Rutherfordton’s Hoyle Wins Two-Day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Event on Lake Norman
King’s Mountain’s Brafford Wins Co-angler Division
MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Boater Cody Hoyle of Rutherfordton, North Carolina, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 26 pounds, 1 ounce, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) North Carolina Division super-tournament on Lake Norman Sunday. Hoyle earned $6,896 for his efforts.
“I was hitting 50 to 60 docks a day, fishing in the mid-lake area around Mountain Creek,” said Hoyle, who earned his second career win in BFL competition. “I was looking for deeper docks with brush. The fish are getting into wolf packs, and when I found them I could usually catch multiple fish on each dock.”
Hoyle estimated that he caught 20 to 25 fish a day on a homemade brown and orange-colored jig trailered with a Zoom Z-Craw. He also caught a few keepers drop-shotting a Reaction Innovations Flirt Worm.
“One fish each day came on the drop-shot, the rest came on the jig,” said Hoyle. “The bite was a little better Saturday – I got to fish a little later in the day, and the bite seemed to get better as the day went on.”
Of the 10 bass that Hoyle brought to the weigh-in scale, four were largemouth bass and six were spotted bass.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Cody Hoyle, Rutherfordton, N.C., 10 bass, 26-1, $6,896
2nd: Eddie Whiten Jr., Easley, S.C., 10 bass, 23-5, $2,823
3rd: Cole Huskins, Mount Holly, N.C., nine bass, 22-8, $1,966
4th: Jason Wilson, Lincolnton, N.C., 10 bass, 22-6, $1,271
5th: Scott Beattie, Sherrills Ford, N.C., 10 bass, 22-2, $1,389
6th: David Cooke, Mooresville, N.C., 10 bass, 21-12, $998
7th: Bryan New, Belmont, N.C., 10 bass, 21-2, $908
8th: Chris Baumgardner, Gastonia, N.C., nine bass, 20-2, $817
9th: Michael Stephens, Gastonia, N.C., 10 bass, 19-9, $726
10th: Tracy Adams, Wilkesboro, N.C., 10 bass, 19-1, $635
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Greg Lovelace of Bostic, North Carolina, caught a 3-pound, 11-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $697.
King’s Mountain, North Carolina’s Trey Brafford won the Co-angler Division and $2,923 Sunday after catching a two-day total of nine bass weighing 16 pounds, 8 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Trey Brafford, King’s Mountain, N.C., nine bass, 16-8, $2,923
2nd: Roger Toler, Gilbert, W. Va., five bass, 9-9, $1,361
3rd: Barry Burford, Charlotte, N.C., four bass, 8-4, $958
4th: Larry Farley, Prospect Hill, N.C., four bass, 8-4, $635
5th: Jerry Morris, Charlotte, N.C., five bass, 8-2, $545
6th: Tristen Trull, Mount Holly, N.C., five bass, 7-12, $499
7th: Trent Peace, Spartanburg, S.C., three bass, 7-10, $454
8th: James Roten, West Jefferson, N.C., four bass, 7-6, $408
9th: Jeff Scism, Shelby, N.C., four bass, 7-3, $363
10th: Samuel Jones, Morgantown, W. Va., three bass, 6-13, $318
Charles Wood of Thomasville, North Carolina, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 3 pounds, 10 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $349.
The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) North Carolina Division super-tournament on Lake Norman was hosted by the Mooresville Convention & Visitors Bureau.
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 presented by Navionics 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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