Findlay’s McGill Wins T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Illini Division Opener on Lake Shelbyville

Winchester’s McCleery Claims Co-angler Title

SHELBYVILLE, Ill. – Mike McGill of Findlay, Illinois, caught five bass Saturday weighing 17 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the first T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Illini Division tournament of 2017 on Lake Shelbyville. For his win, McGill took home $3,632.

“It was a wonderful way to start the BFL season,” said McGill, who earned his first career-win in FLW competition. “The bass were prespawn and relating to rock that was close to deep water and spawning flats. Basically, I was hitting channel swings that came up onto the flat.

“The fish were shallower than I’d thought they’d be,” McGill continued. “The wind had them up farther, and the cold front made them relate to rock more than anything else. Of the six keepers I caught, two of my biggest fish came out of less than 3 feet of water.”

McGill said he rotated between two lures – a ½-ounce Strike King Red Eye Shad lipless crankbait, and a Luck-E-Strike Rick Clunn Squarebill Crankbait. He said his Lew’s Custom Speed Stick Lite Casting Rod was also a major factor in his success.

“I probably hit 15 to 20 of those transition areas,” said McGill. “The squarebill did a little better on the north end of the lake where the water was a stained, while the heavier Red Eye Shad made it possible to fish in the wind.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

               1^st:          Mike McGill, Findlay, Ill., five bass, 17-12, $3,632

               2^nd:         Anthony Balding Jr., Millstadt, Ill., five bass, 16-7, $1,816

               3^rd:          Mike Barnes, Mackinaw, Ill., five bass, 16-5, $1,210

               4^th:          Derek Jenkel, Pinckneyville, Ill., five bass, 16-3, $847

               5^th:          Edward Gettys, Paris, Tenn., five bass, 14-8, $1,026

               6^th:          Garrett McDowell, Mattoon, Ill., five bass, 14-4, $666

               7^th:          Tim Davis, East Alton, Ill., five bass, 14-0, $605

               8^th:          Rick Beck, Hopkinsville, Ky., five bass, 13-9, $545

               9^th:          Chad Diedrich, Nashville, Ill., five bass, 13-5, $454

               9^th:          Toby Corn, Calvert City, Ky., five bass, 13-5, $654

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.  

Michael Black of Toledo, Illinois, caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 4 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – which earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $465.

Scott McCleery of Winchester, Illinois, weighed in five bass totaling 14 pounds, 12 ounces Saturday to win the Co-angler Division and the top prize of $1,816.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

               1^st:          Scott McCleery, Winchester, Ill., five bass, 14-12, $1,816

               2^nd:         Gage Elder, Lovington, Ill., four bass, 11-11, $908

               3^rd:          Anthony Tatroe, Essex, Ill., three bass, 10-15, $606

               4^th:          Ovidiu Marginean, Des Plaines, Ill., five bass, 10-6, $424

               5^th:          Roger Massey, Bloomington, Ill., four bass, 9-15, $363

               6^th:          Phil Santefort, Roberts, Ill., three bass, 9-10, $333

               7^th:          Doug Miller, Peoria, Ill., four bass, 9-6, $303

               8^th:          Aaron Arning, Walnut Hill, Ill., five bass, 9-2, $272

               9^th:          Ross Davis, St. Elmo, Ill., three bass, 8-8, $242

               10^th:        Marvin Cooke, Towanda, Ill., four bass, 8-3, $212

Michael Kinkade of Benton, Illinois, caught the biggest bass among Co-angler Division anglers, a fish weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $232.

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. 5-7 BFL Regional Championship on Kentucky Lake in Gilbertsville, Kentucky. 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.

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