the 2016 BFL All-American Championship.
Goodwin won the tournament by targeting main-lake points on the lower third of the lake. He said he caught his stringers each day using only two baits – a black buzzbait and a River2Sea Whopper Plopper.
“I never put the topwaters down,” said Goodwin, who was the 2007 BFL All-American Champion. “I wanted to imitate the large gizzard shad that were eating moss off of the rocks. The bass were trapping them between there and the bank for an easy meal.”
Goodwin said he targeted nearly 100 points each day and would sometimes go more than three hours without a bite.
“The water temperature is still a bit warm for this pattern to work well so I had to cover a lot of points to get five good bites,” said Goodwin. “I’d spend two to five minutes dissecting a point and then move on. The timing had to be right.”
Goodwin went on to say that sticking with this pattern for the entire duration of the tournament was crucial to his success.
“Once those bass commit to the shad, they stay up near the bank,” said Goodwin. “I was confident with my lures and love to move fast. The strategy ended up paying off.”
The top six boaters that qualified for the 2016 BFL All-American were:
1st: Shonn Goodwin, Moore, Okla., 14 bass, 43-13, $20,000 + Ranger Z518C w/ 200-horsepower outboard
2nd: Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., 12 bass, 41-13, $5,000
3rd: Leroy McDuffie, McLeansboro, Ill., 13 bass, 39-3, $4,000
4th: Derek Jenkel, Pinckneyville, Ill., 13 bass, 38-4, $3,000
5th: Chris McCall, Brookeland, Texas, 15 bass, 37-6, $2,000
6th: Andre Dickneite, Freeburg, Mo., 13 bass, 37-5, $1,800
Rounding out the top-10 boaters were:
7th: Josh Wray, Harrison, Ark., 15 bass, 34-4, $1,600
8th: Marcus Sykora, Osage Beach, Mo., 11 bass, 33-14, $1,400
9th: Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 13 bass, 33-10, $1,200
10th: Shawn Gordon, Russellville, Ark., 14 bass, 30-2, $1,000
Bryan Barnard of Harrison, Arkansas, won the co-angler division and a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower outboard with a three-day total of 10 bass weighing 22 pounds, 15 ounces.
The top six co-angers that qualified for the 2016 BFL All-American were:
1st: Bryan Barnard, Harrison, Ark., 10 bass, 22-15, Ranger Z518C w/ 200-horsepower outboard
2nd: Jamie Eynard, Holts Summit, Mo., 10 bass, 22-10, $2,500
3rd: Matt Duvall, Atkins, Ark., nine bass, 22-8, $2,000
4th: Steven Dowty, Claremore, Okla., nine bass, 22-5, $1,500
5th: Cody Glaze, Bald Knob, Ark., 11 bass, 21-5, $1,000
6th: Randy Pewthers, Pearland, Texas, eight bass, 20-10, $900
Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers were:
7th: Damon Duncan, Kansas, Okla., nine bass, 19-12, $800
8th: Scott Parsons, Bentonville, Ark., eight bass, 19-5, $700
9th: Beau Govreau, Cedar Hill, Mo., 12 bass, 17-9, $600
10th: Brian Somrek, Calvert City, Ky., seven bass, 15-2, $500
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 Walmart BFL All-American. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Rayovac FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.
By: Brian Johnson, FLW
