Petal’s Smith Wins FLW Bass Fishing League Mississippi Division Event on Ross Barnett Reservoir Presented by Power-Pole

White wins co-angler title

FLOWOOD, Miss. – Timmy Smith of Petal, Mississippi, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 20 pounds, 4 ounces, Saturday to win the FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mississippi Division tournament on Ross Barnett Reservoir presented by Power-Pole. For his victory, Smith took home $5,103.

Smith said he began his day fishing an assortment of brush piles on a hump near the dam. He said he positioned his boat in approximately 15 feet of water while he casted into 7-foot ranges.

“It was one of those areas where you can sit all day and not catch anything, or you can get some good, quality bites fairly quickly,” said Smith, who earned the first win of his FLW career. “In three hours, I caught three good-sized fish – two on a Carolina-rigged, Plum Apple-colored Zoom Ol’ Monster Worm and one on a custom green-pumpkin-colored jig rigged with a green-pumpkin Strike King Rage Craw.”

Smith said he followed a similar pattern throughout the day at nearby humps, ledges and points. He said he rotated between the two baits and boated an additional 12 keepers.

“We hopped around to about four or five more areas to finish out the day,” said Smith. “We caught a lot in terms of numbers, but only those first three had some size to them. I still had a great time out there.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

               1^st:          Timmy Smith, Petal, Miss., five bass, 20-4, $5,103

               2^nd:         Larry Rochelle, Canton, Miss., five bass, 19-8, $2,232

               3^rd:          Ed Dunnaway, Flowood, Miss., five bass, 16-9, $1,489

               4^th:          Casey O'Donnell, Scottsboro, Ala., five bass, 16-0, $1,041

               5^th:          Shannon Denson, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 15-12, $893

               6^th:          Bradley Burns, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 15-5, $818

               7^th:          Teddy Cranford, Seminary, Miss., five bass, 14-11, $744

               8^th:          Ray King, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 14-5, $669

               9^th:          Brandon Wilcher, Canton, Miss., five bass, 14-1, $595

               10^th:        Mike Norsworthy, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 13-14, $521

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com. 

Smith also caught a 7-pound, 9-ounce bass – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $640.

Tim White of West Point, Mississippi, weighed in five bass totaling 16 pounds, 9 ounces, Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $2,232.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

               1^st:          Tim White, West Point, Miss., five bass, 16-9, $2,232

               2^nd:         Cody Martin, Killen, Ala., five bass, 15-10, $1,116

               3^rd:          Bobby McDill, Raleigh, Miss., five bass, 12-4, $1,063

               4^th:          Jordan Fowlkes, Collierville, Tenn., five bass, 11-3, $521

               5^th:          Anthony Thomas, Jackson, Miss., five bass, 11-0, $446

               6^th:          Bernard Crump, Jackson, Miss., three bass, 10-1, $409

               7^th:          Alan Dutton, Meridian, Miss., five bass, 10-0, $372

               8^th:          Jesse Steadham, Byram, Miss., four bass, 9-12, $335

               9^th:          Mitchell Bond, Collins, Miss., five bass, 9-9, $298

               10^th:        Curtis Powell, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 9-2, $260

McDill caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 6 pounds, 2 ounces and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $320.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 27-29 Regional Championship on Lake Dardanelle in Russellville, Arkansas. 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.