Chesapeake Bay Bass Fishing League 21 May 16

[Mike Cork]

NORTH EAST, Md. (May 23, 2016) – Adam Janerella of Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 22 pounds, 10 ounces, Saturday to win the second FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Northeast Division tournament of 2016 on the Chesapeake Bay. For his victory, Janerella took home $4,037.
"I was fishing the flats on the upper Chesapeake Bay," said Janerella, who earned his first career win in FLW competition. "I stayed in one 50 to 75 yard area for the entire day, fishing isolated milfoil clumps. I caught both prespawn and postspawn fish and managed to get nine keepers throughout the day."
Janerella said that he used just two baits throughout the day – a black and blue Dirty Jigs No-Jack Swimjig with a black Keitech Swing Impact FAT 3.8-inch swimbait and a Missile Baits D-Bomb with a 3/8-ounce Reins tungsten weight.
"I used the swimjig in the morning with the low tide, then as the tide came up I switched to flipping the milfoil clumps with the D-Bomb," Janerella said. "My Quantum rods and reels paired with Seaguar line were key for me. I didn't miss any bites or lose any fish.
"It was also pretty important to fish very slowly," Janerella continued. "The fish didn't want a fast bait. You almost had to hit them on the head with your bait to get them to bite. I got lucky and found an area that had the big ones in it – all of my fish that I weighed in were right around 4½ pounds."
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
                1st:           Adam Janerella, Jersey Shore, Pa., five bass, 22-10, $4,037
                2nd:          Ronald Penders, Rochester, N.Y., five bass, 22-9, $2,019
                3rd:          John Schoener, Womelsdorf, Pa., five bass, 21-6, $1,143
                3rd:          Michael Sentore, Gloucester City, N.J., five bass, 21-6, $1,143
                5th:           Craig Townsend, Columbus, N.J., five bass, 20-12, $807
                6th:           Ryan Bauman, Fleetwood, Pa., five bass, 20-10, $740
                7th:           Robert Steiner, Middle River, Md., five bass, 20-7, $673
                8th:           Reno Regalbuto, Bridgeton, N.J., five bass, 20-2, $606
                9th:           Chuck Bellerby, Croydon, Pa., five bass, 20-1, $538
                10th:        Robert Parmer, Linden, Pa., five bass, 19-7, $471
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com. 
Zachary Cappon of Williamson, New York, caught a 6-pound, 3-ounce bass – the biggest of the tournament in the boater division – and earned the day's Boater Big Bass award of $545.
Bill Naron of Beaverdam, Virginia, weighed in five bass totaling 21 pounds, 6 ounces Saturday to earn $1,981 and win the co-angler division.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
                1st:           Bill Naron, Beaverdam, Va., five bass, 21-6, $1,981
                2nd:          Allen Leister, Quakertown, Pa., five bass, 20-4, $991
                3rd:          Griffen Hurt, Bound Brook, N.J., five bass, 17-5, $662
                4th:           Taurean Relyea, Fairport, N.Y., five bass, 17-2, $462
                5th:           Mike Wotanowski, Randolph, N.J., five bass, 16-13, $396
                6th:           Greg Rzeplinski, Wellsville, Pa., five bass, 16-12, $363
                7th:           Kyle Gabriele, Baltimore, Md., four bass, 16-3, $330
                8th:           Humberto Quinones, Dover, Del., four bass, 13-15, $297
                9th:           Curtis Glover, Wynnewood, Pa., three bass, 12-7, $531
                10th:        Roland Gittings, Perryville, Md., three bass, 11-14, $231
Glover caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 6 pounds, 2 ounces and earned the day's Co-angler Big Bass award of $267.
The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 6-8 Regional Championship on Kerr Lake in Henderson, North Carolina. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.
The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 50 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and 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 winners in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.