Holloway nets Lake Sinclair win

Willis wins in Co-angler Division

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – Mark Holloway of Madison, Ga., won the Walmart Bass Fishing League final Bulldog Division tournament on Lake Sinclair Sunday with a two-day 10-bass catch weighing 23 pounds, 12 ounces. The victory earned Holloway $6,295.

Anglers were competing to qualify for the Lake Seminole Regional Championship in Bainbridge, Ga., Oct. 22-24, where they could ultimately win a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck.

“I was very fortunate this weekend to get the quality bites that I got,” said Holloway. “I knew that there weren’t going to be a lot of bites the way I was fishing, and it was going to be a matter of getting five bites and then getting them in the boat. As it turned out, I only had six bites on the first day and seven on the second. It was basically a grind for me; I was using big bait to get the big bites and only lost one fish all weekend.”

According to Holloway there were two ways to fish this tournament: either by fishing the main lake deep or going up either of two river arms to fish shallow. Holloway decided to go up the Oconee River where he fished very shallow in 1 to 2 feet of dirty water using a home-made jig.

Rounding out the top five boaters are Kip Carter of Loganville, Ga. (8 bass, 21-11, $3,148); Jim Windham of Bonaire, Ga. (10 bass, 20-14, $2,096); Tim Malcolm of Americus, Ga. (10 bass, 20-9, $1,469); and Robert Burdekin of Fayetteville, Ga. (10 bass, 19-12, $1,259).

Roy Bennett of Denton, Ga., took home the Boater Division Folgers Big Bass award, earning $877 for a 5-pound, 9-ounce bass he caught on a Texas rig.

Jerry Willis of Atlanta, Ga., earned $3,148 as the co-angler winner Sunday thanks to eight bass weighing 18 pounds, 14 ounces that he caught using Texas rigs and crankbaits.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Blake Atha of Social Circle, Ga. (6 bass, 13-14, $1,574); Robert Volinic of Peachtree City, Ga. (7 bass, 12-15, $1,050); Buddy Perkins of Eatonton, Ga. (6 bass, 11-10, $734); and Keith Howard of Perry, Ga. (8 bass, 11-3, $630).

Perkins also earned $439 as the co-angler Folgers Big Bass winner after catching a 4-pound, 15-ounce bass on a shaky head in red-bug color.

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.