Sight Bite Key for Owen

Whittaker wins co-angler title on Lake Gaston

BRACEY, Va. – Richard Owen of Chester, Virginia, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 18 pounds, 3 ounces Saturday to win the second Walmart Bass Fishing League Piedmont Division tournament of 2015 on Lake Gaston. For his victory, Owen earned $6,830.

Owen said he sight-fished beds in the backs of main-lake coves in order to catch his winning stringer.

“I was fishing shallow, not too far from the launch ramp around Holly Grove Creek,” said Owen, who earned his first career win after nine previous top-10 finishes in BFL competition. “The bite was strong anywhere shade hit the water, like on the sides of boat docks or around trees. There was also a lot of dead grass from last year that the fish were spawning in.”

Owen said his bait of choice was a wacky-rigged watermelon-colored Zoom Finesse Worm.

“I caught my kicker around 8:30 a.m. At that point I felt pretty good about my strategy of bed fishing,” said Owen. “I stuck with the worm and the bites stayed consistent.”

Owen said he caught around 12 fish throughout the day, from 2 to 5 feet of water.

“I didn’t think I was going to win it by as much weight as I did,” said Owen. “It was one of those surprises I don’t mind having.”

The top 10 boaters:

1^st:          Richard Owen, Chester, Va., five bass, 18-3, $4,830 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus

2^nd:         Brian Calloway, Danville, Va., five bass, 16-8, $2,415

3^rd:          Shawn Hammack, Gasburg, Va., five bass, 16-7, $1,609

4^th:          Wesley Harris, Rustburg, Va., five bass, 15-15, $1,127

5^th:          Steve Wagner, Raleigh, N.C., five bass, 15-11, $925

5^th:          Bryan Welch, Greensboro, N.C., five bass, 15-11, $925

7^th:          Robert House, Nashville, N.C., five bass, 15-8, $805

8^th:          Ryan Harrell, Emporia, Va., five bass, 15-7, $684

8^th:          Ryan Reynolds, Danville, Va., five bass, 15-7, $684

10^th:        Carlton Owens, Franklin, Va., five bass, 15-4, $563              

Complete results can be found here.  

Owen also caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 11 ounces and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $720.

Whittaker wins co-angler title

Chris Whittaker of Waverly, Virginia, weighed in a five-bass limit totaling 12 pounds, 7 ounces Saturday to win $2,381 in the co-angler division.

The top 10 co-anglers:

1^st:          Chris Whittaker, Waverly, Va., five bass, 12-7, $2,381

2^nd:         Kenneth Johnson, Richmond, Va., five bass, 12-4, $1,191

3^rd:          Hunter Collins, Sanford, N.C., four bass, 11-13, $791

4^th:          Matthew Oakley, Farmville, N.C., four bass, 11-11, $556

5^th:          Lee Johnson, Charlottesville, Va., five bass, 11-9, $476

6^th:          Marvin Reese, Gwynn Oak, Md., four bass, 11-5, $437

7^th:          Ryan Brown, Emporia, Va., five bass, 10-4, $397

8^th:          Clint Daniels, Kittrell, N.C., five bass, 10-3, $357

9^th:          Brian Stack, Nanjemoy, Md., five bass, 10-2, $318

10^th:        Scott Mooneyham, Fayetteville, N.C., three bass, 9-12, $278

Collins caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $355.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 8-10 Regional Championship on the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.