BFL Regional Championship heads to Lake Hartwell
Top-six angler from boater and co-angler divisions to advance to BFL All-American
LAVONIA, Ga. – The Walmart Bass Fishing League is headed to Lake Hartwell Oct. 17-19 for one of six regional championships. This three-day tournament features the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers from each of the Bama, Bulldog, Piedmont and Volunteer divisions.
Anglers will be competing for a Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and a Chevy 1500 Silverado in the boater division and a new Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard in the co-angler division. Anglers in both divisions are also competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy.
“I qualified for the All-American twice,” said Tom Monsoor, who finished in eighth place in the 2012 FLW Tour event on Lake Hartwell. “The BFL regional championships are a big deal. The All-American is the ultimate goal. To make the All-American is probably one of the toughest things you can do. I was the points leader in my BFL division four years straight. I was so proud of that. To me, this is big.
“There are lots of big largemouth there,” continued Monsoor. “My favorite thing about Hartwell is the clear water and the big fish.
“They’ll probably catch them on the points and deep,” speculated Monsoor. “They’re going to use their electronics a lot. They’ll go down the side of the points into the coves, too. They’ll need to follow the bait this time of year.
“There are big fish everywhere on that lake,” continued Monsoor. “I like to fish the main lake down by the dam, but there are big fish up the river, too.
“It’ll be a swimbait and jerkbait bite, and they’ll catch them big-time on an umbrella rig, too,” finished Monsoor.
Anglers will take off from Tugaloo State Park located at 1763 Tugaloo State Park Road in Lavonia, Ga., at 7:30 a.m. daily. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will be also be held at Tugaloo State Park beginning at 3:30 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart located at 3886 Georgia Highway 17 in Toccoa, Ga., beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
The BFL Regional Championship event is being hosted by Tugaloo State Park.
The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 40 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the EverStart Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the BFL on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.
About FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2013 over the course of 220 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world. FLW is committed to providing a lifestyle experience that is the “Best in Fishing, On and Off the Water.” For more information about FLW visit FLWOutdoors.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube.