Gainesboro’s Fox Wins T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Tournament on Old Hickory Lake
Baggett and Towry Tie for Co-Angler Title
GALLATIN, Tenn. – Boater Dwight Fox of Gainesboro, Tennessee, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Music City Division tournament on Old Hickory Lake Saturday with five bass weighing 18 pounds, 1 ounce. For his efforts, Fox netted $2,941.
Fox said he worked a mid-lake stretch on the main channel, fishing up to five miles in both directions of the takeoff at Bulls Creek Access.
“Everything came out of the main current,” said Fox, who earned his eighth career win in BFL competition. “Whenever the current hit chunk rock or a log or something in the water, it eddied out. The fish were in the water swirled up behind so they didn’t have to work as hard to fight current as they ambush food.
“I worked against the current with the boat, pitched my bait up into it and let it come around the cover and swirl around where the fish were,” continued Fox. “When it would leave the current and hit the dead water, that’s when the fish would get it..”
Fox said he caught seven keepers fishing a ½-ounce, black and blue-colored Killer jig with a black and blue Zoom Super Chunk trailer. He noted that the water was stained, and that he had more bites after 10 a.m.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Dwight Fox, Gainesboro, Tenn., five bass, 18-1, $2,941
2nd: Matt Stanley, Alexandria, Tenn., five bass, 17-4, $1,720
3rd: Kim Carver, Milledgeville, Ga., five bass, 16-12, $914
4th: John Graves, Mount Juliet, Tenn., five bass, 15-14, $934
5th: Jesse Rigsby, Old Hickory, Tenn., five bass, 15-9, $548
6th: Gerald Williams, Scottsville, Ky., five bass, 15-7, $502
7th: Elliott Lee, Old Hickory, Tenn., five bass, 15-4, $457
8th: Drew Boggs, Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 14-15, $411
9th: William Merrick, Mount Juliet, Tenn., five bass, 14-14, $365
10th: Tony Eckler, Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 14-7, $320
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Graves caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 5 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $295.
Teddy Baggett of Nashville, Tennessee, and Belinda Towry of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, each caught 11 pounds, 7 ounces, worth of bass Saturday to tie for the win in the Co-angler Division. After contingency awards, Towry took home $1,235, while Baggett pocketed $993.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Teddy Baggett, Nashville, Tenn., five bass, 11-7, $993
1st: Belinda Towry, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., four bass, 11-7, $1,235
3rd: Kelly Stone, Westmoreland, Tenn., five bass, 11-3, $440
4th: Brian Reed, Cookeville, Tenn., four bass, 10-4, $309
5th: Kibbee McCoy, Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 9-12, $315
6th: Justin Kimmel, Athens, Ga., four bass, 9-2, $393
7th: Grayson Butler, Lebanon, Tenn., three bass, 8-15, $221
8th: Ricky England, Sparta, Tenn., three bass, 8-9, $199
9th: Bobby Stinson, Scottsville, Ky., five bass, 8-2, $177
10th: Charles Bennington, Scottsville, Ky., four bass, 7-3, $146
10th: Robert Henze, La Vergne, Tenn., four bass, 7-3, $146
Towry caught the heaviest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 3 ounces. The catch earned her the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $142.
The tournament was hosted by the Sumner County Convention & Visitors Bureau.
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. 10-12 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Hartwell in Seneca, South Carolina, presented by Navionics. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518L with a 200-horsepower outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518L with a 200-horsepower outboard.
The 2019 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. The 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
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 2019 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct more than 290 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Namibia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and Zimbabwe. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show 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, and YouTube.
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