Virginia’s Whitt Wins T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Piedmont Division Opener on Kerr Lake Presented by Navionics

Wright Claims Co-angler Title

HENDERSON, N.C. – Boater Zachary Whitt of Newport News, Virginia, caught a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 8 ounces, to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Piedmont Division opener on Kerr Lake presented by Navionics. Whitt took home $4,315 for his efforts.

Whitt said he fished for bass along a stretch of riprap in Nutbush Creek, primarily focusing on three sections with ledges 6 feet down.

“The ledges were right next to deep water – sometimes 20 to 25 feet down – and the bass were really keyed in on them,” said Whitt, who earned his first win in BFL competition. “It was the last major deep hole before the back of creek, and I figured I could target bass both heading up to spawn or heading back out with the approaching cold front.”

Whitt didn’t want to divulge specifics, but said he used a red crankbait and caught every fish he weighed in by 9 a.m.

“I borrowed a 16-foot boat with a 25-horsepower engine for this event, and I think ended up being a big factor for me,” said Whitt. “The smaller engine kept me close to takeoff. If I had used my own boat I wouldn’t have stayed as close to the ramp and definitely would have gone to other areas.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

               1^st:          Zachary Whitt, Newport News, Va., five bass, 21-8, $4,315

               2^nd:         David Wright, Lexington, N.C., five bass, 19-10, $2,767

               3^rd:          Ray Griffin, Greensboro, N.C., five bass, 16-14, $1,439

               4^th:          Gary D'Angelo, Woodbine, Md., five bass, 16-7, $1,207

               5^th:          Chad Poteat, Mount Airy, N.C., five bass, 16-4, $963

               6^th:          Andy Francis, Chester, Va., three bass, 14-15, $791

               7^th:          Neil Eckberg, Cary, N.C., five bass, 14-10, $719

               8^th:          Ralph Hollifield Jr., Winston-Salem, N.C., five bass, 14-8, $647

               9^th:          Cameron Lineback, Mount Airy, N.C., five bass, 14-4, $575

               10^th:        Bradley Staley, Pleasant Garden, N.C., five bass, 13-8, $503

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Wright caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 14 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $610.

Craig Wright of Rustburg, Virginia, won the Co-angler Division and $2,357 Saturday after catching a five-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 11 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

               1^st:          Craig Wright, Rustburg, Va., five bass, 13-11, $2,357

               2^nd:         Jamie Baynard, Clayton, N.C., five bass, 12-1, $1,079

               3^rd:          Johnathan Hager, Roxboro, N.C., four bass, 10-13, $717

               4^th:          Zachary Burton, Lynchburg, Va., four bass, 10-6, $503

               5^th:          Matthew Haizel, Holly Springs, N.C., five bass, 10-5, $431

               6^th:          Wayne Smelser, Rural Retreat, Va., three bass, 7-9, $428

               6^th:          Brian Nappier, Huntersville, N.C., three bass, 7-9, $428

               8^th:          Mark Ludwig, Chesterfield, Va., one bass, 6-14, $629

               9^th:          Dylan McLeod, Spring Lake, N.C., three bass, 6-6, $288

               10^th:        Joshua Kidd, Evington, Va., two bass, 6-4, $252

Ludwig caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – 6-pounds, 14-ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $305.

The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Piedmont Division event on Kerr Lake presented by Navionics was hosted by the Vance County Department of Tourism.

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. 18-20 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Norman in Huntersville, North Carolina. 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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