T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Heads to Wheeler Lake for Regional Tournament Presented by Ranger Boats
DECATUR, Ala. – The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) is competing on Wheeler Lake Oct. 12-14 for one of six BFL Regional Tournaments. The three-day event, presented by Ranger Boats, will feature the best 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers from each of the Bama, Bulldog, Choo Choo, and Music City BFL divisions.
The winning boater will receive a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and a check for $20,000, while the winning co-angler will receive a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard. The top six boaters and co-anglers at each regional will advance to one of the longest-running championships in bass fishing – the 2018 BFL All-American, which will be held May 31-June 2 on Cross Lake in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Wheeler Lake is expected to produce some notable limits for the BFL anglers this time of year. Top competitors in previous FLW events held on Wheeler Lake in the fall keyed on shallow wood with a variety of baits including spinnerbaits, shallow-running crankbaits, umbrella rigs and a variety of soft-plastics. Some anglers may opt to fish the Elk River, where current breaks can be picked apart with spinnerbaits. The winner of this tournament will likely need to weigh 15 bass over three days totaling 56 to 60 pounds.
Anglers will take off from Ingalls Harbor, located at 701 Market St. N.W. in Decatur at 7 a.m. CDT each day. Weigh-ins will be held at the Harbor beginning at 3 p.m. each day. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
The T-H Marine BFL Regional Tournament on Wheeler Lake is hosted by the Decatur-Morgan County Convention & Visitors Bureau.
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. The 2018 All-American will be held on Cross Lake in Shreveport, Louisiana, May 31-June 2 and is hosted by the Shreveport-Bossier City Sports Commission and the Red River Waterway Commission. 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 258 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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