North Carolina’s Gillespie Wins FLW Bass Fishing League Piedmont Division Event on James River Presented By Navionics

Riveras wins co-angler title

HENRICO, Va. – Randy Gillespie of Sanford, North Carolina, weighed a five bass limit totaling 14 pounds, 11 ounces, Saturday to win the fourth FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Piedmont Division tournament of 2016 on the James River presented by Navionics. For his win, Gillespie earned $4,247.

“I primarily flipped wood, rocks and laydowns in Falling Creek,” said Gillespie, who earned his first win in BFL competition. “We caught the outgoing tide and fished in 2- to 3-foot depths. I had a limit in the boat by 8 a.m.”

Gillespie said he ran south and caught another keeper around 9:30 a.m. before returning to the creek to work the incoming tide.

“I caught six of my eight keepers flipping a drop-shot rig with a green-pumpkin Zoom Finesse Worm,” said Gillespie. “It’s definitely an unusual tactic. In practice, the fish wanted something small and compact. I left only an 8-inch leader between the sinker and the bait.”

With five minutes left in the event, Gillespie said he boated a 4-pounder on a Texas-rigged, green-pumpkin Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver out of some grass near the takeoff ramp.

“It was my final cast, and that fish ended up winning the event for me,” said Gillespie. “I guess it was meant to be.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

               1^st:          Randy Gillespie, Sanford, N.C., five bass, 14-11, $4,247

               2^nd:         Mike Cherry, Hampton, Va., five bass, 14-7, $1,623

               3^rd:          Todd Harris, Clemmons, N.C., five bass, 13-14, $1,082

               4^th:          Josh Wagy, Dewitt, Va., five bass, 13-11, $958

               5^th:          Rick Hawkins, Roanoke, Va., five bass, 12-5, $649

               6^th:          Kyle Fisher, Boone, N.C., four bass, 12-0, $568

               6^th:          Kelly Pratt, Williamsburg, Va., five bass, 12-0, $568

               8^th:          Joel Eberts, Powhatan, Va., five bass, 11-12, $487

               9^th:          Kennon Ball, Colonial Heights, Va., five bass, 11-11, $533

               10^th:        Harrison Baker, Providence Forge, Va., five bass, 11-4, $379

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com. 

Michael Martinez of Lanexa, Virginia, caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 15 ounces – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $390.

Victor Riveras of Newport News, Virginia, weighed in five bass totaling 18 pounds, 5 ounces, Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $2,018.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

               1^st:          Victor Riveras, Newport News, Va., five bass, 18-5, $2,018

               2^nd:         Lavar James, Woodbridge, Va., five bass, 13-12, $812

               3^rd:          Brent Enos, Bracey, Va., five bass, 11-4, $541

               4^th:          Conner Davis, Bear Creek, N.C., five bass, 10-11, $429

               5^th:          Scott Spencer, Raleigh, N.C., five bass, 8-12, $325

               6^th:          Roy Alston, Henrico, N.C., five bass, 8-9, $298

               7^th:          Greg Fox, Fayetteville, N.C., four bass, 7-12, $271

               8^th:          Cornell Badra, Clarksburg, Md., four bass, 6-12, $244

               9^th:          Dexter Andrews, Louisburg, N.C., five bass, 6-9, $216

               10^th:        Al Berkley, Madison Heights, Va., four bass, 6-6, $189

Riveras also caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $195.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 27-29 Regional Championship on Lake Hartwell in Seneca, South Carolina. 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 Snapchat: @FLWFishing.

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