Veale Rolls with the Punches - Major League Fishing

Veale Rolls with the Punches

Gibbs wins co-angler title on Lake Okeechobee
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Ron Veale of Clewiston, Fla., won the Sept. 20-21 Gator Division Super Tournament on Lake Okeechobee with a two-day total weight of 53 pounds, 14 ounces. He was awarded over $7,300 for his efforts.
September 21, 2014 • MLF • Archives

CLEWISTON, Fla. – Ron Veale of Clewiston, Fla., weighed a two-day total of 10 bass totaling 53 pounds, 14 ounces to win the Walmart Bass Fishing League Gator Division Super Tournament on Lake Okeechobee Sunday. For his victory, Veale earned $7,368.

“I found my spot on Thursday in practice,” Veale explained. “I had a bite on every cast, so I just shook them off and got out of there.

“Saturday was rainy, windy and overcast, so I knew the bite was going to last for a while,” said Veale. “I got to my spot and I started throwing a Gambler Big EZ, the bait I found them on, but the wind was blowing the wrong direction and they weren’t eating it. So, picked up a swimjig and I caught a 5-pounder on the third cast. I had 25 pounds by 9:30 a.m. I left and went to another community hole, and at 3:30 I caught one that was almost 9 pounds, flipping reeds with a Zoom Speed Craw.

“I was on the edge of a canal bank that was lined with grass,” Veale continued. “I was casting it up about three feet into the grass and as soon as the bait broke free from the grass I would let it drop and they would eat it.

“I started throwing the Big EZ on day two because the wind wasn’t blowing, and I caught two,” said Veale. “Once the wind picked up I switched back to the swimjig and I caught the rest of my bag. I never did upgrade after 10:30 a.m.

“It feels amazing to win,” finished Veale. “It didn’t sink in until this morning when I woke up. My Facebook has blown up and I probably have a hundred messages. It seems like I could never close a BFL out, something would always go wrong. This time I just rolled with it, and everything seemed to go right.”

According to Veale, his swimjig of choice was a McMillan Secret-colored 4×4 Brandon McMillan Signature Series swimjig.

Rounding out the top 10 pros were:

                2nd:          Mark Lundgren, Port St. Lucie, Fla., 10 bass, 43-2, $3,684
                3rd:          Santos Solis, Vero Beach, Fla., 10 bass, 40-8, $2,457
                4th:           Mike Jones, Okeechobee, Fla., 10 bass, 40-6, $1,719
                5th:           Jim Hurlock Jr., Lake Worth, Fla., 10 bass, 39-1, $1,474
                6th:           Sandy Melvin, Boca Grande, Fla., 10 bass, 38-8, $1,351
                7th:           Steven Stinson, Pickering, Ontario, Canada, 10 bass, 38-4, $1,228
                8th:           Thomas Littich, Cape Coral, Fla., 10 bass, 36-11, $1,105
                9th:           Wayne Black, San Mateo, Fla., 10 bass, 36-7, $982
                10th:        Fred George, Okeechobee, Fla., 10 bass, 36-1, $860

Complete results can be found here.

Co-angler Cory Gibbs of Inverness, Fla., won the Sept. 20-21 Gator Division Super Tournament on Lake Okeechobee with a two-day total weight of 33 pounds, 15 ounces. Gibbs took home over $3,600 in winnings for his efforts.

Cory Gibbs of Inverness, Fla., weighed in a two-day total of 10 bass totaling 33 pounds, 15 ounces to win $3,684 in the co-angler division Sunday.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:

                2nd:          James Hatch, Gainesville, Fla., 10 bass, 33-5, $1,842
                3rd:          Bill Layhew, Palmetto, Fla., 10 bass, 29-10, $1,229
                4th:           Connor MacDougall, Cape Coral, Fla., 10 bass, 29-3, $860
                5th:           James Brooks, Inverness, Fla., 10 bass, 28-14, $737
                6th:           Kirk Kastner, Margate, Fla., 10 bass, 28-4, $675
                7th:           Trent Hoover, Jacksonville, Fla., 10 bass, 27-13, $614
                8th:           Dennis Sprayberry, Lehigh Acres, Fla., nine bass, 26-2, $553
                9th:           Tony Manganello, Boynton Beach, Fla., 10 bass, 25-5, $491
                10th:        Brian Goldbeck, Loxahatchee, Fla., 10 bass, 24-10, $430

Complete results can be found here.

The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 2-4 Regional Championship on the St. Johns River in Palatka, 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.