Jordan Wins BFL Bulldog Opener on Lanier

Grizzle wins co-angler title

GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Rob Jordan of Flowery Branch, Georgia, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 19 pounds, 7 ounces Saturday to win the first Walmart Bass Fishing League Bulldog Division tournament of 2015 on Lake Lanier. For his victory, Jordan earned $6,162.

“I’m very happy to finally win one,” said Jordan. “It’s my home lake and there are a lot of great fishermen here. It feels good.”

The Georgia angler said he took a different approach to reaching his limit by fishing the north end of the lake instead of his usual spots to the south. Jordan said the fish were active in the ditches and along the sunny clay banks because of the warmer water.

“We fished the Chestatee and Chattahoochee River arms looking for places that the sun was hitting first,” said Jordan. “The water may have only been only a degree or so warmer than elsewhere, but that’s what we needed.

“We found a lot of fish around boat docks and in trees. There were a lot of fresh pine trees in the water because of our recent ice storms,” continued Jordan. “That was big for me. If we found pockets where the sun was hitting the trees we knew there’d be bass.”

Jordan estimated that he caught  20 fish from 10:30 a.m. until weigh-in using a sexy shad-colored Z-Man Chatterbait Elite and a Xtreme Lure Creations custom blueback herring-colored Megabass jerkbait. He also threw an umbrella rig and pitched a jig, but said that he caught the majority of his bass on the jerkbait.

“I’m surprised how the day worked out,” said Jordan. “The majority of people around here prefer the south end of the lake. That’s where the bigger fish have been historically. But we covered a lot of water and it ended up working.” 

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

              1^st:          Rob Jordan, Flowery Branch, Ga., five bass, 19-7, $4,507 + $1,000 Mercury Bonus

2^nd:         Jim Beavers, Manchester, Ga., five bass, 19-5, $2,253

3^rd:          Patrick Bone, Cleveland, Ga., five bass, 18-12, $1,502

4^th:          Karey Dickerson, Dahlonega, Ga., five bass, 17-9, $1,052

5^th:          Stephen Walls, Dawsonville, Ga., four bass, 14-14, $901

6^th:          Larry Gasaway, Canton, Ga., five bass, 14-12, $826

7^th:          Mike Satterfield, Social Circle, Ga., five bass, 14-10, $751

8^th:          Kelly Bagley, Adairsville, Ga., five bass, 14-9, $676

9^th:          Allen Armour, Cumming, Ga., five bass, 14-7, $563

9^th:          Scott Barnes, Cumming, Ga., five bass, 14-7, $563

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.  

Jordan also caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $655.

Harold Grizzle of Gainesville, Georgia, weighed in a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds, 15 ounces Saturday to win $2,249 in the co-angler division.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Harold Grizzle, Gainesville, Ga., five bass, 16-15, $2,249

2^nd:         Michael Cragg, Alto, Ga., five bass, 13-8, $1,125

3^rd:          David Garren, Lithia Springs, Ga., four bass, 13-4, $752

4^th:          Aaron Conner, Gainesville, Ga., five bass, 11-11, $525

5^th:          Christopher Wilder, Macon, Ga., five bass, 9-6, $450

6^th:          Chris Shannon, Norcross, Ga., five bass, 9-5, $412

7^th:          Richard Dunham, Waukegan, Ill., five bass, 9-4, $375

8^th:          Kyle Rogers, Cleveland, Ga., four bass, 8-9, $337

9^th:          Dean McDonald, Greer, S.C., three bass, 7-11, $300

10^th:        Ken Smith, Lula, Ga., three bass, 7-2, $262

Grizzle also caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $322.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 22-24 Regional Championship on Neely Henry Lake in Gadsden, Alabama. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $20,000, 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 50 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. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Rayovac FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.