Macon’s Lanier Wins T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Event on Lake Sinclair
Mineral Bluff’s Liner Wins Co-angler Division
MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – Boater Justin Lanier of Macon, Georgia, caught five bass Saturday weighing 18 pounds, 1 ounce, to win the 2019 T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bulldog division tournament on Lake Sinclair. Lanier earned $4,399 for his victory.
“I have been fishing Lake Sinclair for several years, but a lot of the guys in this tournament have much more experience than I do,” said Lanier, who earned his first career victory in BFL competition. “The key for me was making the right decisions as far as where I was fishing and my timing.”
Although Lanier wanted to remain tight-lipped about the specifics of his win, he did say that he was fishing mid-lake, targeting docks and seawalls with a spinnerbait.
“I was keying in on the baitfish – shad,” Lanier said. “The bite was a little better in the morning, but I ended up with nine or 10 keepers throughout the day.”
Lanier said he threw his spinnerbait on a custom spinnerbait rod with an Abu Garcia REVO reel and 17-pound-test monofilament line.
.The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Justin Lanier, Macon, Ga., five bass, 18-1, $4,399
2nd: Kip Carter, Mansfield, Ga., five bass, 17-13, $2,750
3rd: Jason Smith, Dawson, Ga., five bass, 15-12, $1,398
4th: John Duvall, Madison, Ga., five bass, 15-9, $980
5th: Clabion Johns, Covington, Ga., five bass, 15-3, $840
6th: Matt Baty, Bainbridge, Ga., five bass, 14-8, $770
7th: Max Gresham, Valdosta, Ga., five bass, 13-3, $665
7th: Mike Cleveland, Monticello, Ga., five bass, 13-3, $957
9th: Justin Durham, Bishop, Ga., five bass, 13-1, $560
10th: Lee Nunnally, Social Circle, Ga., five bass, 12-14, $490
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Cleveland and Michael Meason of Senoia, Georgia both caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 10 ounces, so both split the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $585.
Dax Liner of Mineral Bluff, Georgia, won the Co-angler Division and $2,119 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 11 pounds, 7 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Dax Liner, Mineral Bluff, Ga., five bass, 11-7, $2,119
2nd: Early Whitaker, Iron City, Ga., five bass, 9-13, $1,009
3rd: Spencer Sato, Warner Robins, Ga., five bass, 9-11, $675
4th: March Glenn, Decatur, Ga., four bass, 9-0, $793
5th: Marty Everson, Leesburg, Ga., four bass, 8-12, $404
6th: Blake Yarbrough, Fitzgerald, Ga., five bass, 8-6, $370
7th: Wesley Bennett, Monroe, Ga., five bass, 7-14, $336
8th: Mark Denney, Bonaire, Ga., five bass, 7-12, $303
9th: Jody Ward, Dothan, Ala., three bass, 7-9, $252
9th: Kenneth Cash, Jefferson, Ga., five bass, 7-9, $252
Glenn caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 14 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $272.
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 Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia. 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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