WHAT: The 2015 Walmart Bass Fishing League season will continue with two tournaments on Saturday, August 8, when the Illini division takes on the Ohio River and the Northeast division stops at Lake Champlain. Up to 400 boaters and co-anglers will be competing for top awards of up to $8,000 and $3,000 respectively in the one-day event.
WHEN: Saturday, August 8, 2015
Illini Division
Ohio River
Golconda Marina
RR 1 Highway 146 N.
Golconda, Ill.
NOTES: The bass fishing on the Ohio River should be good in this tournament, despite the extremely high water levels. Previous winners of BFL tournaments on the Ohio River have found success targeting rock flats using shaky-head rigs with dark-colored soft plastics. Anglers have also caught winning stringers by focusing on bass that congregate in current seams near rocks. Other popular baits at this event will likely include crankbaits, spinnerbaits and worms. Five bass nearing 12 pounds should take top honors.
Northeast Division
Lake Champlain
Dock Street Landing
5 Dock St.
Plattsburgh, N.Y.
NOTES: Lake Champlain is expected to fish well this tournament. Competitors will be seen targeting smallmouth bass using drop-shot rigs, tubes, topwaters and swimbaits. In addition to the smallmouth bite, anglers may choose to focus on targeting largemouth bass in shallower depths in weeds and grass and near hard cover, like wood and docks. These bass will most likely be caught using jigs and soft plastics. A 19-pound five-bass limit should tip the scales on the winner’s favor.
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.
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
