O’Bryan wins Walmart BFL event on Ohio River

Lambert lands co-angler win

TELL CITY, Ind. – Kaoru O’Bryan of Crestwood, Ky., won the Walmart Bass Fishing League final Hoosier Division tournament on the Ohio River on Sunday with a two-day, 10-bass catch weighing 20 pounds, 12 ounces. The victory earned O’Bryan $4,400 and helped him qualify for the Kentucky-Barkley Lake Regional Championship in Gilbertsville, Ky., Oct. 15-17, where he could ultimately win a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck.

“I had to go to plan B,” said O’Bryan. “Fishing the river is tough for everybody, but it provides an opportunity for anybody to win. The river changes every day, and it becomes a matter of who can make the right adjustments.”

O’Bryan fished one of the creeks connected to the river using a buzzbait on a lay-down. He was in water 4 to 8 feet deep with plenty of logs and branches for the fish to suspend.

“The key to my fishing this weekend was that I caught what I needed on Saturday and got out,” he added. “I was able to go back to the creek on Sunday to catch what was left, and they happened to be bigger.”

Rounding out the top five boaters are Ken Comeaux of Millwood, Ky. (8 bass, 17, $2,200); Scott Bateman of Washington, Ind. (9 bass, 13-14, $1,466); Mark Dove of North Vernon, Ind. (10 bass, 13-14, $1,027) and Ronnie Smith of Walton, Ky. (8 bass, 12-15, $880).

Comeaux also took home the Boater Division Folgers Big Bass award, earning $502 for a 3-pound, 13-ounce bass he caught on a black buzzbait.

Drew Lambert of Martinsville, Ind., earned $2,167 as the co-angler winner Saturday thanks to seven bass weighing 11 pounds, 7 ounces that he caught on buzzbaits and tubes.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are William Dillon of North Vernon, Ind. (6 bass, 10-12, $1,083); Larry Kitchel of Monticello, Ind. (5 bass, 8-8, $724); Kevin Freese of Danville, Ind. (7 bass, 7-12, $506); and Daniel Day of New Albany, Ind. (4 bass, 7-10, $433).

Kitchel also earned $247 as the co-angler Folgers Big Bass winner after catching a 3-pound, 14-ounce bass.

The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers in each of the BFL’s 28 divisions at the end of the season advance to a no-entry-fee Regional Championship where boaters fish for a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck and co-anglers fish for a new Ranger boat. Seven regional championships will each send six boaters and six co-anglers to the no-entry-fee Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy, which features a $1 million purse and a top award of $140,000 in the Boater Division and $70,000 in the Co-angler Division. Anglers who compete in all five regular-season events within a division but do not advance to a Regional Championship are eligible to compete in the Chevy Wild Card, which will also send six boaters and six co-anglers to the All-American for a total of 48 boaters and 48 co-anglers advancing through BFL competition.

The winning boater and winning co-angler at the All-American will advance to the no-entry-fee Forrest Wood Cup in Atlanta in 2010. This event is the most lucrative tournament in all of competitive bass fishing. In all, the BFL offers weekend anglers the opportunity to qualify for three no-entry-fee championships. Plus, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers from each BFL division may move up to the Stren Series for 2010 while All-American champions have the option to advance directly to the Walmart FLW Tour.

In BFL competition, boaters supply the boat and compete from the front deck against other boaters. Co-anglers compete from the back deck against other co-anglers.

As the nation’s leading provider of affordable, close-to-home weekend tournaments, the BFL is widely credited with opening competitive bass fishing to the masses. It also serves as a steppingstone for anglers who wish to advance to the Stren Series and ultimately the FLW Tour – bass fishing’s most lucrative tournament circuit.

Total awards are based on a full field of 200 boats in every tournament.

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors has also taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports. Sign up for Player’s Advantage to get your edge and win.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.