Walmart BFL Tournament Preview
Bama, Buckeye, Cowboy, Music City, Northeast and Savannah River division Super Tournaments set for Sept. 6-7
The 2014 Walmart BFL season continues with six two-day Super Tournaments on Sept. 6-7. The Bama Division will fish on Lake Eufaula, the Buckeye Division will compete on Indian Lake, the Cowboy Division will shoot it out on Sam Rayburn Reservoir, the Music City Division will take on Kentucky Lake, the Northeast Division will meet at the 1000 Islands and the Savannah River Division is headed to Clarks Hill Lake. Up to 400 boaters and co-anglers will be competing in each event for top awards up to $11,000 and $4,500.
When: Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 6-7
Bama Division
Lake Eufaula
Lakepoint Resort State Park
104 Lakepoint Drive
Eufaula, Ala.
Hosted by the Eufaula Barbour County Chamber of Commerce and the City of Eufaula
To sign up and fish this event, click here.
Notes: The bass fishing on Lake Eufaula is expected to be very good. The fish are likely to be catchable on offshore ledges and around deep brush and wood, as well as up shallow. Most of the shallow fish figure to be caught around pads or other shoreline vegetation. Out deep, crankbaits, Texas-rigged soft plastics, football jigs and spinnerbaits will be popular choices. Topwater frogs, soft plastics, buzzbaits and jigs will likely be key for the shallow fish. The winner is expected to bring in a two-day total of 10 bass for around 40 pounds.
Buckeye Division
Indian Lake
Indian Lake State Park – Moundwood
12774 State Route 235 N.
Lakeview, Ohio
To sign up and fish the event, click here.
NOTES: The bass fishing on Indian Lake is expected to be good. Some cooler nights leading into the event could serve to wake the fish out of their summer doldrums and produce good catches. Most of the fish are likely to be caught shallow, around shoreline rock, pads, wood and docks. Baits like topwater frogs, jigs, Texas-rigged soft plastics, crankbaits, buzzbaits and ChatterBaits are all expected to play a role for tournament competitors. The winner is likely to bring about 20 pounds of bass to the scale over the course of the two-day event.
Cowboy Division
Sam Rayburn Reservoir
The Umphrey Family Pavilion
5438 RR 255 West
Brookeland, Texas
Hosted by the Jasper County Development District
To sign up and fish the event, click here.
NOTES: The bass fishing on Sam Rayburn Reservoir is expected to be excellent. The bass should still be in their summer patterns when the tournament rolls around, and will be caught both deep and shallow. Most anglers are likely to target offshore structure and brush piles as well as shallow grass. Carolina rigs, swimbaits, crankbaits, jigs and Texas-rigged soft plastics will be in heavy use by most of the field. The winning weight is predicted to be right around 42 pounds.
Music City Division
Kentucky Lake
Paris Landing State Park Marina
16055 Highway 79 N.
Buchanan, Tenn.
Hosted by the Henry County Alliance
To sign up and fish the event, click here.
NOTES: The bass fishing on Kentucky Lake is expected to be excellent. Fish will be caught both deep and shallow on a variety of techniques. The competitors will look to exploit isolated offshore cover like brush piles, the lake’s famous ledges, shallow grass and bass relating to bait. Crankbaits, jigs, spinnerbaits, drop-shot rigs, spoons, topwater frogs and swimjigs will be in many of the anglers’ hands. It is expected to take about 46 pounds of bass to win this two-day event.
Northeast Division
1000 Islands
French Creek Marina
250 Wahl St.
Clayton, N.Y.
To sign up and fish the event, click here.
NOTES: The bass fishing at the 1000 Islands is expected to be excellent. The St. Lawrence Seaway’s plentiful smallmouth bass will be caught both shallow and deep in this event. Points, current seams, grass beds, and schools of bait will be key locations, though some anglers might choose to target the area’s largemouth around docks or in the grassy bays. Swimbaits, drop-shot rigs, jerkbaits, tubes and topwater baits will be popular choices for smallmouth bass. Anglers who target largemouth will likely rely on topwater frogs, jigs and soft baits. The winner of this event is expected to bring two limits of bass in excess of 20 pounds to the scale.
Savannah River Division
Clarks Hill Lake
Wildwood Park
6212 Holloway Road
Appling, Ga.
Hosted by the Columbia County Board of Commissioners
To sign up and fish the event, click here.
NOTES: The bass fishing on Clarks Hill Lake is expected to be good. The field will likely fish both deep and shallow as some fish figure to be moving into their fall patterns but most of the bass will be in their summer mode. The shallow fish will be found around grass, docks and wood. The deep fish should be found on humps and points that have cover or bait on them. The competitors will likely employ diverse baits and techniques such as topwater baits, drop-shot rigs, crankbaits, jigs, buzzbaits and spinnerbaits. The winning weight is predicted to be about 28 pounds in the two-day tournament.
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.
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.