VIRGINIA’S BROWN WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE NORTHEAST DIVISION OPENER PRESENTED BY NAVIONICS ON POTOMAC RIVER
Pennsylvania’s Heivly Takes Co-angler Title
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MARBURY, Md. (April 24, 2017) – Derek Brown of Charlottesville, Virginia, caught a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 5 ounces to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Northeast Division opener on the Potomac River presented by Navionics. Brown took home $5,057 for his victory.
“We had rain and 15 mile-per-hour winds almost all day,” said Brown, who earned his third career-victory in BFL competition. “I fished Aquia Creek and had an area that I liked from practice, but once I got there it was blown out so I had to move to somewhere I hadn’t hit before.”
Brown said he settled for a spawning bay near the mouth of the creek. He said he went up and down the grassline and was able to put three bass in the boat.
“I used a Z-Man ChatterBait as I moved toward the rear and a white Strike King Tour Grade Swim Jig as I came back out,” said Brown. “I was in about 5 feet of water. All of my fish came from the grass.”
Brown said he rounded out his limit in a nearby bay with the same arsenal of baits.
“I only caught six keepers all day,” said Brown. “I just kept slow-rolling my lures. They didn’t want to eat anything fast at all.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Derek Brown, Charlottesville, Va., five bass, 20-5, $5,057
2nd: Bill Duckardt, Pittsgrove, N.J., five bass, 19-12, $2,528
3rd: Joe Zombek II, Scranton, Pa., five bass, 19-11, $1,685
4th: Terry Stevens, Sterling, Va., five bass, 18-8, $1,380
5th: Brian Sullivan, Hagerstown, Md., five bass, 17-15. $1,011
6th: John Lorenzo, Kane, Pa., five bass, 17-13, $927
7th: Richard Haber, Linthicum, Md., five bass, 17-0, $843
8th: Joseph Amberg Sr., Hawley, Pa., five bass, 16-12, $674
8th: Edward Barton, Crofton, Md., five bass, 16-12, $674
8th: Travis Manson, Conshohocken, Pa., five bass, 16-12, $674
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Marvin Reese of Randallstown, Maryland, caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 15 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – which earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $780.
Andrew Heivly of Malvern, Pennsylvania, weighed in five bass totaling 17 pounds, 13 ounces Saturday to win the Co-angler Division and the top prize of $2,528.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Andrew Heivly, Malvern, Pa., five bass, 17-13, $2,528
2nd: Damon Reid, Bowie, Md., five bass, 17-8, $1,264
3rd: Richard Falcon, Arlington, Va., five bass, 17-6, $845
4th: Martin Schaffmeir, Washington Depot, Conn., five bass, 15-15, $548
4th: Mike Wotanowski, Lake Hopatcong, N.J., five bass, 15-15, $548
6th: Richard Pace, Fredrick, Md., five bass, 15-10, $464
7th: Alonzo Mealing, Alexandria, Va., five bass, 15-8, $421
8th: Christopher Trovinger, Smithsburg, Md., five bass, 15-7, $379
9th: Curtis Glover, Wynnewood, Pa., five bass, 15-6, $437
10th: Teina McQuay, Harrisburg, Pa., five bass, 15-5, $280
10th: Ray Betts, Centreville, Va., five bass, 15-5, $280
Michael Seamon of Ovid, New York, caught the biggest bass among Co-angler Division anglers, a fish weighing 7 pounds, 1 ounce. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $390.
The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 12-14 BFL Regional Championship on the James River in Williamsburg, Virginia. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.
The 2017 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they 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 performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the 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.