Brown Turns to Plan B

Heivly claims co-angler title in Northeastern Division opener

Derek Brown of Charlottesville, Virginia, caught a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 5 ounces to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Northeast Division opener on the Potomac River presented by Navionics. Brown took home $5,057 for his victory.

“We had rain and 15 mile-per-hour winds almost all day,” says Brown, who earned his third career-victory in BFL competition. “I fished Aquia Creek and had an area that I liked from practice, but once I got there it was blown out so I had to move to somewhere I hadn’t hit before.”

Brown settled for a spawning bay near the mouth of the creek. He said he went up and down the grassline and was able to put three bass in the boat.

“I used a Z-Man ChatterBait as I moved toward the rear and a white Strike King Tour Grade Swim Jig as I came back out,” says Brown. “I was in about 5 feet of water. All of my fish came from the grass.”

Brown says he rounded out his limit in a nearby bay with the same arsenal of baits.

“I only caught six keepers all day,” says Brown. “I just kept slow-rolling my lures. They didn’t want to eat anything fast at all.”

The top 10:

1^st:          Derek Brown, Charlottesville, Va., five bass, 20-5, $5,057

2^nd:         Bill Duckardt, Pittsgrove, N.J., five bass, 19-12, $2,528

3^rd:          Joe Zombek II, Scranton, Pa., five bass, 19-11, $1,685

4^th:          Terry Stevens, Sterling, Va., five bass, 18-8, $1,380

5^th:          Brian Sullivan, Hagerstown, Md., five bass, 17-15. $1,011

6^th:          John Lorenzo, Kane, Pa., five bass, 17-13, $927

7^th:          Richard Haber, Linthicum, Md., five bass, 17-0, $843

8^th:          Joseph Amberg Sr., Hawley, Pa., five bass, 16-12, $674

8^th:          Edward Barton, Crofton, Md., five bass, 16-12, $674

8^th:          Travis Manson, Conshohocken, Pa., five bass, 16-12, $674

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.  

Marvin Reese of Randallstown, Maryland, caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 15 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – which earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $780.

Heivly wins co-angler title

Andrew Heivly of Malvern, Pennsylvania, weighed in five bass totaling 17 pounds, 13 ounces Saturday to win the Co-angler Division and the top prize of $2,528.

The top 10 co-anglers:

1^st:          Andrew Heivly, Malvern, Pa., five bass, 17-13, $2,528

2^nd:         Damon Reid, Bowie, Md., five bass, 17-8, $1,264

3^rd:          Richard Falcon, Arlington, Va., five bass, 17-6, $845

4^th:          Martin Schaffmeir, Washington Depot, Conn., five bass, 15-15, $548

4^th:          Mike Wotanowski, Lake Hopatcong, N.J., five bass, 15-15, $548

6^th:          Richard Pace, Fredrick, Md., five bass, 15-10, $464

7^th:          Alonzo Mealing, Alexandria, Va., five bass, 15-8, $421

8^th:          Christopher Trovinger, Smithsburg, Md., five bass, 15-7, $379

9^th:          Curtis Glover, Wynnewood, Pa., five bass, 15-6, $437

10^th:        Teina McQuay, Harrisburg, Pa., five bass, 15-5, $280

10^th:        Ray Betts, Centreville, Va., five bass, 15-5, $280

Michael Seamon of Ovid, New York, caught the biggest bass among Co-angler Division anglers, a fish weighing 7 pounds, 1 ounce. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $390.

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.