Lippe Goes Back-to-Back on Table Rock
Peterson nets co-angler title
Dustin Lippe of Lampe, Missouri, caught five bass weighing 17 pounds, 15 ounces, Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Ozark Division tournament on Table Rock Lake. Lippe earned $6,229 for his efforts and 250 points in the Ozark Division presented by Bassing Bob standings. Should he go on to win the division’s Angler of the Year title, he will earn another $3,000.
Lippe says he spent his day fishing deep points, mid-lake, up the Long Creek, White River and the James River arms.
“I was targeting standing pole timber in the 25- to 35-foot range,” says Lippe, who now has back-to-back victories in BFL Ozark Division competition on Table Rock Lake. “I decided to fish out deep on the main-lake and main-river points because of the weather we had on Saturday – bluebird skies and no wind.
“I had around 13 keepers on the day. I ran a lot of spots andI probably burned around 40 gallons of gas,” continues Lippe. “I weighed a mixed bag – one smallmouth, one Kentucky bass and three largemouth.”
Lippe used 2.8- or 3.3-inch, Tennessee Shad-colored Keitech Swing Impact FAT swimbaits on a ¼-ounce, shad-colored Jewel Gem Shad Swimbait hook on a 7-foot medium-action Denali Lithium drop-shot rod and Lew’s spinning reel.
“The rod was pretty crucial – you could really feel them load up on it,” says Lippe. “Once the wind picked up I also caught a good one – a 5-pound, 1-ounce largemouth – on an umbrella rig with [Albino Shad-colored] Zoom Swimmin' Super Fluke Jr. swimbaits.”
The top 10 boaters:
1st: Dustin Lippe, Lampe, Mo., five bass, 17-15, $6,229
2nd: Austin Lowrey, Webb City, Mo., five bass, 16-4, $2,614
3rd: Brent Algeo, Ozark, Mo., five bass, 16-3, $2,045
4th: Wes Endicott, Joplin, Mo., five bass, 15-14, $1,220
5th: Chris Macy, Diamond, Mo., five bass, 15-4, $1,046
6th: Andy Newcomb, Camdenton, Mo., five bass, 15-1, $959
7th: Jeremy Medina, Camdenton, Mo., five bass, 15-0, $1,686
8th: Steve Gregg, Florissant, Mo., five bass, 14-13, $940
8th: Steve Grizzle, Edwardsville, Ill., five bass, 14-13, $740
10th: Bryan Tracy, St. Peters, Mo., five bass, 14-7, $710
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Medina caught a bass weighing 6 pounds even – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $815.
Peterson wins co-angler title
Mark Peterson of Bethalto, Illinois, won the Co-angler Division and $2,614 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 17 pounds, 4 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: Mark Peterson, Bethalto, Ill., five bass, 17-4, $2,614
2nd: Josh Rushing, Point Lookout, Mo., five bass, 13-9, $1,307
3rd: Brent Luers, Johnston, Iowa, five bass, 12-0, $872
4th: Jonathan Jones, Grain Valley, Mo., five bass, 11-11, $710
5th: Crosley Welch, Branson, Mo., four bass, 11-1, $573
6th: Ryan Jobe, De Soto, Kan., five bass, 11-0, $479
7th: Paul Davis, Battlefield, Mo., four bass, 10-14, $436
8th: Jeff Moss, Oronogo, Mo., five bass, 10-11, $392
9th: Derek Henderson, Saint Charles, Mo., four bass, 10-8, $349
10th: Carl Breeden, Valley Park, Mo., three bass, 9-15, $305
Johnny Ward Jr. of Waynesville, Missouri, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 6 pounds, 6 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $407.
The tournament was hosted by ExploreBranson.com.
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. 24-26 BFL Regional Championship on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma, presented by Mercury. 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 2019 BFL All-American will be held May 30-June 1 at the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland, and is hosted by the Charles County Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism and the Commissioners of Charles County. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.