Muskogee’s Lansford tops Co-angler Division
Boater Phillip Lunceford of Stigler, Oklahoma, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds even Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Okie Division event on Eufaula Lake. Lunceford took home $4,830 for his victory. to 6 mile stretch, starting a mile east of Standing Rock and fishing all the way to Duchess Creek.
“I live on the lake, so I knew that flipping bushes was going to be the main pattern,” Lunceford said. “I only caught nine fish throughout the day, and four of them were not keepers. I actually lost a 3- and a 4-pounder, and I probably should have weighed in 18 or 19 pounds. Luckily my 16 pounds was enough to get it done.”
Lunceford said that he rotated through three different flipping baits throughout the day – a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver, a Strike King Rodent and a Gene Larew Salt Craw.
“I worked my way through Duchess all the way up in to Mud Creek,” Lunceford said. “The water was rising, so it eliminated a lot of water that I had wanted to fish. I knew that the fish would be in the bushes, so I just kept my head down and stayed with it.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Phillip Lunceford, Stigler, Okla., five bass, 16-0, $4,830
2nd: Cade Alsbury, Springdale, Ark., five bass, 15-14, $2,615
3rd: Jacob Capps, Muskogee, Okla., five bass, 13-14, $1,709
4th: Steven McLarty, Broken Arrow, Okla., five bass, 13-13, $1,127
5th: Shonn Goodwin, Moore, Okla., five bass, 13-8, $966
6th: Brent Haggard, Gans, Okla., five bass, 12-6, $885
7th: Kevin Slate, Choctaw, Okla., five bass, 12-4, $805
8th: Travis McKelvey, Jenks, Okla., five bass, 12-3, $724
9th: Mike Gilbreath, Vian, Okla., four bass, 12-1, $644
10th: Luke Frazier, Owasso, Okla., four bass, 11-12, $563
Allen Rude of Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, caught a 5-pound, 6-ounce bass, which was the heaviest of the tournament in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $720.
David Lansford of Muskogee, Oklahoma, weighed in five bass totaling 15 pounds, 10 ounces Saturday to win the Co-angler Division and the top prize of $2,415.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: David Lansford, Muskogee, Okla., five bass, 15-10, $2,415
2nd: Damon Duncan, Kansas, Okla., five bass, 13-5, $1,207
3rd: Darin Comstock, Denison, Texas, three bass, 10-15, $806
4th: Bobby Call, Wagoner, Okla., four bass, 10-0, $563
5th: Kurt Gordon, Cushing, Okla., three bass, 9-14, $483
6th: Sheldon Vinson, Fayetteville, Ark., five bass, 9-11, $443
7th: Brandon Ackerson, Afton, Okla., five bass, 9-1, $402
8th: Randy Choate, Ada, Okla., three bass, 8-6, $362
9th: Nathan Colwell, Pryor, Okla., two bass, 8-1, $422
10th: Jerry Evans, Pottsboro, Texas, three bass, 7-11, $282
Brandon Beaver of Durant, Oklahoma, weighed a 5-pound, 12-ounce bass which earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award and $360.
The T-H Marine BFL at Eufaula Lake was hosted by the City of McAlester.
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 the Red River in Shreveport, Louisiana. 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
