Rushing wins co-angler title
Local angler Dustin Wood of Eufaula, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds, 2 ounces, Sunday to win the FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bama Division Super Tournament on Lake Eufaula with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 34 pounds, 6 ounces. Wood took home $5,660 for his win.
“I spent Saturday in mid- to south-lake areas throwing a Strikezone Deep Daddy crankbait,” said Wood, who earned his first win in BFL competition. “I hit ledges that were 10 to 15 feet down and isolated patches of hydrilla. Of the six keepers I caught, two were over five pounds.”
Wood said he made nearly 60 stops each day of the event and that covering a lot of water was a crucial part to his success.
“On Sunday the ledge bite was tough so I decided to fish brush piles,” said Wood. “I used a shaky-head rig with an 8-inch Bluegill-colored Strikezone Meat Stix. I didn’t get many bites, but the ones that did bite were the right size. That’s what made the difference for me. I ended up catching five keeper bass, with the last two coming within the last 30 minutes of the event.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Dustin Wood, Eufaula, Ala., 10 bass, 34-6, $5,660
2nd: Derrick Blake, Rockwood, Tenn., eight bass, 26-12, $2,730
3rd: Anthony Hawkins, Pell City, Ala., eight bass, 22-15, $2,532
4th: Michael Smith, Andalusia, Ala., 10 bass, 22-5, $1,274
5th: Mike Cavender, Phenix City, Ala., 10 bass, 21-14, $1,092
6th: Henry Golden, Tallassee, Ala., 10 bass, 21-2, $1,001
7th: Terry Tucker, Gadsden, Ala., eight bass, 20-14, $1,010
8th: Russell Sapp, Lincoln, Ala., seven bass, 19-13, $819
9th: Bobby Padgett, LaGrange, Ga., nine bass, 16-15, $1,028
10th: James Hill, Ozark, Ala., six bass, 16-10, $637
Hawkins caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces Saturday – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $712.
Wesley Rushing of Abbeville, Alabama, won the co-angler division and earned $2,730 with a two-day cumulative catch of nine bass weighing 17 pounds, 15 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Wesley Rushing, Abbeville, Ala., nine bass, 17-15, $2,730
2nd: Jeff Huddleston, Ohatchee, Ala., seven bass, 15-5, $1,365
3rd: Mike Chirico, Brundidge, Ala., four bass, 12-7, $909
4th: Rusty Smith, Six Mile, S.C., five bass, 12-5, $837
5th: Franklin McCutcheon, Jacksonville, Ala., four bass, 11-9, $546
6th: Carl Della Torre, Alachua, Fla., six bass, 11-5, $501
7th: Brandon Mayhann, Wewahitchka, Fla. six bass, 10-14, $455
8th: Jeff Norwood, Rogersville, Ala., five bass, 10-0, $410
9th: Christopher Haynes, Valley, Ala., four bass, 8-4, $414
10th: Chance Hebert, Norcross, Ga., four bass, 7-10, $319
Ryan Muccio of Columbia, Alabama, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division Saturday, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 9 ounces, and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $356.
The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 27-29 Regional Championship on Lake Hartwell in Seneca, South Carolina. 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
