CLAYTON, N.Y. – Grae Buck of Perkiomenville, Pa., weighed a two-day total of 10 bass totaling 50 pounds, 10 ounces to win the Walmart Bass Fishing League Northeast Division Super Tournament at 1000 Islands Sunday. For his victory, Buck earned $6,349.
“It was pretty crazy,” said Buck, who previously fished the FLW College Fishing circuit for Penn State University. “I couldn’t believe the size of the fish I was catching, it was amazing.
“I was up there about three weeks ago with some friends and we were just out looking around on Lake Ontario,” Buck explained. “We found a spot on a point that was just loaded with big fish. I practiced on Friday and went there and caught two that were about 5 pounds and then left the area. I spent the rest of the day just looking around for something similar, and I found one spot on the way back into the St. Lawrence Seaway that had a bunch of 3-pounders on it.
“I caught all my fish on Saturday on the spot that I had found three weeks ago, but they weren’t there on Sunday,” said Buck. “I pulled up on my other spot and my co-angler and I caught eight big ones between us in about a half an hour.
“I think I weighed in just one bass that weighed less than 5 pounds over two days. It was just incredible.”
Buck said he was running about 30 miles to his primary spot, and that he caught all of his fish drop-shotting a Jackall Crosstail Shad and a Lake Fork Hyper Finesse Worm.
Rounding out the top 10 pros:
2nd: Joseph Fonzi, Gasport, N.Y., 10 bass, 41-3, $3,175
3rd: Chris Blanc, Cos Cob, Conn., 10 bass, 39-8, $2,117 + $300 Evinrude Bonus
4th: Kenny Garippa, Tobyhanna, Pa., 10 bass, 39-6, $1,481
5th: Richard McCrory, North Hero, Vt., 10 bass, 39-5, $1,270
6th: Tom Tarasoff, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 10 bass, 38-8, $1,164
7th: Michael Durbak, Woodbourne, N.Y., 10 bass, 38-4, $1,058
8th: Frank Guarascio, Marcy, N.Y., 10 bass, 37-7, $952
9th: Joe Zombek II, Scranton, Pa., 10 bass, 37-4, $847
10th: Michael Drumsta, Clarks Summit, Pa., 10 bass, 36-11, $741
Complete results can be found by clicking here.
Carnahan wins co-angler title
Dennis Carnahan of Cazenovia, N.Y., weighed in a two-day total of 10 bass totaling 37 pounds, 14 ounces to win $3,175 in the co-angler division Sunday.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers:
2nd: Richard Levesque, Swanton, Vt., 10 bass, 36-13, $1,587
3rd: David Ehrentraut, Locke, N.Y., 10 bass, 35-4, $1,059
4th: James Weible, Jonestown, Pa., 10 bass, 34-12, $741
5th: Chad Dorney, Macungie, Pa., 10 bass, 34-6, $635
6th: Kyle Gabriele, Baltimore, Md., 10 bass, 34-0, $582
7th: Cody Cutter, Harveys Lake, Pa., 10 bass, 33-3, $529
8th: Tom Cole, Mechanicsville, Md., 10 bass, 32-8, $476
9th: Wyatt Morris, Little Falls, N.Y., 10 bass, 31-0, $423
10th: Eric Ashley, Little Falls, N.Y., 10 bass, 30-15, $370
Complete co-angler results can be found by clicking here.
The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 2-4 Regional Championship on the James River in Richmond, Va. 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. 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, Instagram and YouTube.