Whitehead Tops on Pickwick
Mississippi boater wins Super-Tournament in Mississippi Division
Boater Christopher Whitehead of Tupelo, Miss., brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 33 pounds, 1 ounce to win the Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine Mississippi Division Super-Tournament at Pickwick Lake. For his victory, Whitehead earned $5,942.
“It feels great – I had a pretty good day,” says Whitehead, who weighed the biggest limit of the event on Sunday. “I was just riding around graphing ledges, trying to find little schools. Then I’d throw a crankbait right in the middle of them and try to get them to react. If they didn’t bite the crankbait, I’d follow up with a big jig.”
Whitehead says that he targeted fish in 18- to 22-feet-of-water with a Tennessee shad-colored Strike King 6XD crankbait and an unnamed peanut butter and jelly-colored jig.
The top 10 boaters:
1st: Christopher Whitehead of Tupelo, Miss., 10 bass, 33-1, $5,942
2nd: Cody Nichols of Fayette, Ala., 10 bass, 30-9, $2,971
3rd: Chris Quaintance of Muscle Shoals, Ala., 10 bass, 29-10, $1,983
4th: Mitch Crane of Columbus, Miss., 10 bass, 29-4, $1,386
5th: Michael Savell of Brandon, Miss., 10 bass, 29-2, $1,388
6th: Jennings Earnest of Guin, Ala., 10 bass, 28-3, $1,089
7th: Joel Barber of Brandon, Miss., nine bass, 28-1, $990
8th: Andy Coy of Corinth, Miss., 10 bass, 26-6, $1,391
9th: Mark Willins of Como, Miss., 10 bass, 26-2, $792
10th: Kyle Glasgow of Guin, Ala., 10 bass, 25-6, $693
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Bill Terrell of Memphis, Tenn., earned the day’s $802 Boater Big Bass award with a 5-pound, 5-ounce bass.
Coy took home an extra $500 as the highest finishing FLW PHOENIX BONUS member. Boaters are eligible to win up to an extra $7,000 per event in each Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine tournament if all requirements are met. More information on the FLW PHOENIX BONUS contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.
Bond wins co-angler title
Mitchell Bond of Collins, Miss., earned the win in the Co-angler Division Sunday after catching a two-day total of seven bass weighing 23 pounds, 5 ounces. Bond earned $2,909 for his victory.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: Mitchell Bond of Collins, Miss., seven bass, 23-5, $2,909
2nd: Ty James of Iuka, Miss., seven bass, 20-5, $1,454
3rd: Justin Dobble of Leoma, Tenn., seven bass, 18-15, $970
4th: Chase Fernandez of Florence, Ala., seven bass, 16-9, $679
5th: Taylor Odom of Flowood, Miss., seven bass, 16-4, $582
6th: Gary Lucas of Columbus, Miss., five bass, 12-7, $533
7th: Nick Quaintance of Russellville, Ala., three bass, 12-6, $871
8th: Yu Han of Memphis, Tenn., five bass, 11-14, $436
9th: Michael Harrison of Moscow, Tenn., five bass, 11-1, $388
10th: Keith Whipple of Iuka, Miss., five bass, 10-9, $339
Quaintance earned the event’s Co-angler Big Bass Award of $386 with, a fish weighing in at 6 pounds, 1 ounce.
The Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine on Pickwick Lake was the fifth and final qualifying event in the 2020 Mississippi Division.
Now the top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the Mississippi Division based on point standings, along with the five winners of each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 8-10 Bass Fishing League Regional Championship on Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tennessee, hosted by the Rhea County Economic and Tourism Council. Boaters will compete for a $60,000 prize package, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro bass boat with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new 18-foot Phoenix bass boat with a 200-horsepower outboard.