Walmart BFL Regional set for Lake Lanier
Three-day tournament slated for Oct. 10-12
GAINSVILLE, Ga. – The Walmart Bass Fishing League is headed to Lake Lanier Oct. 10-12 for one of six Regional Championships. This three-day tournament features the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers from each of the Choo Choo, Music City, North Carolina and Savannah River divisions.
Anglers will be competing for a Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and a Chevy 1500 Silverado in the boater division and a new Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard in the co-angler division. Anglers in both divisions are also 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 presented by Chevy.
“The biggest thing about Lanier is that it’s a different kind of fishery,” said 2012 Forrest Wood Cup champion Jacob Wheeler. “There are so many fish in it, and most times you only scratch the surface of them. Guys catch 100 fish per day there in January when it’s really cold.
“Fishing your strengths is the thing I like about Lanier,” continued Wheeler. “The anglers are going to have a couple of options. They could try to fish for largemouth in the larger creeks. But, the spotted bass are so big that time of year that I would say the majority of the guys will be fishing for them.
“There should be a pretty big schooling bite going on,” said Wheeler. “As the shad start to migrate back into the creek mouths the spotted bass will start schooling up all over the lake. The brush pile bite still should be good too. But being around enough forage to make a big group of fish be there is the main deal.
“I’d say a Rapala Skitter Walk thrown around the schooling fish would be good, also a Swarming Hornet Fish Head Spin with a Trigger X Drop Dead Minnow or any other Fluke-style bait is a big deal there. Any shad-style bait, really. It’s all about the forage.
“Largemouth are going to be a little different,” continued the Indianapolis, Ind., pro. “There are quite a few largemouth in Lanier, but not many people talk about them. If you can pattern the largemouth, you can sometimes win. Those largemouth will be in the creeks that have major feeder creeks flowing into them.
“I would say in the ballpark of 15 pounds a day should put you right in the thick of things,” said Wheeler about the potential winning weight. “The little bit cooler weather should put the weights better than the Forrest Wood Cup.”
Anglers will take off from Laurel Park located at 3100 Old Cleveland Highway in Gainesville, Ga., at 7:30 a.m. daily. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will be also be held at Laurel Park beginning at 3:30 p.m. Sunday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart located at 400 Shallowford Road North West in Gainesville beginning at 4:30 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
The BFL Regional Championship event is being hosted by Gainesville Tourism & Trade.
The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 40 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 presented by Chevy. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the EverStart 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/FLWOutdoors.
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 2013 over the course of 220 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. FLW is committed to providing a lifestyle experience that is the “Best in Fishing, On and Off the Water.” For more information about FLW visit FLWOutdoors.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube.