ONTARIO’S RICHARDSON TAKES LEAD AT WALMART BFL ALL-AMERICAN TOURNAMENT ON KENTUCKY LAKE

BUCHANAN, Tenn. (June 19, 2015) – Curtis Richardson of Belleville, Ontario, Canada, took the lead on day two of the Walmart BFL All-American on Kentucky Lake with a 21 pound, 15 ounce five-bass limit and a two-day cumulative of 10 bass weighing 46-12. The tournament now heads into the final day of competition with the boater and co-angler fields being cut to the final 10 in the three-day event. Richardson will enter the final day with a 1-pound, 4-ounce lead over second-place angler Billy Schroeder of Paducah, Kentucky, who has a two-day weight of 10 bass totaling 45-8.

“My strategy today was to find areas with a lot of fish but that were close together,” said Richardson, who qualified for the All-American via the TBF National Championship. “I wanted to be able to hit a spot, then let things calm down and go back at a later time.

“I caught my first two fish around 9 a.m. on a ledge with a shell bed on top,” continued Richardson. “They were my two biggest and came from 16 to 18 feet of water. After that I went to a point with stumps on the end and caught two more fish – a 3-pounder on a drop-shot rig and a 4-pounder on my main bait.”

Richardson said his third spot was a “classic Kentucky Lake ledge” that only produced a 2-pound fish for him, the smallest of his stringer.

“I have confidence my bites tomorrow will be 5-pounders on my two main areas,” Richardson said.

Richardson declined to discuss his individual baits, but said that he was “fishing fast.”

“All of my spots were within about five miles of one another,” said Richardson. “Tomorrow I plan to stick to the same pattern. If I get a bite at the spots I’m hitting now, there’s a ninety-percent chance it’s a big one. My co-anglers and I haven’t caught many small ones at all.”

The top 10 boaters advancing to the final day of competition on Kentucky Lake are:

               1^st:          Curtis Richardson , Belleville, Ontario, Canada, 10 bass, 46-12

               2^nd:         Billy Schroeder, Paducah, Ky., 10 bass, 45-8

               3^rd:          Bobby Padgett, LaGrange, Ga., 10 bass, 44-15

               4^th:          Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 10 bass, 44-3

               5^th:          J.R. Henard, Rogersville, Tenn., 10 bass, 42-0

               6^th:          Chris Martinkovic, Hamilton, Ohio, 10 bass, 41-12

               7^th:          John Hopkins, Hendersonville, Tenn., 10 bass, 39-11

               8^th:          Chris Daves, Spring Grove, Va., 10 bass, 39-4

               9^th:          Jeff Johnston, Marion, Ark., 10 bass, 37-0

               10^th:        Zach Grounds, Fortville, Ind.,10 bass, 35-3

For a full list of results visit FLWFishing.com.

Will Treadwell of Buford, Georgia, leads the co-angler division with two-day total of 10 bass weighing 36 pounds, 11 ounces followed by Dennis Burdette of Lindside, West Virginia, in second place with 10 bass weighing 33-11.

The top 10 co-anglers are:

               1^st:          Will Treadwell, Buford, Ga., 10 bass, 36-11

               2^nd:         Dennis Burdette, Lindside, W. Va., 10 bass,     33-11

               3^rd:          Charles Hardin, Evansville, Ind., 10 bass, 33-8

               4^th:          Gant Conley, Lyons, Ga., nine bass, 31-10

               5^th:          Ryan Sykes, Hamilton, Ohio, 10 bass, 30-8

               6^th:          Joe Eubanks, Marietta, Ga., 10 bass, 29-8

               7^th:          Bob Burgess, Charleston, W. Va., eight bass, 28-6

               8^th:          Cole Huskins, Mount Holly, N.C., 10 bass, 28-4

               9^th:          James Hatch, Gainesville, Fla., seven bass, 24-11

               10^th:        Jonathan Semento, Okahumpka, Fla., nine bass, 24-7

Hosted by the Henry County Alliance, the Walmart BFL All-American features the top 49 boaters and top 49 co-anglers from across the 24-division BFL circuit will cast for cash prizes of up to $120,000 in the Boater Division and $60,000 in the Co-angler Division, plus an opportunity to compete for the Forrest Wood Cup Aug. 20-23 on Lake Ouachita in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Anglers will take off Saturday for the final day of competition from the Paris Landing State Park ramp located at 16055 Highway 79 N. in Buchanan at 7 a.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at Walmart, located at 1210 Mineral Wells Ave., in Paris, Tennessee, beginning at 4 p.m.

Fans will also be treated to the FLW Expo at Walmart in Paris on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. The Expo includes Ranger boat simulators, the opportunity to interact with competing anglers, enjoy interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by sponsors and learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities. All activities are free and open to the public.

The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 40 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional championship 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 anglers in the BFL can move up to the Rayovac FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.

Coverage of the 2015 BFL All-American on Kentucky Lake will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) November 29 from 7 p.m.-8 p.m. EDT when Season 20 of “FLW” returns this fall. The Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show airs on NBCSN, the Pursuit Channel and the World Fishing Network and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the BFL on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.