Kevin Brown of Malvern, Ark., won the Walmart Bass Fishing League DeGray Lake Regional Championship Saturday with a three-day 13-bass catch weighing 35 pounds, 8 ounces. The victory earned Brown a ®Ranger 198VX boat with a choice of a 200 horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha motor and a Chevrolet 1500 Silverado. The win also helped him qualify for the 2010 BFL All-American where he could ultimately win a top prize of $140,000 and a trip to the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup.
“Man, it really hasn’t set in yet,” said Brown. “It’s unreal. I’ve never won anything like that.
“I based my practice around throwing a jig,” Brown added. “I started out the first morning and had to deal with rain and wind and I changed up my approach a little bit. I caught one of my keepers and some slot fish on a spinnerbait. Then I finally got the weather I wanted and had to swing for the fences the last two days.”
Brown said he caught the majority of his fish on 1/2- and 5/8-ounce jigs targeting brush around rocks 20 to 25 feet deep and 1-ounce jigs around trash and channel swings in 30 to 40 feet of water. Brown said all of his jigs were some variation of green pumpkin.
Brown’s father, Don, finished sixth on the boater side in the DeGray Lake Regional Championship. Both father and son now have qualified for the 2010 BFL All-American.
“It’s unreal,” Brown said. “I can’t wait until it comes around. Getting to fish the All-American with my dad is just incredible.”
Rounding out the top five boaters are Dennis Berhorst of Holts Summit, Mo. (11 bass, 28-6, $3,000); Dennis Forbes of Medicine Lodge, Kansas (11 bass, 25-13, $1,500); Keith Green of Arkadelphia, Ark. (14 bass, 25-4, $1,200); and Shonn Goodwin of Moore, Okla. (13 bass, 24-10, $1,100).
Jeremy Rasnick of Point Lookout, Mo., won a Ranger 198VX boat with a choice of a 200 horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha motor as the co-angler winner Saturday thanks to eight bass weighing 14 pounds, 10 ounces.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are David Hamilton of Rogers, Ark. (six bass, 14-1, $1,500); James Moore Jr. of Lampasas, Texas (nine bass, 13-6, $750); John Laster of Oklahoma City, Okla. (five bass, 12-3, $600); and Ronnie Green of Keithville, La. (six bass, 11-7, $550).
The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers in BFL’s Cowboy, Louisiana/Texas, Okie and Ozark divisions advanced to this no-entry-fee DeGray Lake Regional Championship. All seven of the BFL regional championships will each send six boaters and six co-anglers to the no-entry-fee Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy. Anglers who compete in all five regular-season events within a division but do not advance to a Regional Championship are eligible to compete in the Chevy Wild Card, which will also send six boaters and six co-anglers to the All-American for a total of 48 boaters and 48 co-anglers advancing through BFL competition.
The winning boater and winning co-angler at the All-American will advance to the no-entry-fee Forrest Wood Cup in Atlanta in 2010. This event is the most lucrative tournament in all of competitive bass fishing. In all, the BFL offers weekend anglers the opportunity to qualify for three no-entry-fee championships. Plus, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers from each BFL division may move up to the Stren Series for 2010 while All-American champions have the option to advance directly to the Walmart FLW Tour®.
In BFL competition, boaters supply the boat and compete from the front deck against other boaters. Co-anglers compete from the back deck against other co-anglers.
As the nation’s leading provider of affordable, close-to-home weekend tournaments, the BFL is widely credited with opening competitive bass fishing to the masses. It also serves as a steppingstone for anglers who wish to advance to the Stren Series and ultimately the FLW Tour – bass fishing’s most lucrative tournament circuit.
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also has taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports. Sign up for Player’s Advantage to get your edge and win.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.
FLWOutdoors.com
