Garrison gets win at Bay Springs BFL Super Tournament

NEW SITE, Miss. – Boater Bob Garrison of Baldwyn earned $4,832 Sunday as winner of the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League Mississippi Division Super Tournament event at Bay Springs. The win earned Garrison 300 points in the Boater Division.

Garrison’s winning catch of nine bass weighed 26 pounds, 2 ounces. He threw spinnerbaits and Rat-L-Traps on points with deep running water from Bay Springs to Pickwick.

Finishing second was Charles Jones of Jackson, Tenn., with six bass weighing 23 pounds, 9 ounces that earned him $2,358. Charles Watts of Corinth, claimed $1,150 as the third-place finisher thanks to 10 bass weighing 21 pounds, 5 ounces. In fourth was Matt Ferguson of Pontotoc, with six bass weighing 21 pounds worth $1,035, and finishing fifth and earning $920 was Chad Hall of Pinson, Ala., with nine bass weighing 20 pounds, 4 ounces.

Ferguson won an additional $500 for being the highest-finishing participant in the Ranger Cup program.

Ricky Houston of Marietta, took Boater Division big-bass award honors, earning $800 for a 6-pound, 6-ounce bass.

Justin Sward of Vancleave bested the Co-angler Division competitors to earn $2,416 as the co-angler winner, thanks to eight bass weighing 20 pounds, 12 ounces that he caught on a Carolina-rigged Zoom Brush Hog.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Jimmy Stallins Jr. of Olive Branch (six bass, 13 pounds, 5 ounces, $1,179); Rick Fulkerson of Heidelberg (seven bass, 12 pounds, 12 ounces, $575); W.K. Luckett Jr. of Ridgeland (five bass, 12 pounds, 3 ounces, $518); and Mark Jennings of Greenwood (seven bass, 12 pounds, 3 ounces, $460).

Sward earned $400 as the co-angler big-bass award winner with a 7-pound, 12-ounce bass.

Chad Hall of Pinson earned $1,000 as the Yamaha “Be the Best” points champion in the Mississippi Boater Division. Sward earned $500 as the Yamaha “Be the Best” points champion in the Mississippi Co-angler Division.

The top 40 Mississippi Division boaters and co-anglers based on year-end points standings will advance to the Lake Martin Regional near Alexander City, Ala., Oct. 18-22 where they will compete against Everglades, Gator, and Savannah River 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.