COOKEVILLE’S WAGNER WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE MUSIC CITY DIVISION TOURNAMENT ON PERCY PRIEST LAKE
Alabama’s Davenport Grabs Co-angler Title
SMYRNA, Tenn. (May 15, 2017) – Adam Wagner of Cookeville, Tennessee, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Music City Division tournament on Percy Priest Lake Saturday with five bass weighing 20 pounds, 3 ounces. For his winning limit, Wagner collected $3,901.
“I caught everything I weighed in on a green-pumpkin (Zoom) Brush Hog on a Carolina rig,” said Wagner, the 2009 BFL All-American champion who earned his tenth career-victory in FLW competition. “At my first area I caught the biggest fish of the event. It was a point, but more of a gap between an island and the shoreline.”
Around 9 a.m., Wagner made his way to a main-lake point where he targeted bass congregating along an intersection of pea gravel and chunk rock.
“I caught one on just about every cast,” said Wagner. “They were piling on top of each other – it was crazy. I tried to swap baits but the only thing they would bite was the Brush Hog.”
Wagner said the majority of his fish came from 6 to 10 feet of water.
“I ran up the Stones River with 20 minutes left to fish and caught a 4½-pounder which eventually got me the win,” said Wagner. “It was from an island with some shallow rocks. I wouldn’t have won without that fish – it was incredible.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Adam Wagner, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 20-3, $3,901
2nd: John Hopkins, Hendersonville, Tenn., five bass, 19-6, $1,748
3rd: Brandon Eddings, Nashville, Tenn., five bass, 16-6, $1,099
4th: Brittain Joyce, Murfreesboro, Tenn., five bass, 15-5, $769
5th: Terry Steele, Sparta, Tenn., five bass, 14-1, $659
6th: William Merrick, Mount Juliet, Tenn., five bass, 13-15, $604
7th: Brandon Edel, Hendersonville, Tenn., five bass, 13-8, $549
8th: Matt Stanley, Alexandria, Tenn., four bass, 13-4, $494
9th: John Graves, Mount Juliet, Tenn., five bass, 13-3, $439
10th: Larry Holland Jr., Murfreesboro, Tenn., five bass, 12-15, $385
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Wagner’s largest bass – a 6-pound, 2-ouncer – was the largest of the event and earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $405.
John Davenport of Huntsville, Alabama, won the Co-angler Division and $1,644 Saturday after weighing a five-bass limit totaling 15 pounds, 5 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: John Davenport, Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 15-5, $1,644
2nd: Sam Loveless, Somerset, Ky., five bass, 13-6, $822
3rd: Jacob Frawley, Nolensville, Tenn., five bass, 11-0, $749
4th: Larry Goss, Hartsville, Tenn., three bass, 10-1, $356
4th: Mark Sneed, Nashville, Tenn., five bass, 10-1, $356
6th: Jonathan Wylie, Smyrna, Tenn., three bass, 9-12, $301
7th: George Welch, Hernando, Miss., four bass, 9-3, $274
8th: Robert Bobbitt, Mountt Juliet, Tenn., three bass, 8-14, $247
9th: Darryl Humphrey, Murfreesboro, Tenn., two bass, 7-12, $219
10th: Howard Dowdy, Livingston, Tenn., three bass, 7-11, $192
Mike Todd of Thompson’s Station, Tennessee, caught the biggest bass among Co-angler Division anglers, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 13 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $98.
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 Wheeler Lake in Decatur, Alabama. 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.