Morgan takes top honors at BFL Super Tournament on Watts Barr Lake

ROCKWOOD, Tenn. – Boater Andy Morgan of Dayton earned $4,087 Saturday as winner of the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League Choo Choo Division Super Tournament on Watts Barr Lake. The event earned Morgan 300 points in the Boater Division.

Morgan’s winning catch of 10 bass weighed 27 pounds. He threw a Zoom Old Monster worm and a War Eagle jig around mid-lake brush piles to catch his bass.

Morgan earned an additional $1,000 as winner of the Bombardier contingency award for being equipped with a qualified Evinrude Direct Injection outboard.

Finishing second was Chad Reel of Dayton with eight bass weighing 20 pounds, 12 ounces that earned him $1,995. Rufus Johnson of Strawberry Plains claimed $973 as the third-place finisher thanks to seven bass weighing 18 pounds, 9 ounces. In fourth was Mark Morgan of Dayton with seven bass weighing 15 pounds, 10 ounces worth $876, and finishing fifth and earning $778 was Doug Plemons of Kingston with seven bass weighing 15 pounds, 1 ounce.

Tenth-place finisher Wesley Strader of Spring City earned $750 as winner of the Ranger Cup and Powered by Yamaha awards.

Josh Wofford of Ooltewah and Tim Wiley of Kingston tied for Boater Division big-bass award honors. Each angler earned $290 for a 4-pound, 10-ounce bass. Wofford caught his big bass on a 3/8-ounce black jig, while Wiley landed his big bass on a Texas-rigged worm.

Pat Lay of Cleveland earned $2,043 as the co-angler winner, thanks to eight bass weighing 20 pounds that he caught on a Zoom Old Monster worm.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Jay Moody of Muscle Shoals, Ala. (six bass, 14 pounds, 13 ounces, $997); Scott Gross of Spring City (five bass, 11 pounds, 14 ounces, $487); Anthony Bowman of Cookeville (four bass, 11 pounds, 7 ounces, $438); and James Biondo of Tellico Plains (three bass, 11 pounds, 2 ounces, $389).

Biondo earned $290 as the co-angler big-bass award winner with a 4-pound, 1-ounce bass he caught on a Carolina-rigged lizard.

Following the regular season, the Choo Choo 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.

The top 40 Choo Choo Division boaters and co-anglers based on year-end points standings will advance to the Clarks Hill Lake Regional near Augusta, Ga., Oct. 11-15 where they will compete against Dixie, North Carolina and Shenandoah 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 FLWOutdoors.com.

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.