(Mar. 04, 2013 - GILBERTSVILLE, KY.)... Craig Dowling of Franklin, Tenn., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 23 pounds, 7 ounces Saturday to win the Walmart Bass Fishing League LBL Division event on Kentucky/Barkley lakes. For his victory, Dowling earned $4,981.
"I ended up running 50 miles or so down the lake through some pretty nasty weather," said Dowling. "My plan was to fish several spots on the way back, but I actually went straight to the creek where I had caught them in practice and just stayed there throughout the entire day. I was basically forced to stay in that area because of the weather, and ended up picking up a good fish every couple of hours.
"They weren’t biting as well as I wanted," Dowling continued. "But because of the weather and the wind I didn’t want to be running around a lot, so I just camped out in an area where I knew there were fish. Thankfully, it ended up working to my advantage. Instead of running around, I found some new spots and caught three of my five fish in an area that I had never found in practice.
"Mainly I was using an Alabama rig," Dowling went on to say. "I also caught a few on a jerkbait. The key that I found was that the boat needed to be sitting in about 20 feet of water and I needed to be throwing into about 10 feet of water. The bass were sitting somewhere in between. Most of my bites came near the end of the day, and I left them biting because I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get back. I ended up coming in a half hour early."
Rounding out the top 10 pros were:
| 2nd: | Eric Sanders | Lexington, Ky. | four bass | 22-8 | $2,490 |
| 3rd: | David Young | Mayfield, Ky. | five bass | 22-2 | $1,662 |
| 4th: | Sam Boss | Paducah, Ky. | five bass | 21-1 | $1,162 |
| 5th: | Scott Brummett | Brentwood, Tenn. | five bass | 20-5 | $996 |
| 6th: | Matt Robertson | Central City, Ky. | five bass | 20-4 | $913 |
| 7th: | Austin Brown | Calvert City, Ky. | five bass | 19-10 | $830 |
| 8th: | Ben Helmerich | Calvert City, Ky. | five bass | 18-14 | $747 |
| 9th: | Keith White | Gilbertsville, Ky. | five bass | 17-15 | $664 |
| 10th: | Will Yelverton | Hazel Green, Ala. | five bass | 17-7 | $581 |
Bryan Rupe of Mayfield, Ky., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 22 pounds even Saturday to win $2,490 in the co-angler division.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:
| 2nd: | Dickey Reece | LaFayette, Ky. | five bass | 19-9 | $1,245 |
| 3rd: | James Lee | Ledbetter, Ky. | four bass | 16-15 | $829 |
| 4th: | Brady Kendall | Paducah, Ky. | five bass | 14-6 | $581 |
| 5th: | Greg Hollingsworth | Sullivan, Ind. | four bass | 12-8 | $498 |
| 6th: | Mike Mueller | Union, Ky. | two bass | 11-2 | $457 |
| 7th: | David Bunton | Iuka, Ill. | four bass | 10-15 | $394 |
| 7th: | Bryan Henry | Lexington, Ky. | three bass | 10-15 | $394 |
| 9th: | Kevin Hancock | Madisonville, Ky. | four bass | 10-13 | $332 |
| 10th: | Kyle Ekstrom | Poplar Grove, Ill. | three bass | 10-11 | $291 |
The next BFL LBL Division tournament is scheduled for April 20 on Kentucky/Barkley lakes in Gilbertsville, Ky. After that last divisional tournament is complete, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 3-5 Regional Championship on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Ala. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and a Chevy Silverado, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518 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 40 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and compete to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing - the Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy. The 2013 BFL All-American is being held June 27-29 on the Nickajack Lake in Chattanooga, Tenn. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the EverStart Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.
ABOUT FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2013 over the course of 220 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy - the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated"FLW" television show and is broadcast to more than 559 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world. FLW is committed to providing a lifestyle experience that is the"Best in Fishing, On and Off the Water." For more information about FLW visit the FLWOutdoors website and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube.
