Grover’s Ward tops Co-angler Division
Boater Jeff Jennings of Rock Hill, South Carolina, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 19 pounds, 3 ounces Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) North Carolina Division event on Lake Wylie. Jennings took home $5,945 for his victory.
“I’ve fished Lake Wylie all of my life and I went to places where I had caught fish before,” said Jennings, who earned his third career win in BFL competition. “It was a tough day – I only caught six keepers. But, they were all the same size. They looked like brothers and sisters. It was just my day.”
Jennings said that he covered a lot of water, flipping wood, trees and docks all over the lake, from the dam to up the river.
“I fished a Texas-rigged black and brown creature bait all day,” Jennings said. “It seemed like a lot of people were fishing deep, so I took a chance fishing shallow. We hit a lot of places and we’d go for a long time without a bite. I never dreamed that my 4-11 would win big bass, but it was tough on everybody.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Jeff Jennings, Rock Hill, S.C., five bass, 19-3, $5,945
2nd: Scott Hamrick, Denver, N.C., five bass, 13-5, $1,953
3rd: Christopher Kanute, Townville, S.C., five bass, 12-15, $1,169
4th: Jason Wilson, Lincolnton, N.C., five bass, 12-12, $918
5th: Cole Huskins, Mount Holly, N.C. five bass, 12-7, $701
6th: Klaus Hadschin, Granite Falls, N.C., five bass, 12-1, $613
6th: Russell Corry, Shelby, N.C., five bass, 12-1, $613
8th: Robert Walser, Lexington, N.C., five bass, 11-12, $826
9th: Scott Beattie, Lincolnton, N.C., five bass, 11-7, $467
10th: Jason Barnes, Concord, N.C., five bass, 11-4, $409
Jennings caught a 4-pound, 11-ounce bass, which was the heaviest of the tournament in the Boater Division. The catch also earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $440.
Tyler Ward of Grover, North Carolina, weighed in five bass totaling 12 pounds, 15 ounces Saturday to win the Co-angler Division and the top prize of $1,973.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Tyler Ward, Grover, N.C., five bass, 12-15, $1,973
2nd: Louis Kraft, Salisbury, N.C., four bass, 10-8, $1,076
3rd: Charles Wood, Thomasville, N.C., five bass, 9-12, $585
4th: Brent Kukowski, Fort Mill, S.C., five bass, 9-4, $459
5th: Greg Fox, Fayetteville, N.C., five bass, 9-1, $351
6th: Brian Transon, Sherrills Ford, N.C., five bass, 8-12, $321
7th: Bobby Henderson, Charlotte, N.C., four bass, 8-10, $292
8th: Nathan Grose, Summersville, W.Va., five bass, 8-5, $263
9th: Brian Mann, Ballard, W.Va., four bass, 8-4, $234
10th: Maverick Canipe, Kings Mountain, N.C., four bass, 7-15, $204
Ward weighed a bass weighing 5 pounds even, which also earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award and $220.
The T-H Marine BFL at 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. 12-14 BFL Regional Championship on the James River in Williamsburg, Virginia. 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. 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 274 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: Joe Opager, Director of Public Relations
