Reagan Wins T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Mountain Division Opener on Dale Hollow Lake Presented by Navionics
Kentucky’s Jones tops Co-angler field
BYRDSTOWN, Tenn. – Local angler Robert Reagan of Byrdstown weighed a five-bass limit totaling 20 pounds, 7 ounces, Saturday to win the first T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mountain Division event of 2017 on Dale Hollow Lake presented by Navionics. For his win, Reagan was awarded $7,298.
“I started off the day throwing a green-pumpkin-colored custom jig,” said Reagan, who earned his third career-win on Dale Hollow Lake in BFL competition. “I focused on mid-lake transition banks that had chunk rock. I caught a smallmouth and two largemouth bass before the wind really picked up.”
Reagan said that around 9:30 a.m. he switched to a ½-ounce Strike King spinnerbait. He said he continued running chunk rock banks and was up able to catch three more largemouth.
“I was sitting in 25 to 30 feet of water, but the bass were up shallower,” said Reagan. “They were stationed where the bluff walls turned into flats. I worked the lures to about 4 to 8 feet, which seemed to be the magic depth.”
Reagan said his heaviest catches came toward the end of the day.
“I finished off my day with the jig in more stained water,” said Reagan. “I put my two biggest bass in the boat by 1 p.m., which was a great way to wrap things up.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Robert Reagan, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 20-7, $5,298 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Brett Graham, Cold Spring, Ky., five bass, 19-8, $2,509
3rd: Dwight Fox, Gainesboro, Tenn., five bass, 18-8, $1,639
4th: Barry Smith, Catlettsburgh, Ky., five bass, 18-4, $1,078
5th: Brent Anderson, Kingston Springs, Tenn., five bass, 17-12, $924
6th: Michael Frank, Cassopolis, Mich., five bass, 16-11, $847
7th: Jimmy Gayhart, Sadieville, Ky., five bass, 16-0, $731
7th: Talmadge Marcum, McKee, Ky., five bass, 16-0, $731
9th: Jonathan Green, East Bernstadt, Ky., five bass, 15-11, $616
10th: Keith Monson, Burgin, Ky., five bass, 15-7, $539
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
One of Reagan’s bass – a 5-pound, 14-ouncer – was the heaviest weighed in at the event. The catch earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $680.
Dustin Jones of Stanford, Kentucky, won the Co-angler Division title and $2,309 with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 4 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Dustin Jones, Stanford, Ky., five bass, 15-4, $2,309
2nd: Greg Trobaugh, Rickman, Tenn., four bass, 13-12, $1,255
3rd: Ed Bennington, Scottsville, Ky., four bass, 13-0, $770
4th: Eddie Johnson, Jamestown, Tenn., five bass, 11-10, $539
5th: Robbie Welsh, Berea, Ky., three bass, 10-15, $802
6th: Alex Kerns, Middletown, Ohio, four bass, 10-10, $423
7th: Travis Parrott, Byrdstown, Tenn., three bass, 10-9, $435
8th: Matthew Smith, Richmond, Ky., four bass, 10-7, $346
9th: Jason Ratcliff, Eubank, Ky., four bass, 10-6, $308
10th: Jordan Scales, Murray, Ky., four bass, 10-0, $269
Welsh caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 6 ounces, and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $340.
The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 5-7 BFL Regional Championship on Kentucky Lake in Gilbertsville, Kentucky. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.
The 2017 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they 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 performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the 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 2017 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 274 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa 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 Snapchat.
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