Sweet Spot Carries Boulware to Top

Derr wins co-angler title on Sam Rayburn

Clayton Boulware of Zavalla, Texas, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 24 pounds, 11 ounces, Saturday to win the FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Cowboy Division tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Navionics. For his victory, Boulware took home $4,948.

“I ran to a creek bend on the north end of the lake that has a hump with clay and rock on it,” says Boulware, who logged the first BFL win of his career. “That slight elevation is called the ‘sweet spot’ and it’s only a 10- by 10-foot square. The key is to pull in there and see if there’s shad. If they’re there, you’ll likely get a limit within minutes. You have to be quick though, because the bite usually dies off by 8 a.m.”

Boulware arrived at the spot around 7:45 a.m. and used a Citrus Shad-colored Bomber Fat Free Shad Crankbait to begin accruing his winning stringer.

“I quickly caught a 5½- and 6-pounder in the sweet spot, all before 8 a.m.,” Boulware says. “The bite slowed around 8:30 so I took out a Texas-rigged, Blue Fleck-colored Big Bite Baits Squirrel Tail Worm and boated two 4-pounders by 9.”

With four keepers in the livewell, Boulware caught his fifth using a homemade shaky-head jig rigged with a Blue Fleck Big Bite Baits Finesse Worm before the sweet spot went dormant. From there, he ran farther north to try and cull before his day concluded.

“The final area I targeted was a pocket that had some milfoil,” says Boulware. “I caught one more on a white Z-Man ChatterBait and culled, and that’s what I took to the scale. Luckily the five bass I had were enough to win.”

The top 10 boaters:

1^st:          Clayton Boulware , Zavalla, Texas, five bass, 24-11, $4,948

2^nd:         Domonick Poullard, Houston, Texas, five bass, 23-15, $2,474

3^rd:          Dicky Newberry, Houston, Texas, five bass, 22-10, $1,649

4^th:          Stephen Johnston, Hemphill, Texas, five bass, 22-0, $1,910

5^th:          Phil Marks, Dallas, Texas, five bass, 20-12, $990

6^th:          Blake Schroeder, Whitehouse, Texas, five bass, 20-4, $866

6^th:          Albert Collins, Nacogdoches, Texas, five bass, 20-4, $866

8^th:          Troy Roder, Brookeland, Texas, five bass, 19-13, $742

9^th:          Charles Dubroc, Hessmer, La., five bass, 18-10, $960

10^th:        Billy Guinn, Shreveport, La., five bass, 18-9, $577

Complete results can be found here.  

Johnston caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division, a fish weighing 9 pounds, 11 ounces and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $755.

Derr wins co-angler title

Matthew Derr of Tyler, Texas, weighed in a five-bass limit totaling 17 pounds, 9 ounces Saturday to earn $2,474 and win the co-angler division.

The top 10 co-anglers:

1^st:          Matthew Derr, Tyler, Texas, five bass, 17-9, $2,474

2^nd:         Matthew Kay, League City, Texas, five bass, 14-7, $1,237

3^rd:          Wesley Meeks, Mont Belvieu, Texas, five bass, 14-5, $824

4^th:          Russell Lewis, Pineville, La., five bass, 13-15, $577

5^th:          John Goebel, Lumberton, Texas, five bass, 13-12, $495

6^th:          Joe Marino, Bryan, Texas, five bass, 13-10, $454

7^th:          Clay Phillips, Huntington, Texas, five bass, 13-9, $412

8^th:          Matt Hilton, Laurel, Miss., five bass, 13-7, $371

9^th:          James Callaghan, De Berry, Texas, four bass, 13-6, $330

10^th:        Joshua Wendt, Fulshear, Texas, five bass, 13-4, $289

Michael Conaway of Magnolia, Texas, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 8 pounds, 12 ounces and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $377.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 27-29 Regional Championship on Lake Dardanelle in Russellville, Arkansas. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.