Weekend Wrap-up – March 2, 2015 - Major League Fishing

Weekend Wrap-up – March 2, 2015

A trio of BFLs and FLW looks ahead to Toho
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Wes Lewis of Sherrills Ford, N.C., won the Feb. 28 North Carolina Division event on Lake Norman with a 16-pound, 8-ounce limit to walk away with nearly $5,000 in prize money.
March 3, 2015 • Jody White • Archives

This weekend was all about anticipating the Walmart FLW Tour opener on Lake Toho. Though the pros haven’t started competing yet (competition begins Thursday), we’re beginning to see reports of great catches from practice and photos of some beautiful scenery, which has revved up preseason excitement to an all-time high.

Elsewhere, the Walmart Bass Fishing League continued its string of division openers with three qualifying events.

Here’s a recap of last weekend’s tournament action.

 

BFL Kickoffs

Will Barnes of Headland, Ala., won the Feb. 28 Bama Division event on Lake Eufaula with a 22-pound, 7-ounce limit which earned him a nearly $5,000 check.

In the Bama Division opener on Lake Eufaula, Will Barnes flipped wood with a jig to catch prespawn bass that were beginning to move up for the spawn. His technique produced to the tune of 22 pounds, 7 ounces, which is about 4 pounds less than it took to win last year’s Bulldog Division event and 2 pounds less than last year’s Bama Division event, both of them held at about the same time on Eufaula. Indeed, the weights were lower down through the field, almost certainly a result of the wacky weather that anglers have suffered through this season.

Gary Caruso of Baton Rouge, La., won the Feb. 28 Cowboy Division event on Sam Rayburn with just four bass weighing 19 pounds, 6 ounces. For his efforts, Caruso walked away with over $5,200 in prize money.

The Cowboy Division event on Sam Rayburn Reservoir also saw some low weights. Gary Caruso won with four bass worth 19-6. Based on recent reports, it seems like Sam Rayburn has been very finicky of late. That said, there were still some dandies caught. Caruso himself landed a 9-pounder, and Bryan Trahan’s tournament Big Bass weighed a striking 10-5.

Jumping on the big-bass bandwagon was co-angler Jared West, who won at Rayburn with only four bass that weighed a whopping 21-6. It isn’t often that a co-angler weighs more than the lead boater, and still less frequent that a co-angler manages it without weighing a limit. For West, it was a 9-pounder and a trio of 4-pounders that did the job. He caught them all on a red Rat-L-Trap and earned his second co-angler win on Rayburn in two years.

Wes Lewis of Sherrills Ford, N.C., won the Feb. 28 North Carolina Division event on Lake Norman with a 16-pound, 8-ounce limit to walk away with nearly $5,000 in prize money.

The North Carolina event held on Lake Norman was timed right to keep the Carolina crowd of Shane Lehew, Bryan Thrift and Matt Arey away from it – they were on the way to Toho for practice. That was probably a good thing for the BFL anglers looking to cash a check, but in my opinion it makes the results just a tad less fun to peruse. Either way, Wes Lewis still smacked ’em, catching 16-8 by tossing a soft jerkbait on points with riprap across from a “hot hole” – a nuclear power plant warm-water discharge.

Elsewhere, Murray State’s bass club held a college tournament last weekend on Kentucky Lake where a total of two bass crossed the scales in two days. Fishing should pick up on the famed Tennessee River reservoir before the LBL Division opens up there on March 14.

 

The Week Ahead

Finally! The Walmart FLW Tour starts at Lake Toho this Thursday with a tournament presented by Mercury. With the full moon rising and warm weather in the forecast we could be in for a slugfest. You’ll want to keep flwfishing.com open for the entire event as we’re planning to cover the heck out of this event.

Of course, the weekend also contains some BFL action. The Choo Choo Division has its second event of the year on Guntersville, and the Bulldog Division opens its season on Lake Lanier while the Ozark Division kicks off on Grand Lake.