Carver Wins Walmart Bass Fishing League Bulldog Division Event on Lake Sinclair
OutdoorHub 05.12.14
Kim Carver of Milledgeville, Ga., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 14 pounds, 11 ounces Saturday to win the third Walmart Bass Fishing League Bulldog Division tournament of 2014 on Lake Sinclair. For his victory, Carver earned $4,279.
Carver earned the sixth BFL win of his career using a pearl-colored Bass Hound Main Event Prop Bait, a lure made by local angler and BFL stick Kip Carter, who was also in the field and finished in fourth place.
“There wasn’t a shad spawn on Saturday,” Carver said. “I fished earlier in the week and there was a shad spawn every day. But, the prop bait works good around shad and when the bream are bedding like they are now.”
Carver’s most exciting moment in the day was when an 8-pounder tried to eat a smaller bass that he was reeling back in.
“I tried to figure-8 the fish and the prop bait at the boat. I was sure I’d lost the tournament when I couldn’t get that bass hooked.”
Carver said that he targeted seawalls and grass on the edges of coves in three feet or less of water all day.
“I think the low water made the bite tougher. I think it kept them out of the backs of the coves,” said Carver, who still managed to cull fish throughout the day. “I burned a lot of gas and fished a lot of coves. I pretty much fished the whole lake.”
Rounding out the top 10 pros were:
2nd: Barry Stokes, Covington, Ga., five bass, 14-9, $2,140
3rd: Ray Odum Jr., Douglas, Ga., five bass, 13-13, $1,426
4th: Kip Carter, Loganville, Ga., five bass, 13-6, $998
5th: Mark Knight, McDonough, Ga., five bass, 13-5, $856
6th: John Bitter, Maitland, Fla., five bass, 13-2, $785 + $300 Evinrude Bonus
7th: Mike Blackshear, Macon, Ga., five bass, 12-14, $677
7th: Shawn Malcom, Monroe, Ga., five bass, 12-14, $677
9th: Pat Fisher, Colbert, Ga., five bass, 12-5, $571
10th: Frank Kitchens Jr., Blairsville, Ga., five bass, 12-1, $474
10th: David Lowery, Phenix City, Ala., five bass, 12-1, $474
Complete results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.
Tyler Morgan of Columbus, Ga., weighed in a five-bass limit totaling 12 pounds, 11 ounces Saturday to win $2,140 in the co-angler division.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:
2nd: Thomas Lawson, Warner Robins, Ga., five bass, 12-1, $1,070
3rd: Garrett Stone, Atlanta, Ga., five bass, 11-6, $712
4th: Daniel Buswell, Newnan, Ga., five bass, 10-0, $499
5th: George Goodman, Jr., Monticello, Ga., five bass, 9-6, $428
6th: Roy Beneteau, Swainsboro, Ga., five bass, 9-5, $392
7th: Charlie Dick, Conyers, Ga., five bass, 8-15, $357
8th: Troy Mims, Eatonton, Ga., four bass, 8-13, $321
9th: Jason White, Gainesville, Ga., four bass, 8-5, $285
10th: Steven King, Alpharetta, Ga., five bass, 8-4, $237
10th: Mike Mahady, Kennesaw, Ga., five bass, 8-4, $237
The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 2-4 Regional Championship on the Saint John’s River in Palatka, Fla. 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. The 2014 BFL All-American is being held June 5-7 on Wilson Lake in Florence, Ala. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Rayovac FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.
