Lake Hartwell Bass Fishing League 11 May 19

[Mike Cork]

Lake Hartwell Bass Fishing League 11 May 19

HODGES' BURROUGHS WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE TOURNAMENT ON LAKE HARTWELL
Greenville's Carter Grabs Co-Angler Honors
ANDERSON, S.C. (May 13, 2019) – Boater Jason Burroughs of Hodges, South Carolina, brought five bass to the scale Saturday weighing 16 pounds even win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Savannah River Division tournament on Lake Hartwell. For his efforts, Burroughs was awarded $3,572.
"I caught them targeting the blueback herring spawn," said Burroughs, who earned his third career victory on Lake Hartwell in BFL competition. "It's the very, very tail end of their spawn. The bite was extremely good in April, but it's gotten tough. There's only a few of us trying to do it and its fading fast."
Burroughs said he focused on shallow red clay points and small pebble rock points, fishing mid-lake from near Andersonville Island to the dam. He estimated that he made 70 stops and that his fish came from less than 3 feet of water.
"I caught the majority of my keepers on a [½-ounce, brown-colored] Buckeye Lures Mop Jig with a [3½-inch, green-pumpkin] Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw trailer," said Burroughs. "I also caught some on a topwater in the same areas. I'd throw the topwater up over the point first, and if they didn't hit it, I went with the jig on the bottom."
Burroughs said his topwater lure of choice was a chrome-colored IMA Little Stick 135 Walking Bait.
"I didn't catch a ton of fish – only about 13 all day. I think I weighed three on the jig and two on the stick – all largemouth."
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
               1st:          Jason Burroughs, Hodges, S.C., five bass, 16-0, $3,572
               2nd:         Jayme Rampey, Liberty, S.C., five bass, 13-6, $1,561
               3rd:          Justin Singleton, Milledgeville, Ga., five bass, 13-5, $1,043
               4th:          Darren Ashley, Calhoun Falls, S.C., five bass, 12-9, $728
               5th:          Travis Weathers, Seneca, S.C., five bass, 10-14, $624
               6th:          Matthew Justice, Fair Play, S.C., five bass, 10-13, $572
               7th:          Jerry Morgan, Inman, S.C., five bass, 10-9, $520
               8th:          Bobby McDonald, Easley, S.C., five bass, 10-8, $692
               8th:          Randy Childers, Anderson, S.C., five bass, 10-8, $542
               10th:        Mick Rhinehart, Greenville, S.C., five bass, 10-5, $364
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Eddie Whiten Jr. of Easley, South Carolina, caught a 4-pound, 11-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day's Boater Big Bass award of $375.
Jonathan Carter of Greenville, South Carolina, won the Co-angler Division and $1,561 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 14 pounds, 1 ounce.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
               1st:          Jonathan Carter, Greenville, S.C., five bass, 14-1, $1,561
               2nd:         Joe Anders, Easley, S.C., five bass, 12-4, $981
               3rd:          Thomas Healan, Jefferson, Ga., five bass, 10-3, $521
               4th:          Markice Johnson, Thomson, Ga., five bass, 8-12, $414
               5th:          Tucker Souther, Brevard, N.C., five bass, 8-7, $312
               6th:          Jeremy Winn, Seneca, S.C., five bass, 8-6, $286
               7th:          Joshua Lyko, Greer, S.C., five bass, 8-5, $260
               8th:          Ronnie Cutshall, Piedmont, S.C., five bass, 8-3, $421
               9th:          Keith Stills, Locust, N.C., five bass, 7-6, $208
               10th:        Justin Logan, Belton, S.C., five bass, 7-5, $182
Cutshall caught the heaviest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 3 pounds, 10 ounces. The catch earned him the day's Co-angler Big Bass award of $187.
The tournament was hosted by the Anderson 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 Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia. 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 2019 BFL All-American will be held May 30-June 1 at the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland, and is hosted by the Charles County Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism and the Commissioners of Charles County. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.