Newberry, Lebrun Tie for Win at FLW Bass Fishing League Cowboy Division Event on Sam Rayburn Reservoir Presented By Power-Pole

Simmons wins co-angler title

BROOKELAND, Texas – Dicky Newberry of Houston, Texas, and Nick Lebrun of Bossier City, Louisiana, each weighed a five-bass limit totaling 22 pounds, 6 ounces, Saturday to share top honors at the FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Cowboy Division tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Power-Pole. For their efforts, both earned $3,373, with Newberry adding another $3,845 in bonuses.

Newberry said he began his day targeting postspawn bass near clay points using a Carolina-rigged, green-pumpkin-colored V&M Lizard. After catching a limit, he said he switched to flipping bushes with a black and blue Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver.

“The water was higher than normal so I knew the bushes would be a good bet,” said Newberry. “Around 1 p.m., I went back to a set of bushes I’d hit earlier and threw the Beaver over the top of them.  Before I knew it, the 11-pounder bit it and pulled it down. It was quite the fight. I never thought a bass could pull that hard.”

Lebrun said he caught his fish between five areas near the Highway 147 Bridge. He said he used one bait to catch his limit – a green-pumpkin-colored V&M Cliff’s Wild Craw with a 1-ounce tungsten weight.

“When the lake is high, I’m confident fishing flooded trees and bushes,” said Lebrun. “The best bites came in 5 to 6 feet. It was a great day on the water.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

               1^st:          Dicky Newberry, Houston, Texas, five bass, 22-6, $5,018 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus

               1^st:          Nick Lebrun, Bossier City, La., five bass, 22-6, $3,373

               3^rd:          Terry Adams, Berwick, La., five bass, 21-0, $1,498

               4^th:          Michael LaFleur, Orangefield, Texas, five bass, 20-14, $1,050

               5^th:          Phil Marks, Dallas, Texas, five bass, 20-11, $900

               6^th:          Bob Vote, Kingwood, Texas, five bass, 19-10, $1,125

               7^th:          Ricky Guy, Humble, Texas, five bass, 18-10, $750

               8^th:          Chris King, Jasper, Texas, five bass, 17-7, $675

               9^th:          Steve Phillips, Huntington, Texas, five bass, 16-15, $600

               10           Chad Heitman, League City, Texas, five bass, 16-7, $498

               10^th:        Caleb Sumrall, New Iberia, La., five bass, 16-7, $498

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.  

Newberry also caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division, an 11-pound, 6-ounce behemoth and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $645.

Jacob Harrison of Nash, Texas, weighed in five bass totaling 15 pounds, 6 ounces Saturday to earn $2,249 and win the co-angler division.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

               1^st:          Jacob Harrison, Nash, Texas, five bass, 15-6, $2,249

               2^nd:         Danny Rodgers, Ore City, Texas, four bass, 15-3, $1,447

               3^rd:          George Cox, Silsbee, Texas, three bass, 13-13, $752

               4^th:          Jace Patterson, Ruston, La., five bass, 13-8, $525

               5^th:          Misty Schmidt, Mabank, Texas, five bass, 13-0, $450

               6^th:          Patrick Harwell, Des Arc, Ark., three bass, 11-14, $412

               7^th:          Shad Jenkins, San Augustine, Texas, five bass, 11-12, $375

               8^th:          Wesley Meeks, Mont Belvieu, Texas, five bass, 11-9, $337

               9^th:          David Cox, Silsbee, Texas, five bass, 11-8, $300

               10^th:        Benjamin Shaw, Haughton, La., four bass, 11-7, $262

Rodgers caught a largemouth weighing 9 pounds, 2 ounces – the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division – and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $322.

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.

The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 50 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 BFL All-American. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW 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 world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2016 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 235 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico and South Korea. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Periscope: @FLWFishing.

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