Militana cleans up with only 4 fish
Botts wins co-angler title on Lake Cumberland
MONTICELLO, Ky. (May 5, 2014) – Adam Militana of Nashville, Tenn., weighed in four bass totaling 13 pounds, 14 ounces Saturday to win the third Walmart Bass Fishing League Mountain Division tournament of 2014 on Lake Cumberland. For his victory, Militana earned $6,792.
Militana earned his first FLW win with four smallmouth bass that exceeded the 18-inch size limit.
“My goal was to hit as many spots as possible,” said Militana. “I think I hit 30 spots in the tournament. The areas that I was fishing were transition areas near spawning flats. You can run to those areas and make five or six good casts and cover them pretty quickly. I didn’t want to get bogged down in the flats, especially because I don’t fish on Cumberland Lake very much.
“One of my keys was definitely the one-two punch of my swimbaits,” explained Militana. “I threw a 5-inch swimbait in the morning and when the bite slowed in the afternoon I switched to a 3-inch swimbait and caught three more keepers.
“I could have seen that day going completely the other way,” said Militana. “I was somewhat surprised that I won with just four bass. My home lake is Dale Hollow Lake and because of the limit there you can’t fish for smallmouth in a five-fish tournament. This was the Dale Hollow tournament that I always wanted to fish. I feel very fortunate to win and I’m really pleased that it happened.
Militana said that he threw two different shad-colored swimbaits. One was a 5-inch model on a homemade 3/8-ounce jig head and the other was a 3-inch model on a homemade 1/8-ounce jig head.
Rounding out the top 10 pros:
2nd: Brad Roberts, Faubush, Ky., five bass, 13-10, $2,364
3rd: John Daniel, Bowling Green, Ky., four bass, 13-6, $1,576
4th: Larry Klaber, Nicholasville, Ky., five bass, 12-14, $1,103
5th: Raymond Manis, Jamestown, Tenn., five bass, 12-6, $946
6th: Matt Salmons, Bronston, Ky., five bass, 11-13, $867
7th: Mark Neal, Livingston, Tenn., five bass, 11-9, $788
8th: Jim Forshee, Lexington, Ky., five bass, 11-5, $709
9th: Jeff Carman, Liberty, Ky., five bass, 11-2, $591
9th: Mark Mauldin, Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 11-2, $591
Complete results can be found here.
Botts takes co-angler top honor
Kenny Bottts of Bowling Green, Ky., weighed in a four bass totaling 11 pounds, 9 ounces Saturday to win $2,288 in the co-angler division.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers:
2nd: Austin Allen, Gainesboro, Tenn., four bass, 10-15, $1,114
3rd: Paul Flatt, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 10-10, $762
4th: John Vice, Owingsville, Ky., four bass, 9-2, $534
5th: Billy Gardner, Livingston, Tenn., four bass, 9-0, $458
6th: Adam Frye, Burnside, Ky., four bass, 8-3, $419
7th: Nick Haunert, Maineville, Ohio, three bass, 8-1, $381
8th: Darrell Dowell, Burnside, Ky., four bass, 7-9, $343
9th: Beecher Strunk, Somerset, Ky., four bass, 7-6, $305
10th: Joshua Mounce, Somerset, Ky., three bass, 7-1, $267
Complete co-angler results can be found here.
The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 9-11 Regional Championship on Lake Cherokee in Morristown, Tenn. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and a Chevy Silverado, 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 40 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and compete 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 2014 BFL All-American is being held June 5-7 on Wilson Lake in Florence, Ala. 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 2014 over the course of 229 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. For more information about FLW visit FLWOutdoors.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.