Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

TROMBLY WINS WALMART BASS FISHING LEAGUE EVENT ON DETROIT RIVER

TRENTON, Mich. (Aug. 31, 2009) – Michael Trombly of Perrysburg, Ohio, won the Walmart Bass Fishing League® Michigan Division tournament on the Detroit River Saturday with a five-bass catch weighing 23 pounds, 11 ounces. The victory earned Trombly $3,553 and placed him one step closer to qualifying for the Mississippi River Regional Championship in Fort Madison, Iowa, Oct. 1-3, where he could ultimately win a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck.
   
Trombly said he caught his bass snapping a tube on the rough waters of Lake Erie.

Rounding out the top five boaters are John Devries of Fishers, Ind. (five bass, 22-12, $1,777); Frank Novock of Rockwood, Mich. (five bass, 21-2, $1,185); Heath Wagner of Angola, Ind. (five bass, 20-8, $829) and Brian Jackson of Dyer, Ind. (five bass, 19-8, $711).

Robert Barta of Deerfield, Mich., took home the Boater Division Big Bass award, earning $455 for a 5-pound, 13-ounce bass he caught.

William Schwartz of Avon Lake, Ohio, earned $1,777 as the co-angler winner Saturday thanks to a catch of five bass weighing 20 pounds, 3 ounces that he caught on a Gulp! Minnow fished on a drop-shot rig on shallow rock piles.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Brad Craft of New Bremen, Ohio (five bass, 20-1, $740); Mark Keller of Saint Clair Shores, Mich. (five bass, 20-1, $740); Andrew Smith of Clinton Township, Mich. (five bass, 19-1, $415); and Joe Wong of Hartford City, Ind. (five bass, 18-12, $355).

Schwartz earned $227 as the co-angler Big Bass winner after catching a 6-pound, 1-ounce bass.

The final regular-season Michigan Division event, a two-day Super Tournament, will be held on the Detroit River in Trenton, Mich., Sept. 19-20.

The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers in each of the BFL's 28 divisions at the end of the season advance to a no-entry-fee Regional Championship where boaters fish for a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck and co-anglers fish for a new Ranger boat. Seven regional championships will each send six boaters and six co-anglers to the no-entry-fee Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy, which features a $1 million purse and a top award of $140,000 in the Boater Division and $70,000 in the Co-angler Division. Anglers who compete in all five regular-season events within a division but do not advance to a Regional Championship are eligible to compete in the Chevy Wild Card, which will also send six boaters and six co-anglers to the All-American for a total of 48 boaters and 48 co-anglers advancing through BFL competition.

The winning boater and winning co-angler at the All-American will advance to the no-entry-fee $2.5 million Forrest Wood Cup in Atlanta in 2010. This event, featuring a top award of $1 million, is the most lucrative tournament in all of competitive bass fishing. In all, the BFL offers weekend anglers the opportunity to qualify for three no-entry-fee championships with total cash awards exceeding $3.5 million. Plus, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers from each BFL division may move up to the Stren Series™ for 2010 while All-American champions have the option to advance directly to the Walmart FLW Tour®.

In BFL competition, boaters supply the boat and compete from the front deck against other boaters. Co-anglers compete from the back deck against other co-anglers.

As the nation's leading provider of affordable, close-to-home weekend tournaments, the BFL is widely credited with opening competitive bass fishing to the masses. It also serves as a steppingstone for anglers who wish to advance to the Stren Series and ultimately the FLW Tour – bass fishing's most lucrative tournament circuit.

Total awards are based on a full field of 200 boats in every tournament.

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player's Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com (http://www.flwoutdoors.com) or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player's Advantage, visit .

FLWOutdoors.com (http://www.flwoutdoors.com)

Congrats to both Mike and Bill (Doc)!

Poor Doc got me as a boater on LSC and he's a great guy.  I saw him after he weighed, he walked up to me and he was just grinning from ear to ear staring at his weigh slip! It was too cool...

RR