Shelton Wins Walmart Bass Fishing League Mississippi Division on Ross Barnett Reservoir
OutdoorHub 03.24.14
Keith Shelton of Brandon, Miss., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 18 pounds, 13 ounces Saturday to win the second Walmart Bass Fishing League Mississippi Division tournament of 2014 on Ross Barnett Reservoir. For his victory, Shelton earned $4,359.
“I’ve lived here for 8 and a half years,” said Shelton, who notched the first win of his career in FLW competition. “I’ve fished BFLs since 2006 and most of them have been here. It felt great to win. I thought I’d be in the top-10 or something. It didn’t really hit me until I got home.
“I’d say I caught around 35 fish throughout the entire day” explained Shelton. “I had caught 21 pounds while I was just goofing off in practice, so I really didn’t expect to win.”
Shelton said he was targeting pre-spawn fish by slow-rolling an unnamed swimbait, a NetBait Paca Craw and a Terminator Spinnerbait through the pad stems.
“There were small areas with both stems and what I call duckgrass. When you got in those areas, the bass were just ganged up. My two areas totaled less than 500 yards.”
Rounding out the top 10 pros were:
2nd: Jason Hall, Bartlett, Tenn., five bass, 18-10, $2,179
3rd: Jason Hannah, Forest, Miss., five bass, 18-0, $1,452
4th: Andy Coy, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 17-10, $1,017
5th: Joel Barber, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 17-8, $872
6th: Kenny Churchill, Jackson, Miss., five bass, 17-5, $799
7th: Keith Brumfield, Vicksburg, Miss., five bass, 17-2, $726 + $300 Evinrude Bonus
8th: Buzz Gallo, Moselle, Miss., five bass, 16-0, $654
9th: Gene Bishop, Ridgeland, Miss., five bass, 15-10, $581
10th: Garrett Riles, Potts Camp, Miss., five bass, 15-2, $509
Complete results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.
Owen Dhonau of Canton, Miss., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 19 pounds, 5 ounces Saturday to win $2,179 in the co-angler division.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:
2nd: Scott Brown, Lucedale, Miss., five bass, 16-7, $1,090
3rd: Larry Howard, Monroe, La., five bass, 15-14, $725
4th: John Goul, Philadelphia, Miss., five bass, 15-1, $509
5th: Marcus Miller, Florence, Miss., five bass, 14-9, $436
6th: Randall Gilmore, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 14-6, $400
7th: Tommy Burton, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 13-10, $363
8th: Larry Gipson, Ridgeland, Miss., five bass, 13-2, $327
9th: Chris Brown, Kosciusko, Miss., five bass, 12-14, $291
10th: Ricky McKlemurry, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 12-8, $254
The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 16-18 Regional Championship on Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Jasper, Texas. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and a Chevy Silverado, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C 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. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Rayovac FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.
