Jayme Rampey of Liberty, South Carolina, added another BFL victory to his impressive resume Sunday, bringing a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 31 pounds, 6 ounces, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Savannah River Division super-tournament on Lake Hartwell. Rampey earned $5,665 for his efforts.
The 33-year-old Rampey earned his 10th career BFL victory and moved into a tie for No. 6 all-time for most BFL Boater wins. He was excited, but didn’t want to divulge too many of his winning details with a BFL Regional tournament on Lake Hartwell coming up in just 2½ weeks.
“I hate to be vague, but I’ve got a BFL Regional tournament coming up here and I don’t want to give away all of my secrets just yet,” Rampey says. “Maybe we can do this interview again in a couple of weeks and I can really share the juice.”
Although vague, Rampey did say that he caught around 20 fish a day, most of them on an unnamed topwater bait.
“I ran around a lot of fished pretty much the whole lake,” Rampey says. “From takeoff to the dam, up all the rivers. I just hit places where I know they live.
“This time of the year, the fish are doing a certain thing and I know where the bigger ones set up for that topwater deal,” Rampey continues. “Everyone does it, but I know that the bigger ones get into certain places. They biggest factor for me in this one was my Lowrance graphs. I was able to pick out those very specific places that I wanted to fish.”
The top 10 boaters:
1st: Jayme Rampey, Liberty, S.C., 10 bass, 31-6, $5,665
2nd: Derek Freeman, Anderson, S.C., 10 bass, 28-1, $2,233
3rd: Jason Burroughs, Hodges, S.C., 10 bass, 26-8, $1,838
4th: Eddie Whiten Jr., Easley, S.C., 10 bass, 26-7, $1,042
5th: Deron Johnson, Anderson, S.C., 10 bass, 24-3, $893
6th: Matt Redd, Belton, S.C., 10 bass, 23-6, $819
7th: Darren Ashley, Calhoun Falls, S.C., 10 bass, 23-4, $894
8th: Bryan New, Belmont, N.C., 10 bass, 21-14, $970
9th: Sean Skey, Sumter, S.C., 10 bass, 21-9, $1,105
10th: Heath Pack, Ellijay, Ga., 10 bass, 21-6, $521
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Skey caught a 4-pound, 13-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $510.
Wilson wins co-angler title
Easley, South Carolina’s Chris Wilson won the Co-angler Division and $2,367 Sunday after catching a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 19 pounds, 15 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: Chris Wilson, Easley, S.C., 10 bass, 19-15, $2,367
2nd: Michael Smith, Piedmont, S.C., 10 bass, 16-9, $1,133
3rd: Trevor Sharrett, Chesnee, S.C., nine bass, 15-13, $724
4th: Brandon Lawson, Union, S.C., seven bass, 13-13, $506
5th: Nathan McClure, Hiawassee, Ga., eight bass, 13-7, $433
6th: Johnny Hancox, West Union, S.C., nine bass, 13-2, $397
7th: Kevin Landreth, Seneca, S.C., 10 bass, 13-1, $511
8th: Jeff Rikard, Leesville, S.C., seven bass, 11-11, $325
9th: Darren Jeter, Marshall, N.C., eight bass, 11-8, $289
10th: Roger Coggins, Greenville, S.C., six bass, 11-3, $353
Marcus Brown of Elberton, Georgia, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 3 pounds, 11 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $247.
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. 10-12 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia. 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.