SILVERPOINT, Tenn. – Boater Tim Staley of Dowelltown earned $3,497 Saturday as winner of the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League Music City Division event on Center Hill Lake. The tournament was the second of five regular-season Music City Division events and earned Staley 200 points in the Boater Division.
Staley’s winning catch of five bass weighed 18 pounds, 14 ounces. He was fishing jigs and jerkbaits on the lower end of the lake when he caught his bass. Staley won an additional $530 as winner of the big-bass award thanks to a 5-pound, 13-ounce bass and another $1,000 as winner of the Bombardier contingency award.
Finishing second was Herb Baugh of Cookeville with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 1 ounce that earned him $1,748. Marty D. Flatt of Monterey claimed $1,145 as the third-place finisher thanks to five bass weighing 10 pounds, 15 ounces. In fourth was Frank Lannom of Mt. Juliet with five bass weighing 10 pounds, 7 ounces worth $890, and finishing fifth and earning $731 was Adam Wagner of Cookeville with four bass weighing 9 pounds, 15 ounces.
Lannom earned an additional $750 as winner of the Ranger Cup and Powered by Yamaha awards.
Curtis Cline of Westmoreland earned $1,748 as the co-angler winner, thanks to three bass weighing 10 pounds, 5 ounces that he caught on a Carolina rig. Cline won an additional $265 as winner of the co-angler big-bass award with a 5-pound, 8-ounce bass.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Jason Larkin of Cottontown (five bass, 8 pounds, 9 ounces, $874); CJ Woodward of White Bluff (four bass, 8 pounds, 8 ounces, $574); and Bill Dickenson of Brentwood (four bass, 7 pounds, 11 ounces, $445). Gregory Trobaugh of Baxter and Eric Montgomery of Lebanon tied for fifth, each earning $334 with five bass weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces and four bass weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces, respectively.
The Music City Division’s next event will be held May 21 on Kentucky/Barkley Lake near Paris, followed by an event on Old Hickory Lake near Gallatin June 18. The Music City Division will wrap up its regular season Oct. 1-2 with a two-day Super Tournament on Old Hickory Lake near Gallatin.
Following the regular season, the Music City 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 Music City Division boaters and co-anglers based on year-end points standings will advance to the Kerr Lake Regional near Henderson, N.C., Oct. 4-8 where they will compete against Empire, Northeast and Mountain 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.