Wagner Gets No. 11
Arms wins co-angler title
Adam Wagner of Cookeville, Tennessee, brought five bass to the scale Saturday weighing 17 pounds even to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mountain Division opener on Dale Hollow Lake presented by Navionics. Wagner pocketed $4,363 for his efforts.
“I caught them running up to the ends of the creeks. I was targeting the last cover where the runoff was coming off the hills,” says Wagner, who earned his 11th career victory in BFL competition – tied for third most all-time. “They were in the current where the water was hitting the lake and that’s where I caught them – as shallow as I could get.”
Wagner caught seven keepers throughout the day. The fish he weighed came from a 5/8-ounce Missouri Craw-colored D&L Tackle flipping jig with a green-pumpkin-colored Zoom Super Chunk trailer.
“I was in Eagle Creek up lake, and stayed in there, but I probably hit five different little arms off of it,” says Wagner. “It was about finding the warmest water. The water was 52 to 54 degrees where I caught them Saturday, but in practice, in those general areas, the run offs were 48 to 50 degrees and the fish weren’t there, so you had to find the warmest water.”
The top 10 boaters:
1st: Adam Wagner, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 17-0, $4,363
2nd: Kris Kordenbrock, Covington, Ky., five bass, 16-6, $2,182
3rd: Greg Perry, Lost Creek, W. Va., five bass, 15-14, $1,387
4th: Tony Eckler, Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 15-6, $971
5th: Mark Kirby, Gallatin, Tenn., four bass, 13-3, $1,123
6th: Sean Wieda, Florence, Ky., five bass, 12-15, $763
7th: Tim Staley, Dowelltown, Tenn., five bass, 12-2, $694
8th: Tim Smiley, White Pine, Tenn., five bass, 11-8, $925
9th: Chip Chambers, Elizabethton, Tenn., five bass, 10-9, $555
10th: Robert Reagan, Byrdstown, Tenn., four bass, 10-7, $486
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Kirby caught a 4-pound, 10-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $290.
Arms wins co-angler title
Bobby Arms of Jamestown, Tennessee, won the Co-angler Division and $2,078 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 13 pounds, 7 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: Bobby Arms, Jamestown, Tenn., five bass, 13-7, $2,078
2nd: Steve Curtsinger, Buffalo, Ky., three bass, 8-13, $1,039
3rd: Jeff Pergram, Richmond, Ky., three bass, 8-9, $791
4th: Joey Von Hoene, Erlanger, Ky., one bass, 5-2, $642
4th: Garrett Turner, Sparta, Tenn., one bass, 5-2, $592
6th: Jimmy Rhodus, Versailles, Ky., two bass, 5-1, $381
7th: Jason Rueger, Lexington, Ky., two bass, 4-14, $329
7th: Blake Miller, St. Albans, W. Va., one bass, 4-14, $329
9th: Matt Chiodi, West Chester, Ohio, one bass, 4-9, $259
9th: Barry King, Liberty, Ky., two bass, 4-9, $259
Von Hoene caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 2 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $142.
The tournament was hosted by Star Point Resort in Byrdstown, Tennessee.
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. 17-19 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama presented by Mercury. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518L with a 200-horsepower outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518L with a 200-horsepower outboard.
The T-H Marine FLW BFL Mountain Division opener on Dale Hollow Lake presented by Navionics was hosted by Star Point Resort.
The 2019 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 2019 BFL All-American will be held May 30-June 1 at the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland, and is hosted by the Charles County Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism and the Commissioners of Charles County. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.