Lake Wylie Bass Fishing League 23 March 2019

[Mike Cork]

Lake Wylie Bass Fishing League 23 March 2019

RAMPEY WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE TOURNAMENT ON LAKE WYLIE
Co-Angler Title Goes to Bessemer City's Guffey
LAKE WYLIE, S.C. (March 25, 2019) – Boater Jayme Rampey of Liberty, South Carolina, brought five bass to the scale Saturday weighing 19 pounds, 13 ounces, to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) North Carolina Division tournament on Lake Wylie. For his catch, Rampey earned $5,466.
"I fished the lower end of the lake, near the dam around Allison and Big Allison creeks. There was a little bit of stained water down that way," said Rampey, who earned his ninth career win in BFL competition – tied for ninth all-time. "I caught the majority of them on a square-billed crankbait. I threw it on flat points in the pockets, which I dialed in on using my Lowrance electronics. I sat in 4- or 5-feet-of-water while most of the fish were in 1½ to 2 feet."
Rampey said he worked through 10 or 12 pockets, and that he caught eight keepers during his day. He said his crankbait of choice was a Crystal Craw-colored Strike King KVD Rattling Square-Bill crankbait. He caught the heaviest fish of the event – an 8-pound, 6-ouncer – on an umbrella rig with Pearl-colored Zoom Swimmin' Super Fluke Jr. swimbaits with white Buckeye G-Man Finesse Swimbait heads.
"I caught the big one around 9 [a.m.]. It was the first fish of the day and the only one I caught from a dock," said Rampey. "I was throwing Hi-Seas [15-pound-test] 100-percent fluorocarbon line. It had wrapped me up on a dock post and it held up. That fish was the difference-maker."
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
               1st:          Jayme Rampey, Liberty, S.C., five bass, 19-13, $5,466
               2nd:         Russell Winters, Rock Hill, S.C., five bass, 17-6, $1,883
               3rd:          Michael Stephens, Gastonia, N.C., five bass, 15-15, $1,256
               4th:          Chad Poteat, Mount Airy, N.C., five bass, 15-0, $879
               5th:          Chris Baumgardner, Gastonia, N.C., five bass, 14-15, $1,103
               6th:          Alvin Shaw, Roaring Gap, N.C., five bass, 14-1, $990
               7th:          Ryan Deal, Indian Trail, N.C., five bass, 13-9, $628
               8th:          Junior Allen, Biscoe, N.C., five bass, 13-6, $533
               8th:          Parks Jones Jr., Concord, N.C., five bass, 13-6, $533
               10th:        Jason Wilson, Lincolnton, N.C., five bass, 13-3, $439
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Rampey's 8-pound, 6-ounce largemouth earned the day's Boater Big Bass award of $500.
Johnny Guffey of Bessemer City, North Carolina, won the Co-angler Division and $1,883 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 9 pounds, 15 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
               1st:          Johnny Guffey, Bessemer City, N.C., five bass, 9-15, $1,883
               2nd:         Dustin Dalton, Sparta, N.C., five bass, 9-6, $942
               3rd:          Noah Beck, Lexington, N.C., four bass, 9-3, $977
               4th:          Bobby Smith, Asheville, N.C., four bass, 8-15, $439
               5th:          John Cook, Matthews, N.C., four bass, 8-10, $377
               6th:          Darren Jeter, Marshall, N.C., five bass, 8-8, $395
               7th:          Tommy Swicegood, Salisbury, N.C., four bass, 7-14, $314
               8th:          Louis Kraft, Salisbury, N.C., four bass, 7-13, $282
               9th:          Bobby Henderson, Charlotte, N.C., five bass, 7-12, $251
               10th:        Darren Marlow, Cherryville, N.C., three bass, 7-8, $470
Marlow caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 4 pounds, 1 ounce. The catch earned him the day's Co-angler Big Bass award of $250.
The tournament was hosted by Visit York County.
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 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.