Marks Wins Again on Rayburn

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:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Complete results can be found here.

Big bass

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.

Co-angler winners

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:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Complete results can be found here.

Big bass

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.