Shad Spawn Takes Elrod to Top
Deciucis wins co-angler title on Smith Mountain
Bryan Elrod of Mechanicsville, Virginia, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Piedmont Division tournament on Smith Mountain Lake presented by Navionics Saturday with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 1 ounce. For his efforts, Elrod pocketed $3,766.
“I targeted the shad spawn. I’d found multiple areas where the shad were spawning, but only one had fish in it – It was a point up the Roanoke River,” says Elrod, who notched his third career win in BFL competition. “I caught them from rip-rap in about 2 feet of water using a shad-colored [Heddon Zara] Spook. I caught four that I weighed on the Spook and one on a [shad-colored Rebel] Pop-R.
Elrod caught about 8 keepers during the tournament, citing the first hour of the day as the most productive.
“We went all over the lake running other stuff. The fish had spawned, and there were some areas with fry-guarders, but those fish were small. I only caught a few of those and they didn’t help me any,” says Elrod. “That area was really the only productive stop.”
Elrod went on to say that his winning limit consisted of four largemouth and one smallmouth.
The top 10 boaters:
1st: Bryan Elrod, Mechanicsville, Va., five bass, 17-1, $3,766
2nd: Stephen Miller, Mechanicsville, Va., five bass, 16-15, $1,933
3rd: Matt Hicks, Evington, Va., five bass, 15-15, $1,155
4th: Keith Joyce, Apex, N.C., five bass, 15-14, $1,159
5th: Dennis Burdette, Pembroke, Va., five bass, 15-9, $693
6th: Rick Tilley, Moneta, Va., five bass, 15-4, $635
7th: Tommy Little, Chester, Va., five bass, 15-1, $578
8th: Powell Kemp, Scotland Neck, N.C., five bass, 14-13, $520
9th: Justin Hicks, Roanoke, Va., five bass, 14-8, $462
10th: Kevin Kane, Woodbridge, Va., five bass, 14-6, $404
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Taylor Godsey of Chester, Virginia, caught a 5-pound, 7-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $435.
Deciucis wins co-angler title
David Deciucis of Chester, Virginia, won the Co-angler Division and $1,896 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 15 pounds even.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: David Deciucis, Chester, Va., five bass, 15-0, $1,896
2nd: Scott Howard, Bedford, Va., five bass, 14-4, $1,044
3rd: Roland Burton, Hopewell, Va., five bass, 13-9, $614
4th: Pat Kendrick, Bumpass, Va., five bass, 12-7, $394
5th: Brian LaClair, Denton, Md., five bass, 12-6, $338
6th: Timothy Kinder, Manassas, Va., five bass, 12-3, $310
7th: Mickey Bergeron, Amherst, Va., five bass, 11-14, $281
8th: Gerald Heffler, Chester, Va., five bass, 11-12, $253
9th: Tim Privette Jr., Wendell, N.C., five bass, 11-11, $225
10th: Shawn Huwar, Fredericksburg, Va., five bass, 11-9, $197
Deciucis also caught the heaviest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 4 pounds, 8 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $207.
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 the Potomac River in Marbury Maryland. 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.