Young notches win on Lake Gaston

SOUTH HILL, Va. – Boater Cavin Young of Prince George, Va., earned $6,000 Saturday as winner of the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League Piedmont Division event on Lake Gaston. The tournament was the second of five regular-season Piedmont Division events and featured a full field of 200 boaters vying for the win, which earned Young 200 points in the Boater Division.

Young’s winning catch of five bass weighed 17 pounds, 6 ounces. He threw a spinnerbait and Chug Bug on points around the main lake to catch his bass. Young also earned an additional $1,000 for winning the Ranger Cup contingency award.

Rounding out the top five boaters are Bruce Hoadley of Fuquay Varina, N.C. (five bass, 17 pounds, 5 ounces, $3,000); Flash Butts of Roanoke Rapids, N.C. (five bass, 17 pounds, 2 ounces, $2,000); Jimmy Hayes of Fayetteville, N.C. (five bass, 16 pounds, 5 ounces, $1,400) and Brian Stacy of Radford, Va. (five bass, 14 pounds, 7 ounces, $1,200).

John Gills of Portsmouth, Va., and Phillip Sykes Jr. of Enfield N.C., both took Boater Division big-bass award honors, earning them $500 each when each landed a 6-pound, 12-ounce bass.

Gerry Burchfield of Thomasville, N.C., bested 200 Co-angler Division competitors to earn $3,000 as the co-angler winner, thanks to five bass weighing 16 pounds, 7 ounces that he caught while throwing a Rat-L-Trap and spinnerbait on a main lake hump in 6 to 10 feet of water.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Jamie Henry of Fincastle, Va. (five bass, 14 pounds, 14 ounces, $1,500); Ed Fore of Gladys, Va., (four bass, 12 pounds, 8 ounces, $1,000) Steve Walsh of Doswell, Va., (four bass, 10 pounds, 10 ounces, $700) and Brad Pegram of Henderson, N.C. (three bass, 8 pounds, 7 ounces, $600).

Frank Buccialia Jr. of Littleton, N.C., earned $500 as the co-angler big-bass award winner with a 5-pound, 6-ounce bass.

The Piedmont Division’s next event will be held May 13 on Jordan Lake near Sanford, N.C. The fourth event will be held June 24 on Kerr Lake and the Piedmont Division will wrap up its regular season Sept. 23-24 with a two-day Super Tournament on Kerr Lake near Henderson, N.C.

Following the regular season, the Piedmont Division boater with the most points who advances farthest in the Wal-Mart BFL All-American will earn $10,000 as the Yamaha “Be the Best” points champion. The co-angler points champion who advances farthest will earn $5,000 as the Yamaha “Be the Best” points champion in the Co-angler Division.

Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points, with 200 points going to the winner, 199 for second, 198 for third, and so on except for Super Tournaments, which award 300 points to the winner, 299 for second, 298 for third, and so on. The top 40 Piedmont Division boaters and co-anglers based on year-end points standings will advance to the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Championship near Moneta, Va., Oct. 19-21 where they will compete against Empire, North Carolina and Northeast division anglers for one of six slots in the 2007 All-American. With a total purse of $1 million and a potential $140,000 cash prize going to the winning boater and $70,000 going to the winning co-angler, the All-American is one of the most prestigious and lucrative events in bass fishing.

The $8.8 million Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League features 28 divisions nationwide. In BFL competition, boaters and co-anglers are randomly paired, with boaters supplying the boat and fishing against other boaters and co-anglers fishing from the back deck against other co-anglers. For more information or to enter a tournament, call (270) 252-1000 or browse FLWOutdoors.com.

Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, as well as the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006.

Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as title sponsor of the FLW Tour in 1997 and today is the title sponsor of all FLW Outdoors events. For more information on Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.