White wins co-angler title
Timmy Smith of Petal, Mississippi, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 20 pounds, 4 ounces, Saturday to win the FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mississippi Division tournament on Ross Barnett Reservoir presented by Power-Pole. For his victory, Smith took home $5,103.
Smith said he began his day fishing an assortment of brush piles on a hump near the dam. He said he positioned his boat in approximately 15 feet of water while he casted into 7-foot ranges.
“It was one of those areas where you can sit all day and not catch anything, or you can get some good, quality bites fairly quickly,” said Smith, who earned the first win of his FLW career. “In three hours, I caught three good-sized fish – two on a Carolina-rigged, Plum Apple-colored Zoom Ol’ Monster Worm and one on a custom green-pumpkin-colored jig rigged with a green-pumpkin Strike King Rage Craw.”
Smith said he followed a similar pattern throughout the day at nearby humps, ledges and points. He said he rotated between the two baits and boated an additional 12 keepers.
“We hopped around to about four or five more areas to finish out the day,” said Smith. “We caught a lot in terms of numbers, but only those first three had some size to them. I still had a great time out there.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Timmy Smith, Petal, Miss., five bass, 20-4, $5,103
2nd: Larry Rochelle, Canton, Miss., five bass, 19-8, $2,232
3rd: Ed Dunnaway, Flowood, Miss., five bass, 16-9, $1,489
4th: Casey O’Donnell, Scottsboro, Ala., five bass, 16-0, $1,041
5th: Shannon Denson, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 15-12, $893
6th: Bradley Burns, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 15-5, $818
7th: Teddy Cranford, Seminary, Miss., five bass, 14-11, $744
8th: Ray King, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 14-5, $669
9th: Brandon Wilcher, Canton, Miss., five bass, 14-1, $595
10th: Mike Norsworthy, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 13-14, $521
Smith also caught a 7-pound, 9-ounce bass – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $640.
Tim White of West Point, Mississippi, weighed in five bass totaling 16 pounds, 9 ounces, Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $2,232.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Tim White, West Point, Miss., five bass, 16-9, $2,232
2nd: Cody Martin, Killen, Ala., five bass, 15-10, $1,116
3rd: Bobby McDill, Raleigh, Miss., five bass, 12-4, $1,063
4th: Jordan Fowlkes, Collierville, Tenn., five bass, 11-3, $521
5th: Anthony Thomas, Jackson, Miss., five bass, 11-0, $446
6th: Bernard Crump, Jackson, Miss., three bass, 10-1, $409
7th: Alan Dutton, Meridian, Miss., five bass, 10-0, $372
8th: Jesse Steadham, Byram, Miss., four bass, 9-12, $335
9th: Mitchell Bond, Collins, Miss., five bass, 9-9, $298
10th: Curtis Powell, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 9-2, $260
McDill caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 6 pounds, 2 ounces and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $320.
The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 27-29 Regional Championship on Lake Dardanelle in Russellville, Arkansas. 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
