Philo’s Kirby Wins Co-angler Title
Boater Brennon McCord of West Frankfort, Illinois, caught five bass weighing 16 pounds, 15 ounces, Saturday to win the 2018 T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Illini Division opener on Rend Lake. For his victory, McCord earned $3,671.
According to post-tournament reports, McCord caught his fish on the southern end of the lake flipping an unamed beaver-type creature bait.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Brennon McCord, West Frankfort, Ill., five bass, 16-15, $3,671
2nd: Michael Black, Toledo, Ill., three bass, 9-11, $2,035
3rd: Neil McCord, West Frankfort, Ill., three bass, 9-10, $1,324
4th: Darren Frazier, Anna, Ill., two bass, 8-9, $1,326
5th: Travis Wilson, La Harpe, Ill., three bass, 6-10, $734
6th: Mike Quinlan, Mooresville, Ind., three bass, 6-9, $673
7th: Derek Jenkel, Pinckneyville, Ill., two bass, 6-2, $612
8th: Dan Morehead, Paducah, Ky., two bass, 5-11, $851
9th: Justin Hatton, Dix, Ill., three bass, 5-5, $458
10th: Shawn Panick, New Lenox, Ill., one bass, 5-5, $458
Frazier caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 10 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $470.
Jeff Kirby of Philo, Illinois, won the Co-angler Division and $2,170 Saturday after catching a bass weighing 4 pounds, 14 ounces. The bass also earned Kirby the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $235.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Jeff Kirby, Philo, Ill., one bass, 4-14, $2,170
2nd: Todd Blakeman, Chatham, Ill., two bass, 4-11, $918
3rd: Michael McKinley, Woodlawn, Ill., one bass, 3-11, $612
4th: Andy Paschedag, Worden, Ill., two bass, 3-9, $447
5th: Mario Rossi Jr., Granite City, Ill., one bass, 3-9, $447
6th: Jacob Bovara, Wadsworth, Ill., one bass, 2-13, $321
7th: Derwin Thomas, Little Rock, Ark., one bass, 2-13, $321
8th: Dave Dobill, Royalton, Ill., one bass, 2-11, $275
9th: Chad Jackson, Indianapolis, Ind., one bass, 2-4, $245
10th: Daniel Sutton, Cadiz, Ky., one bass, 2-3, $214
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. 25-27 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tennessee. 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 2018 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. The 2018 BFL All-American will be held May 31-June 2 at Cross Lake in Shreveport, Louisiana, and is hosted by the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com.
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 2018 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct 286 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa and Spain. 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
