Bass Tournament News

GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (Oct. 19, 2009) – Dick Shaffer of Rockford, Ohio, won the Walmart Bass Fishing League Kentucky/Barkley Lakes Regional Championship Saturday with a three-day 15-bass catch weighing 50 pounds, 9 ounces. The victory earned Shaffer a ®Ranger 198VX boat with a choice of a 200 horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha motor and a Chevrolet 1500 Silverado. The win also helped him qualify for the 2010 BFL All-American to be held in Davenport, Iowa, May 27-30, 2010, on the Mississippi River where he could ultimately win a top prize of $140,000 and a trip to the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup.

“This was a great win,” said Shaffer, who won the 2006 BFL Kentucky Lake Regional Championship. “In these multi-day events you have to find more fish than you do for a one-day tournament and hope the area has enough fish for all three days.

“I got in Sunday night before the tournament and started practice fishing,” Shaffer added. “At noon Wednesday I was pretty depressed. I wasn’t on fish. Then at one o’clock I started doing something different and caught a few fish in a 400-yard stretch. I started jumping around trying to find the same thing and was able to duplicate it in a couple of areas and kept expanding on that during the tournament.”

Shaffer said he targeted gravel points with bone-colored Zara Spooks and black buzzbaits on top and Sexy Shad-colored lipless crankbaits below the surface. Shaffer said he threw the topwater baits 90 percent of the time during the tournament. Shaffer said the overcast skies present during the event were key to the topwater bite.

With 11 wins and 46 top-10 finishes in FLW Outdoors events under his belt, Shaffer is setting his sights on his next goals.

“I’ve got the Stren Series Championship coming up in November, and then it’s deer hunting time after that,” Shaffer said.

Rounding out the top five boaters are Chris Darby of Mt. Ida, Ark. (14 bass, 43-1, $3,000); Daniel Fletcher of Drummonds, Tenn. (13 bass, 40-10, $1,500); Jesse Draime of Long Beach, Miss. (15 bass, 40-7, $1,200); and Ryan Deal of Haubstadt, Ind. (14 bass, 39-1, $1,100).

Tim Rasberry of North Little Rock, Ark., won a Ranger 198VX boat with a choice of a 200 horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha motor as the co-angler winner Saturday thanks to 12 bass weighing 28 pounds, 10 ounces.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Jesse Steadham of Florence, Miss. (nine bass, 22-15, $1,500); Todd Owens of Middletown, Ohio (eight bass, 20-0, $750); Jimmy Burrow of Malvern, Ark. (six bass, 18-13, $600); and Keeton Blaylock of Benton, Ark. (eight bass, 18-11, $550).

The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers in BFL’s Arkie, Buckeye, Hoosier and Mississippi divisions advanced to this no-entry-fee Kentucky/Barkley Lakes Regional Championship. All seven of the BFL regional championships will each send six boaters and six co-anglers to the no-entry-fee Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy. 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 Forrest Wood Cup in Atlanta in 2010. This event 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. 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.

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 has taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports. Sign up for Player’s Advantage to get your edge and win.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.

FLWOutdoors.com