Soft Plastics Key for Smith

White nets co-angler title on Ross Barnett

Timmy Smith of Petal, Mississippi, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 20 pounds, 4 ounces, Saturday to win the FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mississippi Division tournament on Ross Barnett Reservoir presented by Power-Pole. For his victory, Smith took home $5,103.

Smith began his day fishing an assortment of brush piles on a hump near the dam. He says he positioned his boat in approximately 15 feet of water while he casted into roughly 7 feet of water.

“It was one of those areas where you can sit all day and not catch anything, or you can get some good, quality bites fairly quickly,” says Smith, who earned the first win of his FLW career. “In three hours, I caught three good-sized fish – two on a Carolina-rigged, plum apple-colored Zoom Ol’ Monster Worm and one on a custom green-pumpkin-colored jig rigged with a green-pumpkin Strike King Rage Tail Craw.”

Smith says he followed a similar pattern throughout the day at nearby humps, ledges and points. He rotated between the two baits and boated an additional 12 keepers.

“We hopped around to about four or five more areas to finish out the day,” says Smith. “We caught a lot in terms of numbers, but only those first three had some size to them. I still had a great time out there.”

The top 10 boaters:

1^st:          Timmy Smith, Petal, Miss., five bass, 20-4, $5,103

2^nd:         Larry Rochelle, Canton, Miss., five bass, 19-8, $2,232

3^rd:          Ed Dunnaway, Flowood, Miss., five bass, 16-9, $1,489

4^th:          Casey O'Donnell, Scottsboro, Ala., five bass, 16-0, $1,041

5^th:          Shannon Denson, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 15-12, $893

6^th:          Bradley Burns, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 15-5, $818

7^th:          Teddy Cranford, Seminary, Miss., five bass, 14-11, $744

8^th:          Ray King, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 14-5, $669

9^th:          Brandon Wilcher, Canton, Miss., five bass, 14-1, $595

10^th:        Mike Norsworthy, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 13-14, $521

Complete results can be found here. 

Smith also caught a 7-pound, 9-ounce bass – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $640.

White wins co-angler title

Tim White of West Point, Mississippi, weighed in five bass totaling 16 pounds, 9 ounces, Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $2,232.

The top 10 co-anglers:

1^st:          Tim White, West Point, Miss., five bass, 16-9, $2,232

2^nd:         Cody Martin, Killen, Ala., five bass, 15-10, $1,116

3^rd:          Bobby McDill, Raleigh, Miss., five bass, 12-4, $1,063

4^th:          Jordan Fowlkes, Collierville, Tenn., five bass, 11-3, $521

5^th:          Anthony Thomas, Jackson, Miss., five bass, 11-0, $446

6^th:          Bernard Crump, Jackson, Miss., three bass, 10-1, $409

7^th:          Alan Dutton, Meridian, Miss., five bass, 10-0, $372

8^th:          Jesse Steadham, Byram, Miss., four bass, 9-12, $335

9^th:          Mitchell Bond, Collins, Miss., five bass, 9-9, $298

10^th:        Curtis Powell, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 9-2, $260

McDill caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 6 pounds, 2 ounces and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $320.

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.