Horton best BFL boater on Weiss Lake

Boater Brian Horton of Ft. Payne, Ala., earned $4,942 as winner of the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League Bama Division event on Weiss Lake. Angler: Brian Horton.

April 9, 2005 • MLF • Archives

CEDAR BLUFF, Ala. – Boater Brian Horton of Ft. Payne earned $4,942 Saturday as winner of the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League Bama Division event on Weiss Lake. The tournament was the second of five regular-season Bama Division events and featured 171 boaters vying for the win, which earned Horton 200 points in the Boater Division.

Horton’s winning catch of five bass weighed 20 pounds, 3 ounces. Horton fished shallow flats with a Rat-L-Trap and a Texas-rigged lizard to catch his bass.

Finishing second was Phillip Dukes of Rainsville with five bass weighing 18 pounds, 7 ounces that earned him $2,471. Wayne Naramore of Lincoln claimed $1,614 as the third-place finisher thanks to five bass weighing 17 pounds, 10 ounces. In fourth was Johnny Belyeu of Gadsen with five bass weighing 16 pounds, 15 ounces worth $1,258, and finishing fifth and earning $1,033 was Terry Goggans of Ft. Payne with five bass weighing 16 pounds, 9 ounces.

Belyeu earned an additional $500 as winner of the Ranger Cup award.

Keith Braden of Adairsville, Ga., took Boater Division big-bass award honors, earning $855 for a 6-pound, 11-ounce bass. He caught his big bass on a Zoom lizard.

Gerald Thompson of Bridgeport bested 171 Co-angler Division competitors to earn $2,471 as the co-angler winner, thanks to five bass weighing 14 pounds, 11 ounces that he caught on a Carolina rig.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Robbie Evans of Adairsville, Ga., (five bass, 12 pounds, 13 ounces, $1,235); Beaver Potterfield of Hollywood and Nick Chinuntdet of Powder Springs, Ga., tied for third place with five bass weighing 12 pounds, 11 ounces and four bass weighing 12 pounds, 11 ounces, respectively. Both co-anglers earned $717. Tim Cummings of Waynesboro, Tenn., finished in fifth (four bass, 11 pounds, 15 ounces, $517).

Steve Briscoe of Odenville earned $428 as the co-angler big-bass award winner with a 7-pound, 8-ounce bass he caught on a spinnerbait.

The Bama Division’s next event will be held May 7 on Guntersville Lake near Scottsboro, followed by an event on Neely Henry Lake near Gadsen June 4. The Bama Division will wrap up its regular season Sept. 17-18 with a two-day Super Tournament on Guntersville Lake near Scottsboro.

Following the regular season, the Bama Division boater with the most points will earn $1,000 as the Yamaha “Be the Best” points champion. The co-angler amassing the most points will earn $500 as the Yamaha “Be the Best” points champion 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 40 Bama Division boaters and co-anglers based on year-end points standings will advance to the Lake Toho Regional near Kissimmee, Fla., Oct. 4-8 where they will compete against Bulldog, Seminole and South Carolina division anglers for one of six slots in the 2006 All-American. With a total purse of $1 million and a potential $140,000 cash prize going to the winning boater and $70,000 going to the winning co-angler, the All-American is one of the most prestigious and lucrative events in bass fishing.

The $8.4 million Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League features 28 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.

Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League and seven other national tournament circuits offering a combined $30 million in awards through 214 events in 2005. The 27-year-old organization is the purveyor of America’s largest and most prestigious fishing tournaments, including the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, EverStart Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series.

Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as title sponsor of the FLW Tour in 1997 and today is the title sponsor of all FLW Outdoors events. For more information on Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.