Wife’s Advice Pays Off for Dixon

Johnson nets co-angler title on Millwood

Wayne Dixon of Morrilton, Arkansas, weighed a 19-pound, 10-ounce, limit of bass Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Arkie Division event on Lake Millwood presented by GEARED. For his win, Dixon pocketed $5,866.

Dixon spent his day upriver, above the White Cliffs area, targeting prespawn bass near cypress trees, coontail and milfoil. He used a Texas-rigged Right Bite Baits stickbait in 4½ to 5 feet of water.

“I originally had two areas – one where I’d caught a big one in practice and another that had a lot more fish,” says Dixon, who logged his first career win in FLW competition. “The night before the tournament my wife told me to go to the area with more fish and just sit down and catch them, so that’s what I did.

“The area was about 10 acres and I shared it with four other boats,” Dixon continues. “I used a 7-foot 2-inch Denali (KOVERT Lite) Heavy Casting Rod and caught 35 to 40 keepers.”

Dixon says that the bite was the best between 9 a.m. and noon, and that four of the five fish he weighed came in during that three-hour stretch.

The top 10 boaters:

1st:          Wayne Dixon, Morrilton, Ark., five bass, 19-10, $5,866

2nd:         Chip Hawkins, Little Rock, Ark., five bass, 19-6, $2,336

3rd:          Jeffery Conway, Mineral Springs, Ark., five bass, 19-0, $1,424

4th:          Josh Ray, Alexander, Ark., five bass, 18-5, $1,097

5th:          Steve Bowman, Little Rock, Ark., five bass, 18-4, $854

6th:          Justin Swayze, Gurdon, Ark., five bass, 16-1, $783

7th:          Chad Parks, Edgemont, Ark., five bass, 15-15, $712

8th:          John Andrews Jr., Cherry Valley, Ark., five bass, 15-11, $641

9th:          Harold Bennett, Hope, Ark., five bass, 15-6, $569

10th:        Jerry Tabler, Mineral Springs, Ark., five bass, 15-1, $498

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Dixon weighed a 7-pound, 9-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and also earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $595.

Johnson wins co-angler title

Kenyon Johnson of Mountain Home, Arkansas, won the Co-angler Division and $2,236 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 15 pounds, 13 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers:

1st:          Kenyon Johnson, Mountain Home, Ark., five bass, 15-13, $2,236

2nd:         Jacob Sloan, Paola, Kan., four bass, 14-13, $1,118

3rd:          Steve Belew, Beebe, Ark., five bass, 13-11, $712

4th:          John Vinakalns, Farmersville, Texas, five bass, 13-9, $498

5th:          Larry Dugger, Pottsville, Ark., five bass, 13-3, $427

6th:          Bo Mitchell, Malvern, Ark., five bass, 12-6, $392

7th:          Patrick Massey, Texarkana, Ark., five bass, 12-4, $338

7th:          Don Billiot, Bryant, Ark., five bass, 12-4, $338

9th:          Doug Bishop, Bono, Ark., five bass, 12-3, $285

10th:        Eddie Brown, Texarkana, Ark., five bass, 12-2, $249

Travis Harley of Sherwood, Arkansas, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 9 pounds, 9 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $297.

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.