Walmart Bass Fishing League Preview For Saturday, May 2

WHAT: The 2015 Walmart Bass Fishing League season will continue with six tournaments on Saturday, May 2. The Arkie Division will take on Lake Dardanelle, the Bama Division competes on Logan Martin Lake, the LBL Division season continues on Kentucky and Barkley lakes, the North Carolina Division stops on Kerr Lake, the Northeast Division opens their tournament season on the Chesapeake Bay and the Ozark Division heads to Table Rock Lake. Up to 400 boaters and co-anglers will be competing for top awards of up to $8,000 and $3,000 respectively in the one-day events.

 

WHEN: Saturday, May 2, 2015

 

Lake Dardanelle State Park

2428 Marina Road

Russellville, Ark.

 

NOTES: Lake Dardanelle is historically known as one of the most productive bass fisheries in the state of Arkansas. In the Arkie division BFL event on April 11th, Shawn Gordon caught a mix of spawning and postspawn Dardanelle bass to take home the title. In the morning, Gordon targeted shallow grass with Yum Swim’n Dingers. Later in the day, he caught spawning fish with a Yum Baits Lizard. A ledge bite using deep diving crankbaits or jigs could come into play in early May. The previous event took a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds, 7 ounces to win.

 

Lakeside Park

2801 Stemly Bridge Road

Pell City, Ala.

 

NOTES: Logan Martin Lake is a great fishery with abundant numbers of both largemouth and spotted bass. Flipping and pitching in shallow water with jigs and creature baits is a popular pattern among tournament anglers this time of year. Deep fish can be caught on main-lake humps and points using crankbaits, football-head jigs, and spinnerbaits. Anglers that weigh in 20 pounds of bass will have a good chance to win the event.

 

Kenlake Marina

888 Kenlake Marina Drive

Hardin, Ky.

 

NOTES:  Kentucky/Barkley Lakes produce bass no matter what season. In early May, bass will likely be found in a postspawn phase. Bass will be moving from spawning flats back to deep water. Anglers can target bass staging on brush piles located on main and secondary points with jigs, umbrella rigs, and drop-shot rigs. Winning weights in the past have ranged from 18 to 30 pounds but considering current conditions is expected to be right around 23 pounds.

 

New Nutbush Park

115 Jack Wade Farm Road

Henderson, N.C.

 

NOTES: Kerr Lake has very high numbers of bass. Anglers can catch numerous fish in the 2- to 3-pound range but will need to find the larger fish in order to win the event. Anglers will most likely choose to target bass busting on shad in the early morning. Later in the day, bass will often school near off-shore points. Heddon Zara Spooks, Rebel Pop-Rs and flukes will be popular baits among tournament anglers. A five-bass limit weighing 16 to 18 pounds will put anglers in contention to win the event.

 

Anchor Marina

36 Iroquois Drive

North East, Md.

 

NOTES: Chesapeake Bay bass fishing is expected to be good in this tournament. Fishing reports suggest bass are in a prespawn phase right now. Come tournament time, many bass will be looking to move to shallower coves and creeks to spawn. Prespawn bass can be targeted with jerkbaits and spinnerbaits. Spawning bass can be caught off of beds with jigs, creature baits and other soft plastic lures. Twenty pounds of bass will likely be needed to take home the title.

 

Port of Kimberling Marina

11863 State Highway 13

Kimberling City, Mo.

 

NOTES:  The infamous Ozark chain lake is setting up perfectly for big bags of bass. The fish will likely be in full spawn mode and bass beds will be spotted throughout the lake. Sight fishing will likely be a dominant pattern. Stickbaits, drop-shot rigs and other soft plastics will be popular baits among tournament anglers. If weather conditions render sight fishing impossible, search baits like squarebill crankbaits and spinnerbaits will come into play. A five-bass limit of 20 pounds will place anglers near the top of the leaderboard.

 

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 are competing 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. The 2015 BFL All-American is being held June 18-20 on Kentucky Lake in Buchanan, Tennessee. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Rayovac FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.

 

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the BFL on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.

 

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 2015 over the course of 240 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 FLWFishing.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

 

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