Davenport Wins Walmart Bass Fishing League Event on Grand Lake
Category: press release
Mar 9th, 2009 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Mar 9th, 2009 at 12:00 AM
GROVE, Okla. (March 9, 2009) – Lloyd Davenport of Stillwater, Okla., won the Walmart Bass Fishing League® Okie Division tournament on Grand Lake Saturday with a five-bass catch weighing 24 pounds, 11 ounces. The victory earned Davenport $4,686 and placed him one step closer to qualifying for the DeGray Lake Regional Championship in Arkadelphia, Ark., Oct. 22-24, where he could ultimately win a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck.
“I have fished the Bass Fishing League for several years and you get to know what it’s going to take to win the tournament at that time of year,” said Davenport, who runs a Ranger boat motored by an Evinrude. “I was pretty confident I had it.”
Davenport had caught 22 pounds by 9 a.m. He patterned the fish a week before and knew they were moving up to spawn and to warmer waters. Davenport culled one time which he said really helped to get him the win.
Davenport caught his limit fishing the mid-lake area, pea gravel banks in log jams and brush piles.
“It was very windy! But we went right in there the way we practiced,” Davenport said. He quit fishing after reaching his limit and helped his co-angler who finished in fourth place.
Rounding out the top five boaters are Robert Myers of Broken Arrow, Okla. (five bass, 20-04, $2,343); Andy Carroll of Fort Smith, Ark. (five bass, 18-12, $1,562); Mark Shadowens of Kiefer, Okla. (five bass, 17-2, $1,093) and Hank Green of Claremore, Okla. (five bass, 16-11, $937).
Brent Haggard took home the Boater Division Big Bass award, earning $690 for a 7-pound, 10-ounce bass he caught.
Joe Montalbano of Broken Arrow, Okla., earned $2,343 as the co-angler winner Saturday thanks to five bass weighing 14 pounds, 5 ounces that he caught on a crankbait.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Paul Thompson of Stillwater, Okla. (five bass, 13-8, $1,172); Terry Jelinke of Claremore, Okla. (five bass, 12-14, $781); Dennis Williams of Oklahoma City, Okla. (five bass, 12-6, $547); and Michael Witham of Broken Arrow, Okla. (five bass, 11-5, $469).
J.W. Blankinship earned $345 as the co-angler Big Bass winner after catching a 7-pound, 3-ounce bass.
The next Okie Division event will be held on the Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, Okla., April 4.
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.