The first FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bama Division tournament of 2016 on Lake Martin happened this past Saturday. The winner was Scott Daughtry of Abbeville, Alabama. He weighed a five-bass limit totaling 15 pounds, 3 ounces, to win $4,866.
“The win really caught my by surprise,” said Daughtry, who earned his first win in his 29th career tournament in FLW competition. “I knew that my 9-pounder was likely to win the big bass award, but I really didn’t think that I had enough weight to go with it to win. It was a very nice surprise.”
Daughtry said that he caught his winning stringer up the Tallapoosa River, targeting clean water in the backs of pockets.
“I had found some fish on Friday in practice that I shook off to save, so I ran right back to those pockets when the tournament started,” Daughtry said. “I was fishing a jig, while my co-angler was fishing a Hematoma-colored Reaction Innovations Kinky Beaver. I couldn’t get a bite, while my co-angler caught eight keepers behind me, including a 5-pounder.
“He only had three of the Kinky Beavers, but he was kind enough to share one of them with me. It had been chewed up and was pretty mangled, but I super-glued it back together and it worked great. My co-angler ended up catching 21 or 22 bass throughout the day, while I ended up with seven. My first bite was the 9-2.”
Daughtry said that he Texas-rigged the Kinky Beaver with a 1/8-ounce weight and that the key to the presentation was fishing extremely slow.
“You really had to let the bait soak. I knew that those fish were going to be there, the key was just fishing it really slow and persistent. We ran pocket after pocket right behind other boats and were catching fish right behind them. It was a very fun day.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Scott Daughtry, Abbeville, Ala., five bass, 15-3, $4,866
2nd: David Millsaps, Ranger, Ga., five bass, 14-10, $2,136
3rd: David Gaston, Sylacauga, Ala., five bass, 14-8, $1,424
4th: Terry Tucker, Gadsden, Ala., five bass, 14-4, $925
4th: Scott Hayes, Newnan, Ga., five bass, 14-4, $925
6th: Ben Weldon, Wetumpka, Ala., five bass, 14-0, $783
7th: Michael Luster, Prattville, Ala., five bass, 13-8, $712
8th: Chris Baxter, Winder, Ga., five bass, 13-4, $941
9th: Marty Giddens, Alpine, Ala., five bass, 11-11, $569
10th: Mark Richardson, Eastanollee, Ga., five bass, 11-6, $498
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Daughtry’s stringer was anchored by the 9-pound, 2-ounce kicker – the biggest fish of the tournament in the pro division – and earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $595.
Cory Johnson of Crane Hill, Alabama, weighed in five bass totaling 12 pounds, 13 ounces Saturday to earn $2,136 and win the co-angler division.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Cory Johnson, Crane Hill, Ala., five bass, 12-13, $2,136
2nd: Slaton Jemison, Mathews, Ala., five bass, 11-12, $1,068
3rd: Michael Reed, Maylene, Ala., five bass, 11-5, $712
4th: Rusty Smith, Six Mile, S.C., five bass, 11-4, $498
5th: Randy Smith, Fayetteville, Ga., five bass, 9-14, $427
6th: Dennis Sandoval, Decatur, Ala., five bass, 9-10, $374
6th: Dennis McGouirk, Carrollton, Ga., five bass, 9-10, $671
8th: Chance Hebert, Norcross, Ga., five bass, 9-9, $320
9th: Mike Chirico, Brundidge, Ala., five bass, 9-8, $285
10th: Ricky Parpolowicz, Decatur, Ala., five bass, 9-3, $249
McGouirk caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 2 ounces and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $297.
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.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the BFL on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.