Dallas’ Marks Wins T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Cowboy Division Tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir Presented by Navionics

Pusselo, Woodard Tie for Co-angler Title

BROOKELAND, Texas – Boater Phil Marks of Dallas, Texas, caught five bass weighing 26 pounds, 1 ounce, Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Cowboy Division event on Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Navionics. Marks earned $8,300 for his win.

“They were spawning in the bushes mid-lake and I caught them using a blue-colored (Strike King) Hack Attack jig with a blue (Strike King) Rage Craw trailer,” said Marks, who earned his third career win in FLW competition. “Some fish I could see and some I couldn’t, but they were definitely on beds.”

Marks said he caught around 20 bass throughout the day, and that they were more aggressive earlier in the morning.

“After 10 a.m. I had to make a lot of pitches in there to get them to bite,” said Marks. “I had to remind myself to be patient. I’d put down my Power-Poles and fish slow, which is tough for me because I like to power-fish.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

               1^st:          Phil Marks, Dallas, Texas, five bass, 26-1, $6,300 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus

               2^nd:         Blake Schroeder, Whitehouse, Texas, five bass, 21-3, $3,200

               3^rd:          Jamey Cole, Springhill, La., five bass, 19-14, $3,000

               4^th:          Nick Lebrun, Bossier City, La., five bass, 18-15, $1,500

               5^th:          Cody Pitt, Many, La., five bass, 18-11, $1,200

               6^th:          Randy Despino, Colfax, La., five bass, 18-8, $1,100

               7^th:          Philip Crelia, Center, Texas, five bass, 17-11, $1,000

               8^th:          Eric Faucett, Norman, Okla., five bass, 17-3, $900

               9^th:          Todd Hughes, Goodrich, Texas, five bass, 17-0, $800

               10^th:        Jason Ball, Lumberton, Texas, five bass, 16-15, $700

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Cole caught a bass weighing 9 pounds, 7 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $1,000.

Bronsun Pusselo of Sulphur, Louisiana, and Tim Woodard of Rosepine, Louisiana, each brought bass weighing 16 pounds, 8 ounces, to the scale Saturday to tie for the win in the Co-angler Division. Woodard took home $2,250 while Pusselo earned $2,750 after contingency bonuses.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

               1^st:          Bronsun Pusselo, Sulphur, La., three bass, 16-8, $2,750

               1^st:          Tim Woodard, Rosepine, La., five bass, 16-8, $2,250

               3^rd:          James Dutton, Hemphill, Texas, five bass, 16-3, $1,000

               4^th:          Russell Lewis, Pineville, La., five bass, 15-6, $900

               5^th:          Justin Shelton, Kemp, Texas, four bass, 15-4, $650

               6^th:          Hunter Olden, Bourg, La., five bass, 14-14, $550

               7^th:          Aaron Renda, Deville, La., five bass, 12-15, $500

               8^th:          Ryan Latch, Lafayette, La., five bass, 12-11, $450

               9^th:          Benjamin Shaw, Haughton, La., five bass, 11-15, $400

               10^th:        Lindy Hadley, Sam Rayburn, Texas, five bass, 11-11, $350

Pusselo also caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a 10-pound, 13-ounce giant. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $500.

The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Cowboy Division event on Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Navionics was hosted by the Jasper County Development District.

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. 25-27 BFL Regional Championship on Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. 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 2018 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 BFL All-American will be held May 31-June 2 at Cross Lake in Shreveport, Louisiana, and is hosted by the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.

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 2018 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct 286 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa and Spain. 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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