Hammack Wins Walmart Bass Fishing League Shenandoah Division Event on Kerr Lake
OutdoorHub 05.19.14
Shawn Hammack of Gasburg, Va., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 14 pounds even Saturday to win the second Walmart Bass Fishing League Shenandoah Division tournament of 2014 on Kerr Lake. For his victory, Hammack earned $5,199.
“I started out my day by failing,” said Hammack, who earned his second BFL win. “I tried to fish the shad spawn. The shad were spawning really well, but I fished for an hour and a half and didn’t catch anything.
“So, I changed up and went to a bank where I knew some fish were guarding fry,” Hammack continued. “I caught one of them on a Rebel Pop-R and one on a white-colored Zoom Fluke. Then I caught one that was spawning on a tree and after that I flipped sweet gum trees with a watermelon-colored Zoom Lizard.
“The trees I was fishing were in 3 or 4 feet of water. These trees were up on dry land on Thursday, but the water was coming up so fast. Most of the bass would bite the lizard before it got to the bottom.
“Usually on Kerr Lake when the shad are spawning that’s the way to win and it takes about 18 pounds,” finished Hammack. “But, the water has come up five feet in two days and I think that’s why the weights were low. I was happy to win, but I was surprised. I didn’t think 14 pounds was enough.”
Rounding out the top 10 pros were:
2nd: Timothy Lucy, Prince George, Va., five bass, 13-6, $2,100
3rd: Steve Miller, Mechanicsville, Va., five bass, 13-3, $1,398
4th: Cody Pike, Powhatan, Va., five bass, 13-1, $980
5th: Castrol pro Philip Jarabeck, Lynchburg, Va., five bass, 12-14, $840
6th: Chris Dillow, Waynesboro, Va., five bass, 12-13, $770
7th: James Cassaday, Wirtz, Va., five bass, 12-8, $700
8th: Jeremy Taylor, Woodford, Va., five bass, 12-6, $630
9th: Tom Hebb, Moneta, Va., four bass, 12-4, $560
10th: Dennis Middleton, Madison Heights, Va., five bass, 12-2, $490
Complete results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.
Jeff Lederman of Powhatan, Va., weighed in a five-bass limit totaling 13 pounds, 14 ounces Saturday to win $2,100 in the co-angler division.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:
2nd: David Collins, Petersburg, Va., five bass, 11-14, $1,050
3rd: Shawn Holder, Washington, D.C., five bass, 9-6, $701
4th: David Cole, Chester, Va., four bass, 9-5, $490
5th: David Williams, Fredericksburg, Va., five bass, 8-4, $420
6th: Josh Nixon, Lynchburg, Va., four bass, 8-2, $385
7th: Jack Szentmiklosi, Homer City, Pa., three bass, 8-1, $350
8th: Edward Honaker, Richmond, Va., four bass, 8-0, $315
9th: Alan Artisst, Washington, D.C., four bass, 7-14, $280
10th: William Burke, New Holland, Pa., four bass, 7-11, $245
The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 2-4 Regional Championship on the James River in Richmond, Va. 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.
