Bristol’s Osborne Wins T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Volunteer Division Event on South Holston Reservoir

Virginia’s Brady Claims Co-angler Title

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Local angler Josh Osborne of Bristol, caught a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 10 ounces to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Volunteer Division tournament on South Holston Reservoir. Osborne pocketed $3,766 for his efforts.

“I basically fished one spot the entire day,” said Osborne, who earned his first career-win in FLW competition. “It was a hump with isolated rock where smallmouth were bedding. I knew it was something special when I found it in practice.

“I was catching them a little deeper than most people,” continued Osborne. “I actually saw anglers fishing the area in practice, but they were at the very top of the hump. I found a 15-yard section a little deeper and that’s where the big fish were. It was a rough patch of rock and they were all around it.”

Osborne said the top of the hump was between 4 to 6 feet deep, while he sat in 16 to 18 feet of water.

“The 8- to 12-foot range was where most of my big fish were,” said Osborne. “I caught everything that I weighed on a Texas-rigged 4-inch green-pumpkin Berkley Straight-Tail Worm.”

Osborne said he had most of his winning weight in the boat by 10 a.m.

“I knew the fish were there, so I slowed down and took my time,” said Osborne. “I think that helped me get the win.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

               1^st:          Josh Osborne, Bristol, Va., five bass, 21-10, $3,766

               2^nd:         Doug Austin, Bristol, Va., five bass, 21-7, $1,883

               3^rd:          James Barlow, Jonesboro, Tenn., five bass, 19-7, $1,256

               4^th:          Craig Powers, Rockwood, Tenn., five bass, 19-5, $879

               5^th:          Jonathan Bowling , Harriman, Tenn., five bass, 17-11, $953

               6^th:          Corey Neece, Bristol, Tenn., five bass, 17-9, $759

               6^th:          Kevin Edwards, Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 17-9, $659

               8^th:          Willie Browning, Saltville, Va., five bass, 17-6, $565

               9^th:          Nick Tate, Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 17-2, $502

               10^th:        Brian Hollaway, Gray, Tenn., five bass, 17-0, $439

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.  

Willie Bryan of Sevierville, Tennessee, caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 8 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – which earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $500.

Steven Brady of Woodlawn, Virginia, won the Co-angler Division and $1,840 Saturday after bringing a five-bass limit totaling 17 pounds, 7 ounces to the scale.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

               1^st:          Steven Brady, Woodlawn, Va., five bass, 17-7, $1,840

               2^nd:         Donnie Holder, Mooresburg, Tenn., five bass, 16-15, $920

               3^rd:          Allen Hicks, Castlewood, Va., five bass, 16-8, $612

               4^th:          David Shreve, Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 16-3, $429

               5^th:          Richard Casey, Honaker, Va., five bass, 16-2, $368

               6^th:          Matthew Rasnick, Elizabethton, Tenn., five bass, 15-6, $337

               7^th:          Matt Brown, Harriman, Tenn., five bass, 15-0, $507

               8^th:          Charles Roberts, Lebanon, Va., five bass, 14-11, $276

               9^th:          Bill King, Maryville, Tenn., five bass, 14-10, $245

               10^th:        Colton Chambers, Elizabethton, Tenn., five bass, 14-5, $204

               10^th:        Nick Coker, Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 14-5, $254

Richard Pugh of Knoxville, Tennessee, caught the biggest bass among Co-angler Division anglers, a fish weighing 4 pounds, 15 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $240.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 12-14 BFL Regional Championship on the James River in Williamsburg, Virginia. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.

The 2017 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they 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 performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the 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 2017 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 274 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa 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.

# # #