Mazurek uses prototype to win on the Mississippi River - Major League Fishing

Mazurek uses prototype to win on the Mississippi River

Seaton wins co-angler title
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Kurt Mazurek of Antigo, Wis., won the May 17 Great Lakes Division event on the Mississippi River in La Crosse with a 17-pound, 6-ounce limit. For his efforts, Mazurek earned a check for nearly $5,000.
May 17, 2014 • MLF • Archives

LA CROSSE, Wis. – Kurt Mazurek of Antigo, Wis., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 17 pounds, 6 ounces Saturday to win the first Walmart Bass Fishing League Great Lakes Division tournament of 2014 on the Mississippi River. For his victory, Mazurek earned $4,948.

“I was pitching to laydowns right on the edge of a current seam,” said Mazurek, who earned his first win after fishing in BFL events since 1995. “The key was that the shoreline I targeted was adjacent to the mouth of a large spawning flat.”

Mazurek said that he ran his trolling motor on 70 or 80 all day, but the current near the bank he was pitching too was considerably slower.

“I was doing something a little unusual,” said Mazurek, who works for Mepps and Mister Twister. “I used a prototype soft plastic stickbait from Mister Twister that is somewhat similar to a Slug-Go. I actually pitched it like a jig and let it drift under the logs.

“I only culled three times,” said Mazurek. “Staying patient and focused so that I didn’t miss any of my moments was important.”

Mazurek, who has written a novel titled Personal Best: Fishing and Life, said that his win was strikingly similar to the one that the main character of his book earns and promised to write about it in detail on his blog at FishingForward.com.

Rounding out the top 10 pros were:

2nd: Tom Monsoor, La Crosse, Wis., five bass, 16-14, $2,474

3rd: Jesse Wolfe, Nelson, Wis., five bass, 16-5, $1,649

4th: Ron Cherkas, Grimes, Iowa, five bass, 14-8, $1,155

5th: Mike Gabel, Woodridge, Ill., five bass, 14-2, $990

6th: Ben Potaracke, La Crosse, Wis., five bass, 13-9, $907

7th: Cade Laufenberg, Stoddard, Wis., five bass, 13-1, $825

8th: Rick Bosshard, Hartland, Wis., five bass, 13-0, $742

9th: Jim Tomsovic, Sparta, Wis., five bass, 12-15, $660

10th: Dave Avenarius, Yorkville, Ill., five bass, 12-11, $557

Complete results can be found here.

Seaton wins co-angler title

Co-angler Andy Seaton of Germantown Hills, Ill., won the May 17 Great Lakes Division event on the Mississippi River in La Crosse with a limit weighing 13 pounds, 14 ounces. He earned a check worth over $2,400 for his efforts.

Andy Seaton of Germantown Hills, Ill., weighed in a five-bass limit totaling 13 pounds, 14 ounces Saturday to win $2,474 in the co-angler division.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:

2nd: Kyle Rabelhofer, Silver Lake, Wis., five bass, 12-4, $1,237

3rd: Kevin Anderson, Ettrick, Wis., five bass, 11-6, $824

4th: Josh Reynolds, Holmen, Wis., five bass, 11-2, $577

5th: Matthew Frisk, Sparta, Wis., four bass, 10-14, $495

6th: Mike Frazer, De Forest, Wis., five bass, 10-7, $454

7th: Brad Wessling, Milwaukee, Wis., five bass, 9-15, $412

8th: Justin Drljaca, Nashotah, Wis., five bass, 9-14, $371

9th: Dustin Smith, Maitland, Fla., four bass, 9-10, $330

10th: Jason Howland, Albert Lea, Minn., five bass, 9-8, $289

Complete results can be found here.

The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 16-18 Regional Championship on Kentucky Lake in Gilbertsville, Ky. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and a Chevy Silverado, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.

The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 40 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and compete to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy. The 2014 BFL All-American is being held June 5-7 on Wilson Lake in Florence, Ala. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Rayovac FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.

About FLW

FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2014 over the course of 229 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world. For more information about FLW visit FLWOutdoors.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.