Mann Wins FLW Bass Fishing League Choo Choo Division Event on Lake Guntersville

Wade wins co-angler title

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. – Terry Mann of Warrior, Alabama, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 27 pounds, 13 ounces, Saturday to win the second FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Choo Choo Division tournament of 2016 on Lake Guntersville. For his victory, Mann took home $7,337.

Mann said he targeted bass mid-river, near isolated grass clumps that were located in the mouths of spawning pockets. He said that the clumps were approximately 10 feet by 10 feet in size.

“I had three main areas where I was throwing into about 4 to 8 feet of water,” said Mann, who earned his first win in BFL competition. “I kept throwing near anything that I thought would stop bass as they came up shallow to spawn and eventually the right fish bit.”

Mann said he used a 2.5 Chili Craw- and a 1.5 Bluegill-colored Strike King Square-Billed crankbaits to catch his fish. He said he the majority of his keepers came on the Chili Craw.

“Four of my stringer fish, including my 9-pounder, were caught on the 2.5,” said Mann. “The big thing for me was that the bait just barely touched the grass. If you got down too far, the hook would get a lot of sludge on it and nothing would bite.”

Mann went on to say that he caught eight keepers over the course of the day.

“I was lucky enough to catch a couple of decent-sized fish early,” said Mann. “It was just one of those days where everything went my way.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

               1^st:          Terry Mann, Warrior, Ala., five bass, 27-13, $7,337

               2^nd:         Derek Remitz, Grant, Ala., five bass  , 26-14, $2,528

               3^rd:          Jacob Gibbs, Baileyton, Ala., five bass, 18-11, $1,432

               3^rd:          Tracy Robinson, Gadsden, Ala., five bass, 18-11, $1,432             

               5^th:          Bryon Luman, Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 18-1, $1,011

               6^th:          Kent Keys, Anniston, Ala., five bass, 17-15, $927

               7^th:          Cameron Gautney, Muscle Shoals, Ala., five bass, 17-14, $843

               8^th:          John Polly, Nauvoo, Ala., five bass, 17-12, $758

               9^th:          Scott Towry, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., four bass  , 17-11, $674

               10^th:        Ben Johnson, Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 17-10, $590

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.  

Mann also caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division, a fish weighing 9 pounds, 7 ounces and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $780.

Chris Wade of Acworth, Georgia, weighed in five bass totaling 18 pounds, 4 ounces Saturday to earn $2,528 and win the co-angler division.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

               1^st:          Chris Wade, Acworth, Ga., five bass, 18-4, $2,528

               2^nd:         Jefferson Cobb, Scottsboro, Ala., five bass, 17-15, $1,654

               3^rd:          Rodney Treadaway, Decatur, Ala., five bass, 17-3, $845

               4^th:          Steve Melton, Shelbyville, Tenn., three bass, 11-9, $590

               5^th:          Danny Moss, Glencoe, Ala., four bass, 10-15, $506

               6^th:          Bruce Stanley, Jasper, Ala., four bass, 10-8, $464

               7^th:          Joey Morse, Cartersville, Ga., four bass, 10-4, $421

               8^th:          Johnny Pittman, Albertville, Ala., three bass, 9-4, $379

               9^th:          Randy Hobbs, Dawson, Ala., two bass, 9-3, $337

               10^th:        Chris Nesbitt, Suwanee, Ga., three bass, 9-0, $295

Cobb caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 8 pounds, 1 ounce and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $390.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 13-15 Regional Championship on Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia. 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 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 BFL All-American. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Costa 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.

About FLW

FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2016 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 235 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico and South Korea. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Periscope: @FLWFishing.

# # #