Walmart BFL Tournament Preview
Buckeye, Illini, and Northeast Divisions set for Aug. 9
The 2014 Walmart BFL season continues with three tournaments on Saturday, Aug. 9. The Buckeye Division will fish on the Ohio River out of Tanner’s Creek, the Illini Division will compete on the Ohio River at Golconda and the Northeast Division will take on Lake Champlain. 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, Aug. 9
Buckeye Division
Ohio River
Lawrenceburg City Ramp
Tanner’s Creek Drive off of Hwy. 50
Lawrenceburg, Ind.
Notes: The bass fishing on the Ohio River is expected to be good. The fish will be in typical summertime patterns and should be caught in the main river as well as in backwaters. Depending on water conditions, some anglers could make long runs to find ideal fishing conditions. Topwater baits, drop-shot rigs, Texas-rigged soft plastics, weightless soft plastics, buzzbaits, spinnerbaits and jigs are all likely to be popular choices. The winner is expected to bring in about nine pounds of bass.
Illini Division
Ohio River
Golconda Marine
RR 1 Hwy. 146 N
Golconda, Ill.
Notes: The bass fishing on the Ohio River is expected to be good. In addition to the Ohio, some anglers could opt to run into either the Tennessee or the Cumberland rivers in an effort to find bigger bass. The bass figure to be in their summertime patterns and most of the fish will be caught around some time of main-river current break. Lures like jigs, buzzbaits, crankbaits, topwater baits, swimbaits and a variety of soft plastics could all do well. The winner will likely need to weigh a five-bass limit in excess of 14 pounds.
Northeast Division
Lake Champlain
Dock Street Landing
5 Dock St.
Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Hosted by the Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau
Notes: The bass fishing on Lake Champlain is expected to be excellent. Competitors will be faced with the choice of running south to fish for largemouth in the grass around Ticonderoga or staying north and targeting smallmouth or largemouth closer to the marina. Both largemouth and smallmouth will be in their summer patterns and anglers are likely to target rocks, docks, grass, offshore structure and current. Topwater baits, drop-shot rigs, jigs, crankbait, jerkbaits, topwater frogs, swimbaits, soft plastics and ChatterBaits will be top choices of many of the anglers. The winner is expected to bring about 19 pounds of bass to the scale.
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 and on Twitter.
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, Instagram and YouTube.