Brown wins Wal-Mart BFL event on Columbus Pool - Major League Fishing

Brown wins Wal-Mart BFL event on Columbus Pool

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Boater Gene Brown of West Point was the winner of the March 27 BFL Mississippi Division event on the Columbus Pool. Angler: Gene Brown.
March 27, 2004 • MLF • Archives

COLUMBUS, Miss. – Boater Gene Brown of West Point earned $3,770 Saturday as winner of the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League Mississippi Division event on the Columbus Pool. The tournament was the second of five regular-season Mississippi Division events and featured 136 boaters vying for the win, which earned Brown 200 points in the Boater Division.

Brown’s winning catch of five bass weighed 24 pounds, 5 ounces and bested the field by more than 7 pounds. He caught his tournament-winning bass on a Hoot Gibson Frog. He earned another $680 as the Boater Division big-bass award winner thanks to an 8-pound, 6-ounce bass, and he earned a $1,000 bonus from Ranger Boats as the highest-finishing participant in the Ranger Cup incentive program. He earned another $1,000 from Garmin for using only Garmin electronics during the event, and Bombardier awarded him $1,000 for using an Evinrude Direct Injection outboard for a total cash award of $7,450.

Finishing second was Danny Walden of Columbus with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 4 ounces that earned him $1,885. Tied for third were Shan Schoenrock of Carrollton, Ala., and Yancy Windham of Gordo, Ala. Both anglers caught five bass weighing 15 pounds, 4 ounces that earned each of them $1,131. Jason Frederick of Booneville finished fifth with five bass that weighed 14 pounds, 13 ounces worth $829.

Michael Marlin of Southaven bested 135 Co-angler Division competitors to earn $1,871 as the co-angler winner, thanks to five bass weighing 14 pounds that he caught on a spinnerbait. This is Marlin’s second win of the 2004 season, as he took home the co-angler crown at the Mississippi Division season opener on Pickwick Lake in February. Marlin has only competed in two BFL events in his career and has won both of them.

Dustin Gordon of Horn Lake finished second with five bass weighing 13 pounds, 11 ounces that earned him $935. Tied for third were Travis Kegans of Saltillo and Jerome Gilder of Columbus Air Force Base with five bass each that weighed 11 pounds, 15 ounces that earned them both $561. Finishing fifth was Jimmy Tisdale of Ellisville with five bass weighing 11 pounds, 4 ounces worth $412.

Marlin earned $338 as the co-angler big-bass award winner with a 6-pound, 10-ounce bass.

The Mississippi Division’s next event will be held May 22 on Pickwick Lake near Pickwick Dam, Tenn., followed by an event on Lake Ferguson in Greenville Aug. 7. The Mississippi Division will wrap up its regular season Sept. 18-19 with a two-day Super Tournament on Ross Barnett near Ridgeland.

Following the regular season, the Mississippi Division boater with the most points will earn $1,000 as the Yamaha “Be the Best” points leader. The co-angler amassing the most points will earn $500 as the Yamaha “Be the Best” points leader in the Co-angler Division.

Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points, with 200 points going to the winner, 199 for second, 198 for third, and so on except for Super Tournaments, which award 300 points to the winner, 299 for second, 298 for third, and so on. The top 30 Mississippi Division boaters and co-anglers based on year-end points standings will advance to the Lake Seminole regional near Bainbridge, Ga., Oct. 5-9, where they will compete against Bama, Gator and Piedmont division anglers for one of six slots in the 2005 All-American. With a $100,000 cash prize going to the winning boater and $50,000 going to the winning co-angler, the All-American is one of the most prestigious and lucrative events in bass fishing.

The $6.3 million Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League features 24 divisions nationwide. In BFL competition, boaters and co-anglers are randomly paired, with boaters supplying the boat and fishing against other boaters and co-anglers fishing from the back deck against other co-anglers. For more information or to enter a tournament, call (270) 252-1000 or browse this Web site.

Wal-Mart and many of America’s most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its six tournament trails. Wal-Mart has been the title sponsor of FLW Outdoors since 1997. For a complete list of FLW Outdoors sponsors and for more information about the premier products and services they offer, please visit FLWOutdoors.com’s sponsor page.