Coming Up in Walmart BFL Competition

After a night of severe storms and heavy rain, the Florence, Ala., area awoke this morning to a beautiful, mild scene on the shores of the Tennessee River. Photo by D. W. Reed II.

June 17, 2014 • MLF • Archives

The 2014 Walmart BFL season continues with six tournaments on Saturday, June 21. The Arkie Division is primed to fish Lake Dardanelle, the Choo Choo Division will take on Pickwick Lake, the Great Lakes Division will continue their season on the Wolf River Chain, the Hoosier Division is headed to Lake Patoka, the Illini Division will compete on Lake Shelbyville and the Piedmont Division will visit High Rock Lake. Up to 400 boaters and co-anglers will be competing in each event for top awards up to $8,000 and $3,000 respectively.

When: Saturday, June 21, 2014

Where: Arkie Division

Lake Dardanelle

Dardanelle State Park

2428 Marina Road

Russellville, Ark.

Notes: The bass fishing on Lake Dardanelle is expected to be good. Anglers will likely spread out over the large and diverse fishery and a wide variety of tactics could prove successful. Offshore ledges, shallow wood cover, grass and current upriver could all prove productive. Crankbaits, soft plastics, jigs and topwater baits figure to be popular choices. The winner of this event is expected to bring about 19 pounds of bass to the scale.

Where: Choo Choo Division

Pickwick Lake

McFarland Park

200 James M. Spain Drive

Florence, Ala.

Notes: The bass fishing on Pickwick Lake should be excellent. Ledge fishing will probably dominate as it did in the recent Walmart FLW Tour event there. Popular baits are likely to include topwater baits, big soft plastic worms, jigs, drop-shot rigs, flutter spoons, swimbaits and crankbaits. It should take a five-bass limit weighing around 25 pounds to win this event.

Where: Great Lakes Division

Wolf River Chain

Winneconne Waterfront Park

South First Street

Winneconne, Wis.

Notes: The bass fishing on the Wolf River Chain should be very good. Diverse tactics are likely to be employed by competitors on this sprawling fishery. Anglers could fish shallow for largemouth in grass and lily pads, or fish for smallmouth around rockpiles or current. Jigs, tubes, drop-shot rigs, topwater frogs, crankbaits and soft plastics will all be in the hands of much of the field. The winner is expected to have about 18 pounds of bass.

Where: Hoosier Division

Lake Patoka

Newton-Stewart South Marina

3084 N. Dillard Road

Birdseye, Ind.

Notes: The bass fishing on Lake Patoka is expected to be good. The bass will be postspawn and into their summer patterns and could be found in the main lake and up the river. Most of the action will probably focus on the lake’s grass cover. Some anglers could also choose to target deeper water or wood cover. Topwater frogs, jigs, soft plastics, drop-shot rigs, poppers and ChatterBaits are all likely to be successful. The winning weight is projected to be around 16 pounds.

Where: Illini Division

Lake Shelbyville

9th Street Ramp

9th Street

Shelbyville, Ill.

Notes: The bass fishing on Lake Shelbyville should be good. The fish will be in true summer patterns and should be caught both deep and shallow. Some anglers will target shallow cover like docks, rocks, grass and wood while other anglers could successfully target the deeper, offshore structure in search of schools of bass. Crankbaits, buzzbaits, jigs and soft plastics will be popular baits. The winner will probably bring a five-bass limit of about 17 pounds to the scale.

Where: Piedmont Division

High Rock Lake

Tamarac Marina & Campground

9120 Bringle Ferry Road

Salisbury, N.C.

Notes: The bass fishing on High Rock Lake is expected to be excellent. Summer patterns will be the order of the day and many anglers will key on the lake’s plentiful docks. In addition to docks, competitors will also target offshore structure and brush. Jigs, shaky heads and crankbaits should be successful baits. The winning weight is expected to be about 20 pounds.

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 Rayovac 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/FLWOutdoors.