Malone Wins Walmart Bass Fishing League Great Lakes Division Event On The Mississippi River
OutdoorHub 07.28.14
Paul Malone of Pleasant Valley, Iowa, weighed a three-bass limit totaling 11 pounds, 14 ounces Saturday to win the third Walmart Bass Fishing League Great Lakes Division tournament of 2014 on the Mississippi River. For his victory, Malone earned $5,938.
“I signed up for the tournament the day before, so I didn’t have much practice time,” said Malone. “I hadn’t been on the river all year. I was looking for smallmouth but that didn’t pan out. I went to my strong suit which is frog fishing. I won the Rayovac FLW Series tournament there in 2013 at about the same time of year doing basically the same thing.
“There was only myself and one other boat in the whole Lake Onalaska area. I had the whole area to myself,” explained Malone. “I found a key spot about 75 yards from where I won the Rayovac. I was fishing a mat about three football fields long. It had duckweed and some other kind of grass. The water was clean and there was a light current coming through it. There were two key spots in it that didn’t look different, but they were different.”
Malone estimated that he caught in the neighborhood of 40 bass off his two key spots and lost two bass that would have pushed his winning weight over the 12 pound mark.
“I didn’t really plan on fishing the event, so there was no pressure,” Malone finished. “I went out and had fun and taught my co-angler a ton of stuff. I was just blessed to have what I had.”
Malone said that he caught all of his fish on a black River2Sea Bully Wa Frog with modified legs.
Rounding out the top 10 pros were:
2nd: Bob Bungard, Holmen, Wis., three bass, 10-8, $2,469
3rd: Travis Brueggen, Cashton, Wis., three bass, 10-5, $1,646
4th: Mike Brueggen, La Crosse, Wis., three bass, 10-3, $1,152
5th: Jimmy Johnson, La Crosse, Wis., three bass, 10-2, $988
6th: Jeff Benson, Holmen, Wis., three bass, 10-1, $905
7th: Brad Leifermann, Andover, Minn., three bass, 9-15, $823
8th: Kurt Mazurek, Antigo, Wis., three bass, 9-9, $741
9th: Jeff Krisher, Madison, Wis., three bass, 9-7, $617 + $300 Evinrude Bonus
9th: Chris Welch, Fall River, Wis., three bass, 9-7, $617
Complete results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.
Tony Seiler of River Falls, Wis., weighed in a three-bass limit totaling 10 pounds, 15 ounces Saturday to win $2,469 in the co-angler division.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:
2nd: Kevin Yeska, Madison, Wis., three bass, 8-13, $1,235
3rd: Lance Baker, Huxley, Iowa, three bass, 8-12, $823
4th: Ronald Syverson, Holmen, Wis., three bass, 8-10, $576
5th: Richard Conrad, Burnsville, Minn., three bass, 8-8, $494
6th: Lew Duchateau, Luxemburg, Wis., three bass, 8-6, $453
7th: Adam Barnard, Burlington, Wis., three bass, 8-5, $412
8th: Ron Check, Prairie Du Chien, Wis., three bass, 8-3, $349
8th: Matt Houman, Chisago City, Minn., three bass, 8-3, $349
10th: Nicholas Oates, Woodstock, Ill., three bass, 8-2, $288
The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 16-18 Regional Championship on Kentucky Lake in Gilbertsville, Ky. 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.
