Mechanicsville’s Elrod Wins Two-Day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Event on James River
Chester’s Deciucis Wins Co-angler Division
HENRICO, Va. – Boater Bryan Elrod of Mechanicsville, Virginia, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 29 pounds, 7 ounces, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Shenandoah Division super-tournament on the James River Sunday. Elrod earned $3,542 for his efforts.
“I started each morning making the 45-minute run down to Chickahominy Creek, then I’d work my way back up with the low tide,” said Elrod, who earned his fifth career BFL victory – third this season. “I was flipping a green-pumpkin Zoom Brush Hog and throwing a 4- to 6-foot diving crankbait around wood. I probably caught around 7 or 8 keepers each day.”
Elrod said that of the 10 fish that he brought to the scale, five came on the Brush Hog and five came on the unnamed crankbait.
“I was just rotating the baits, throwing them in the same areas,” Elrod said. “I think there were two keys to my victory. One was my Evinrude outboard. I made a long run on both days and it ran efficiently and flawlessly – a huge weight off of your shoulders when we’re on the water. I also think that my local knowledge of the river was key. With the tides, you have to be in the right area at the right time and I knew what I was looking for.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Bryan Elrod, Mechanicsville, Va., 10 bass, 29-7, $3,542
2nd: Wesley Farmer, New Kent, Va., 10 bass, 26-13, $1,821
3rd: Keith Estes, Spring Grove, Va., 10 bass, 26-8, $1,578
4th: Rob Uzzle, Hampton, Va., 10 bass, 25-14, $902
5th: Richard Owen, Chester, Va., 10 bass, 25-2, $648
6th: Brandon Stapleton, Temperanceville, Va., 10 bass, 24-2, $594
7th: Todd Langford, Great Falls, Va., 10 bass, 22-12, $540
8th: Ryan Powroznik, Hopewell, Va., five bass, 11-15
9th: Joe Pautler, Catonsville, Md., five bass, 11-7
10th: Stephen Miller, Mechanicsville, Va., five bass, 11-7
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Uzzle caught a 4-pound, 7-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $146.
Chester, Virginia’s Davis Deciucis won the Co-angler Division and $1,621 Sunday after catching a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 22 pounds, 15 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: David Deciucis, Chester, Va., 10 bass, 22-15, $1,621
2nd: Jamie Newton, Falls Church, Va., 10 bass, 20-4, $957
3rd: Brandt Thompson, Richmond, Va., nine bass, 17-4, $791
4th: Patrick Lambert, Woodbridge, Va., five bass, 13-13, $478
5th: Danny Crickenberger, Charlottesville, Va., seven bass, 12-7, $324
6th: Gregory Chuhta, Germantown, Md., six bass, 9-13, $297
7th: Anthony Shanz, Selbyville, Del., five bass, 9-6, $320
8th: David Barlow, Disputanta, Va., three bass, 6-11
9th: Dillon Reid, Ashland, Va., two bass, 6-4
10th: Rob Hilliard, Vinton, Va., four bass, 6-3
Newton caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 8 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $146.
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. 3-5 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Hartwell in Seneca, South Carolina. 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 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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, Namibia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and Zimbabwe. 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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