LANTER WINS WALMART BASS FISHING LEAGUE ILLINI DIVISION OPENER ON REND LAKE

WHITTINGTON, Ill. (April 20, 2015) – Jodie Lanter of Carlyle, Illinois, weighed four bass totaling 12 pounds, 7 ounces Saturday to win the first Walmart Bass Fishing League Illini Division tournament of 2015 on Rend Lake. For his victory, Lanter earned $4,000.

“It feels really great to take home a check,” said Lanter. “It was a tough tournament to find sizable fish but my spot ended up producing some good weight.”

Lanter said that he targeted spawning bass on the north end of the lake along a 60-yard stretch of bank.

“It was the only stretch that I found that had fish in it,” said Lanter. “They were on the beds in about a foot and a half of water.”

Lanter used a chartreuse and white-colored spinnerbait as well as a custom-made swimjig to catch his fish.

“I threw the spinnerbait across the bed and ended up catching two nice fish early on and two more in the afternoon,” said Lanter. “I really got them to jump for those willow leaf blades I used.”

Lanter said that he caught around nine fish throughout his day.

“What put me ahead of the competition was the bank I was on,” Lanter went on to say. “There were a lot of gar and carp in the area and the sun hit the beds just right. It had everything the fish wanted.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Jodie Lanter, Carlyle, Ill., four bass, 12-7, $4,000

2^nd:         Jerry Walker, Zeigler, Ill., four bass, 8-3, $2,000

3^rd:          Toby Corn, West Frankfort, Ill., three bass, 7-10, $1,334

4^th:          William Walker, Mulkeytown, Ill., three bass, 7-3, $933

5^th:          Brad Pardue, Hecker, Ill., one bass, 6-3, $800

6^th:          Darren Frazier, Anna, Ill., two bass, 4-9, $700

6^th:          Dan Kehrer, Woodlawn, Ill., one bass, 4-9, $700

8^th:          Michael Black, Toledo, Ill., two bass, 4-7, $600

9^th:          Greg Mullins, Mount Vernon, Ill., one bass, 4-0, $533

10^th:        Neil McCord, West Frankfort, Ill., two bass, 3-8, $467

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Pardue caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division, a fish weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces, and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $540.

Frank Williams of Saint Charles, Missouri, weighed in three bass totaling 8 pounds, 5 ounces Saturday to win $2,000 in the co-angler division.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Frank Williams, Saint Charles, Mo., three bass, 8-5, $2,000

2^nd:         Steve Bowcock, Bridgeport, Ill., three bass, 6-9, $1,000

3^rd:          Mario Rossi, Granite City, Ill., one bass, 4-8, $666

4^th:          Michael Watson, Addison, Ill., one bass, 3-4, $467

5^th:          Eugene Kim, Wheeling, Ill., one bass, 3-2, $400

6^th:          Aaron Wehmeyer, Odell, Ill., one bass, 2-15, $367

7^th:          James Schubert, Mount Vernon, Ill., one bass, 2-13, $333

8^th:          Charles Dammerman, Owaneco, Ill., one bass, 2-7, $300

9^th:          Christopher Cunningham, Green Valley, Ill., one bass, 2-6, $267

10^th:        Daniel Brockett, Fairfield, Ill., one bass, 2-3, $221

10^th:        Keith Clore, Percy, Ill., one bass, 2-3, $221

Rossi caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $270.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 22-24 Regional Championship on Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.

The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 50 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and compete to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the Walmart BFL All-American. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Rayovac FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.