Faucett by an Ounce on Arkansas River
Hemphill nets co-angler title in Okie Division event
Eric Faucett of Norman, Oklahoma, caught five bass Saturday weighing 15 pounds, 7 ounces, to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Okie Division tournament on the Arkansas River. For his efforts, Faucett pocketed $6,019.
“I worked through shallow flats in Kerr Reservoir that had scattered cover – stumps, grass, laydowns – a lot of different stuff,” says Faucett, who earned his first career win in FLW competition. “There were eight other boats in there, and I ended up fishing behind them.”
Faucett says two of his fish came on a 3/8-ounce chartreuse and white-colored War Eagle spinnerbait with a gold willow-leaf blade and a red Colorado kicker blade, noting that they were two of his more quality bites. Of the other three bass that filled his limit, one came on a black Booyah Poppin’ Pad Crasher Frog and the other two came on a black Stanley Top Toad.
“The reason I switched to the Top Toad was because the fishing slowed down and I wanted to give them something they had to react to,” says Faucett. “I threw it on a high-speed Quantum S3 Tour reel with 7-to-1 ratio. The high-speed reel gave them as little time as possible to think about it.”
Faucett says he caught around 30 fish throughout the day.
“They loved the frogs – after a while it was about sifting through the keepers,” said Faucett.
The top 10 boaters:
1st: Eric Faucett, Norman, Okla., five bass, 15-7, $6,019
2nd: Billy Hardin, Tuttle, Okla., five bass, 15-6, $2,860
3rd: Joe Erwin, Cleora, Okla., five bass, 14-12, $1,837
4th: Dale Hightower, Mannford, Okla., five bass, 14-0, $1,288
5th: John Shore, Owasso, Okla., five bass, 13-12, $1,104
6th: Jeff Dobson, Bartlesville, Okla., five bass, 13-9, $1,012
7th: Mark Johnson, Weleetka, Okla., five bass, 12-10, $920
8th: Jeff Peterson, Pryor, Okla., five bass, 12-6, $828
9th: Jason Beem, Gravette, Ark., four bass, 12-1, $736
10th: Jay Nyce, Rogers, Ark., five bass, 12-0, $644
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Jason Sandidge of Centerton, Arkansas, brought a 5-pound, 12-ounce bass to the scale – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $885.
Hemphill wins co-angler title
Aaron Hemphill of Tulsa, Oklahoma, won the Co-angler Division and $2,960 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 11 pounds, 8 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: Aaron Hemphill, Tulsa, Okla., five bass, 11-8, $2,960
2nd: Stephen Delgado, Lee’s Summit, Mo., three bass, 9-11, $1,430
3rd: Nathan Christie, Claremore, Okla., three bass, 9-3, $918
4th: Chase Williams, Riverton, Kan., four bass, 9-1, $644
5th: Shane McGlothlin, Anadarko, Okla., four bass, 8-11, $552
6th: Keith Baucom, Oklahoma City, Okla., four bass, 7-15, $506
7th: Darrin Allen, Mounds, Okla., three bass, 7-14, $460
8th: Lang Yang, Miami, Okla., three bass, 7-12, $635
9th: Jacob Girty, Porum, Okla., three bass, 7-3, $368
10th: Darin Comstock, Denison, Texas, three bass, 6-13, $322
Wyatt Asbill of Gans, Oklahoma, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 4 pounds, 5 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $221.
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 the 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.