Smith Lake Bass Fishing League 11 May 19

[Mike Cork]

Smith Lake Bass Fishing League 11 May 19

MECHANICSVILLE'S ELROD WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE TOURNAMENT ON SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE PRESENTED BY NAVIONICS
Chester's Deciucis Wins Co-Angler Title
HUDDLESTON, Va. (May 13, 2019) – Boater Bryan Elrod of Mechanicsville, Virginia, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Piedmont Division tournament on Smith Mountain Lake presented by Navionics Saturday with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 1 ounce. For his efforts, Elrod pocketed $3,766.
"I targeted the shad spawn. I'd found multiple areas where the shad were spawning, but only one had fish in it – It was a point up the Roanoke River," said Elrod, who notched his third career win in BFL competition. "I caught them from rip-rap in about 2 feet of water using a shad-colored [Heddon Zara] Spook. I caught four that I weighed on the Spook and one on a [shad-colored Rebel] Pop-R.
Elrod said he caught about 8 keepers during the tournament, citing the first hour of the day as the most productive.
"We went all over the lake running other stuff. The fish had spawned, and there were some areas with fry-guarders, but those fish were small. I only caught a few of those and they didn't help me any," said Elrod. "That area was really the only productive stop."
Elrod went on to say that his winning limit consisted of four largemouth and one smallmouth.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
               1st:          Bryan Elrod, Mechanicsville, Va., five bass, 17-1, $3,766
               2nd:         Stephen Miller, Mechanicsville, Va., five bass, 16-15, $1,933
               3rd:          Matt Hicks, Evington, Va., five bass, 15-15, $1,155
               4th:          Keith Joyce, Apex, N.C., five bass, 15-14, $1,159
               5th:          Dennis Burdette, Pembroke, Va., five bass, 15-9, $693
               6th:          Rick Tilley, Moneta, Va., five bass, 15-4, $635
               7th:          Tommy Little, Chester, Va., five bass, 15-1, $578
               8th:          Powell Kemp, Scotland Neck, N.C., five bass, 14-13, $520
               9th:          Justin Hicks, Roanoke, Va., five bass, 14-8, $462
               10th:        Kevin Kane, Woodbridge, Va., five bass, 14-6, $404
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Taylor Godsey of Chester, Virginia, caught a 5-pound, 7-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day's Boater Big Bass award of $435.
David Deciucis of Chester, Virginia, won the Co-angler Division and $1,896 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 15 pounds even.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
               1st:          David Deciucis, Chester, Va., five bass, 15-0, $1,896
               2nd:         Scott Howard, Bedford, Va., five bass, 14-4, $1,044
               3rd:          Roland Burton, Hopewell, Va., five bass, 13-9, $614
               4th:          Pat Kendrick, Bumpass, Va., five bass, 12-7, $394
               5th:          Brian LaClair, Denton, Md., five bass, 12-6, $338
               6th:          Timothy  Kinder, Manassas, Va., five bass, 12-3, $310
               7th:          Mickey Bergeron, Amherst, Va., five bass, 11-14, $281
               8th:          Gerald Heffler, Chester, Va., five bass, 11-12, $253
               9th:          Tim Privette Jr., Wendell, N.C., five bass, 11-11, $225
               10th:        Shawn Huwar, Fredericksburg, Va., five bass, 11-9, $197
Deciucis also caught the heaviest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 4 pounds, 8 ounces. The catch earned him the day's Co-angler Big Bass award of $207.
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. 17-19 BFL Regional Championship on the Potomac River in Marbury Maryland. 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.