ALBEMARLE’S TALBERT WINS FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE PIEDMONT DIVISION FINALE ON HIGH ROCK LAKE

ALBEMARLE’S TALBERT WINS FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE PIEDMONT DIVISION FINALE ON HIGH ROCK LAKE

White wins co-angler title

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SALISBURY, N.C. (Sept. 12, 2016) – Jeremy Talbert of Albemarle, North Carolina, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 13 pounds, 2 ounces, Sunday to win the FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Piedmont Division Super Tournament on High Rock Lake, with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 30 pounds, 8 ounces. For his win, Talbert took home $4,457.

“I worked up shallow each day and caught all of my fish in the backs of three creeks – Crane Creek, Little Crane Creek and Second Creek,” said Talbert, who notched his first win in FLW competition. “That’s where the shad were. I didn’t have a lot of company, which was a plus. A lot of people weren’t looking for bass in creeks because the water temperature was still in the eighties – that’s high for September.

“I flipped a Cricket-colored Shooter Lures Jig rigged with a green-pumpkin Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw around floating piers,” Talbert continued. “If I found piers with brush buried beneath, that was big. I caught 14 keepers on Day One. I was fishing the jig aggressively in terms of how I hopped it. It was definitely a reaction bite.”

On Day Two of the event, Talbert said he struggled to dial in on the jig bite in the morning. Once the sun was high, he said he was able to put something together.

“I switched to a black Texas-rigged Zoom Trick Worm around 12:30 (p.m.)”, said Talbert. “That decision really helped me get the win. I caught four keepers fairly quick, which took some pressure off.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Jeremy Talbert, Albemarle, N.C., 10 bass, 30-8, $4,457

2^nd:         Thomas Ludwick, Salisbury, N.C., nine bass, 27-0, $2,128

3^rd:          Randy Childers, Anderson, S.C., 10 bass, 26-10, $1,420

4^th:          James Blankenship, Siler City, N.C., 10 bass, 25-8, $1,293

5^th:          Tommy Jones, Salisbury, N.C., nine bass, 25-4, $951

6^th:          Derek Tolley, Winston-Salem, N.C., nine bass, 24-6, $780

7^th:          Steve Sink, Winston-Salem, N.C., seven bass, 22-2, $1,181

8^th:          Mike Miller, Trinity, N.C., eight bass, 20-1, $639

9^th:          Rodney Bell, Salisbury, N.C., eight bass, 19-13, $568

10^th:        Todd Harris, Clemmons, N.C., eight bass, 19-5, $497

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Sink caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 8 ounces – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the Boater Big Bass award of $472.

Frank White of Marion, North Carolina, won the co-angler division and earned $2,129 with a two-day cumulative catch of five bass weighing 14 pounds even.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Frank White, Marion, N.C., five bass, 14-0, $2,129

2^nd:         Nicholas Ireland, Raleigh, N.C., seven bass, 13-14, $1,064

3^rd:          Eric Lochner, Fayetteville, N.C., seven bass, 12-8, $809

4^th:          Doug File, Salisbury, N.C., four bass, 11-4, $497

5^th:          Chad Coley, New London, N.C., four bass, 11-1, $426

6^th:          Wayne Austin, High Point, N.C., four bass, 10-2, $676

7^th:          Mark Robertson, Henderson, N.C., three bass, 9-11, $355

8^th:          James Williams, Littleton, N.C., three bass, 8-1, $319

9^th:          Dale Webber, Kernersville, N.C., three bass, 7-4, $284

10^th:        Josh Hollins, Lexington, Ky., three bass, 6-14, $248

Austin caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 4 pounds, 4 ounces, and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $236.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 27-29 Regional Championship on Lake Hartwell in Seneca, South Carolina. 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 are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.

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