Smithville’s Tramel Wins T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Tournament on Center Hill Lake
Co-Angler Title Goes to Goodletsville’s Adams
SPARTA, Tenn. – Boater Josh Tramel of Smithville, Tennessee, brought five bass to the scale Saturday weighing 20 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Music City Division tournament on Center Hill Lake. For his first-place finish, Tramel earned $4,384.
Tramel said he primarily worked through two mid-lake areas with gravel and rock, and caught approximately 10 keepers throughout the tournament.
“One area was a staging area – a little creek channel swing in a major creek – and one had multiple staging areas close to points where bass were spawning,” said Tramel, who earned his sixth career win in BFL competition. “I caught most of what I weighed in before lunch, until 12 [p.m.] or so. My limit was made up of all smallmouth.”
Tramel caught three that he weighed at the channel swing in 6 to 8 feet of water using a Carolina-rigged green pumpkin-colored Berkley Power Hog. The other two smallmouth were caught at the points on Crawfish-colored Rapala DT6 and a DT10 crankbaits in 6 to 10 feet of water.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Josh Tramel, Smithville, Tenn., five bass, 20-12, $4,384
2nd: Jesse Rigsby, Old Hickory, Tenn., five bass, 17-2, $1,467
3rd: Mickey Beck, Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 17-1, $1,127
4th: Clabion Johns, Covington, Ga., five bass, 16-15, $784
5th: Adam Wagner, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 16-5, $587
6th: Daniel Johnson, Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 16-0, $538
7th: Michael Thomason, Winchester, Tenn., five bass, 15-13, $489
8th: Jay Melton, Murfreesboro, Tenn., five bass, 15-11, $440
9th: Dale Rowland, Shelbyville, Tenn., five bass, 14-6, $391
10th: Alex Hester, Crossville, Tenn., five bass, 13-13, $342
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Matt Langley of Lebanon, Tennessee, caught a bass weighing 5 pounds even – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $335.
Mitchell Adams of Goodletsville’s, Tennessee, won the Co-angler Division and $1,374 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 15 pounds, 9 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Mitchell Adams, Goodletsville, Tenn., five bass, 15-9, $1,374
2nd: Tyler Barnes, Murfreesboro, Tenn., five bass, 15-5, $687
3rd: Sam Loveless, Somerset, Ky., five bass, 12-6, $459
4th: Brian Reed, Cookeville, Tenn., four bass, 11-3, $321
5th: Bryan Brinson, Hendersonville, Tenn., three bass, 8-8, $375
6th: Randall Wiggins, Birmingham, Ala., five bass, 8-1, $302
7th: Todd Knois, Lewisburg, Tenn., three bass, 8-0, $229
8th: James Davis, Springfield, Tenn., three bass, 7-13, $206
9th: Donnie Rubel, Murfreesboro, Tenn., two bass, 7-8, $183
10th: Kelly Stone, Westmoreland, Tenn., two bass, 6-13, $160
Andrew Whitaker of Scottsville, Kentucky, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 4 pounds, 5 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $152.
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. 10-12 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Hartwell in Seneca, South Carolina, presented by Navionics. 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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