King Wins Walmart Bass Fishing League Event on Santee Cooper
Category: press release
Mar 9th, 2009 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Mar 9th, 2009 at 12:00 AM
SUMMERTON, S.C. (March 9, 2009) – Wayne King of Sumter, S.C., won the Walmart Bass Fishing League® South Carolina Division tournament on Santee Cooper Saturday with a five-bass catch weighing 19 pounds, 12 ounces. The victory earned King $4,271 and placed him one step closer to qualifying for the Lake Norman Regional Championship in Lake Norman, N.C., Oct. 22-24, where he could ultimately win a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck.
King said he caught the majority of his fish on a jig while targeting cypress trees in shallow water.
Rounding out the top five boaters are William Smith of Moncks Corner, S.C. (five bass, 19-6, $2,136); Kenneth Huntley of Matthews, N.C. (four bass, 18-4, $1,424); Ronnie McCoy of Lamar, S.C. (four bass, 17-9, $997) and Ken Ellis of Bowman, S.C. (five bass, 16-5, $854).
Steve Lowder of Lynchburg, S.C., took home the Boater Division Big Bass award, earning $595 for a 10-pound, 12-ounce bass.
Charles Wood of Thomasville, N.C., earned $2,064 as the co-angler winner Saturday thanks to three bass weighing 10 pounds, 3 ounces that he caught on a Carolina-rig worm around rock piles in 8 to 12 feet of water.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are James Jackson of Baltimore, Md. (three bass, 10-1, $1,032); Danny Cannon of Loris, S.C. (five bass, 9-12, $688); Jason Hueble of Newberry, S.C. (four bass, 9-7, $482); and Chad Griffin of Ninety Six, S.C. (three bass, 9-4, $413).
Scott Peavy of Ridgeway, S.C., earned $287 as the co-angler Big Bass winner after catching a 7-pound, 15-ounce bass on a Carolina rig around stumps in 8 feet of water.
The next South Carolina Division event will be held on Lake Wylie in Lake Wylie, S.C., March 28.
The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers in each of the BFL’s 28 divisions at the end of the season advance to a no-entry-fee Regional Championship where boaters fish for a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck and co-anglers fish for a new Ranger boat. Seven regional championships will each send six boaters and six co-anglers to the no-entry-fee Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy, which features a $1 million purse and a top award of $140,000 in the Boater Division and $70,000 in the Co-angler Division. 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 $2.5 million Forrest Wood Cup in Atlanta in 2010. This event, featuring a top award of $1 million, 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 with total cash awards exceeding $3.5 million. 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.
Total awards are based on a full field of 200 boats in every tournament.
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 is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.