Vandiver’s Stracner Wins T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Tournament on Lake Eufaula
Deatsville’s Smith Claims Co-Angler Title
EUFAULA, Ala. – Boater Josh Stracner of Vandiver, Alabama, brought five bass to the scale Saturday weighing 22 pounds, 9 ounces, to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bama Division tournament on Lake Eufaula. For his victory, Stracner earned $5,302.
Stracner said he fished mid-lake, between the Highway 82 and 431 bridge crossings and that he put 10 keepers in his boat throughout the day.
“I caught a big one sight-fishing around 9 [a.m.]. It was my second keeper of the day and ended up being the biggest [in the boater division],” said Stracner, who earned his fourth win in BFL competition – second on Lake Eufaula. “I also caught one more shallow on the same stretch of grass.”
Stracner said he used a Texas-rigged, green-pumpkin Yamamoto Senko for his shallow fish. The rest of his limit was caught with a Sexy Shad-colored Strike King 6XD crankbait, on an offshore hump near the mouth of Barbour Creek.
“The other three bass in my limit were prespawn,” Stracner said. “They came in 16 feet of water and were within sight of where I caught the grass fish.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Josh Stracner, Vandiver, Ala., five bass, 22-9, $5,302
2nd: Andrew Norris, Columbus, Ga., five bass, 22-4, $1,996
3rd: Greg Rikard, Leesville, S.C., five bass, 18-8, $1,451
4th: Mark Stewart, Ashville, Ala., five bass, 18-6, $838
5th: Coby Carden, Shelby, Ala., five bass, 18-4, $718
6th: Jeff Kitchens, Auburn, Ala., five bass, 16-13, $659
7th: Tim Ferguson, Pelham, Ala., five bass, 16-3, $599
8th: Jason Nixon, Wetumpka, Ala., five bass, 15-9, $539
9th: Terry Fisher, Jacksonville, Fla., five bass, 15-8, $479
10th: David Parsons, Dothan, Ala., five bass, 15-7, $419
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Stracner’s big sight-fish was a 7-pound, 8-ouncer – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $460.
Justin Smith of Deatsville, Alabama, won the Co-angler Division and $1,953 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 12 pounds, 13 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Justin Smith, Deatsville, Ala., five bass, 12-13, $1,953
2nd: John Hatfield, Panama City, Fla., five bass, 11-7, $926
3rd: Jeff Buswell, Fayetteville, Ga., five bass, 11-0, $585
4th: Vernon Miller, Manchester, Ga., five bass, 10-7, $409
5th: Mark Whitten, Scottsboro, Ala., five bass, 10-2, $336
5th: Timothy Hackett, Wetumpka, Ala., five bass, 10-2, $336
7th: Dakota Gaskin, Carrollton, Ga., five bass, 10-1, $292
8th: Michael Corbett, Oxford, Ala., three bass, 9-1, $523
9th: Lew Moore, Roanoke, Ala., five bass, 8-13, $234
10th: Nikki Jo Hatten, Pace, Fla., three bass, 8-12, $204
Corbett caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 7 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $110.
The tournament was hosted by the Eufaula Barbour County Chamber of Commerce.
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 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.
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, and YouTube.
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 2019 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct more than 290 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 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, and YouTube.
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