Lake Hartwell Bass Fishing League Finale 8 Sept 2018

[Mike Cork]

Lake Hartwell Bass Fishing League Finale 8 Sept 2018

LAVONIA, Ga. (Sept. 10, 2018) – Boater Justin Tingen of Moore, South Carolina, fishing in his first ever tournament with FLW, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Savannah River Division tournament on Lake Hartwell Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 23 pounds, 14 ounces. For his win, Tingen earned $4,465.
"Fishing in my first ever BFL event and getting a win – the joke now is that I'm going to retire undefeated," said Tingen, a 28-year old who grew up fishing on Lake Hartwell. "I had a great time, though, and I can't wait to fish another one. I didn't catch a whole lot of fish – just 8 or 9 keepers a day – but they were the right size."
Tingen said he started his day Saturday with a 25-mile run up the Seneca River, catching a few fish early on a Shooter Lures buzzbait with a Zoom Horny Toad before working his way back down towards the Tugaloo River to finish his limit. Sunday, he started his day fishing the mid-lake area with a Roboworm on a drop-shot rig before working his way back up the Tugaloo.
"The key for me was covering a lot of water," Tingen went on to say. "I burned ¾ of a tank of gas both days."
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
               1st:          Justin Tingen, Moore, S.C., 10 bass, 23-14, $4,465
               2nd:         Chris Nelson, Social Circle, Ga., 10 bass, 22-2, $2,233
               3rd:          Matthew Justice, Fair Play, S.C., 10 bass, 21-11, $1,688
               4th:          Tra Dumit, Greenville, S.C., 10 bass, 21-2, $1,142
               5th:          Thomas Guthke, Anderson, S.C., 10 bass, 19-3, $893
               6th:          Derek Freeman, Anderson, S.C., 10 bass, 19-2, $819
               7th:          Brad Benfield, Cornelia, Ga., 10 bass, 18-14, $744
               8th:          William Fordree, Six Mile, S.C., 10 bass, 18-0, $670
               9th:          Michael Mengeling, Cumming, Ga., 10 bass, 16-11, $595
               10th:        Carl Zoellner, Highlands, N.C., eight bass, 15-8, $1,031
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com. 
Zoellner caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 13 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $510.
Tim Watson of Martin, Georgia, caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 16 pounds even to win the Co-angler Division and $2,333.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
               1st:          Tim Watson, Martin, Ga., 10 bass, 16-0, $2,333
               2nd:         Stephen Burress, Mills River, N.C., 10 bass, 14-8, $1,421
               3rd:          Michael Smith, Piedmont, S.C., 10 bass, 13-0, $744
               4th:          Jeremy Winn, Seneca, S.C., eight bass, 11-7, $521
               5th:          Peter Adames, Statesboro, Ga., seven bass, 11-2, $447
               6th:          Brandon Lawson, Union, S.C., four bass, 10-5, $409
               7th:          Bobby Smith, Asheville, N.C., six bass, 9-10, $372
               8th:          Matt Redd, Belton, S.C., eight bass, 9-7, $335
               9th:          Bobby Wade, Gaffney, S.C., five bass, 8-14, $298
               10th:        Thomas Morris, Walhalla, S.C., seven bass, 8-12, $260
Burress caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 4 pounds, 2 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $255.
The 2018 T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Savannah River Division finale on Lake Hartwell was hosted by Tugaloo State Park.
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. 11-13 BFL Regional Championship on the St. Johns River in Palatka, Florida. 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 2018 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 take place May 30-June 1 on the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland.