Grand Lake Bass Fishing League (March 19, 2018)

[Mike Cork]

POTEAU'S ASBILL WINS T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE OKIE DIVISION TOURNAMENT ON GRAND LAKE PRESENTED BY NAVIONICS
Kansas' Duncan Wins Co-angler Title
GROVE, Okla. (March 19, 2018) – Boater Nathan Asbill of Poteau, Oklahoma, caught five bass Saturday weighing a total of 18 pounds, 8 ounces, to take top honors at the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Okie Division event on Grand Lake presented by Navionics. Asbill earned $6,000 for his win.
Asbill said he fished a quarter-mile stretch of water in a mid-lake area, toward the dam, and caught eight keepers throughout the day.
"I had four stops that I would check every 30 minutes – It was a good little milk run," said Asbill who earned his first career win in FLW competition. "In practice I was only catching 2- to 4-pounders from the stretch, but Saturday there was 5s and 6s which told me big ones were moving in."
Asbill said he slowly fished a custom ½-ounce jig with a twin tail craw trailer to get his limit.
"They were coming into the pockets with small pea gravel and schooling in certain places," said Asbill.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
               1st:          Nathan Asbill, Poteau, Okla., five bass, 18-8, $6,000
               2nd:         Jason Beem, Gravette, Ark., five bass, 18-6, $3,000
               3rd:          Jason Sandidge, Centerton, Ark., five bass, 17-12, $2,000
               4th:          Ryan Wilbanks, Wagoner, Okla., five bass, 17-10, $1,400
               5th:          Ed Barton, Vian, Okla., five bass, 17-7, $1,200
               6th:          Larry Crouch, Carthage, Mo., five bass, 17-3, $1,100
               7th:          Joel Baker, Talala, Okla., five bass, 17-2, $1,200
               8th:          Richard Bower III, Westphalia, Mo., five bass, 16-14, $900
               9th:          Josh Hilton, Clarksville, Ark., five bass, 16-13, $900
               10th:        Mark Johnson, Weleetka, Okla., five bass, 16-12, $665
               10th:        Cade Alsbury, Gentry, Ark., five bass, 16-12, $665
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
John Pilcher of Kansas, Oklahoma, weighed a 7-pound, 12-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day's Boater Big Bass award of $1,000.
Damon Duncan of Kansas, Oklahoma, won the Co-angler Division and $3,200 Saturday after catching four bass weighing 14 pounds, 9 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
               1st:          Damon Duncan, Kansas, Okla., four bass, 14-9, $3,200
               2nd:         Dalton Fulps, Broken Arrow, Okla., four bass, 10-15, $1,500
               3rd:          Patrick Weir, Broken Arrow, Okla., two bass, 8-15, $1,500
               4th:          Scott Shell, Vian, Okla., three bass, 8-12, $700
               5th:          Blayke Haggard, Gans, Okla., three bass, 8-3, $600
               6th:          David Lansford, Muskogee, Okla., four bass, 7-12, $550
               7th:          Gary White, Lamar, Mo., two bass, 7-10, $500
               8th:          Tyler Williams, Bunch, Okla., two bass, 7-8, $450
               9th:          Mike Hubbard, Loveland, Colo., two bass, 7-4, $400
               10th:        Bill Black, McAlester, Okla., three bass 7-1, $350
Weir caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 5 pounds, 12 ounces. The catch earned him the day's Co-angler Big Bass award of $500.
The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 25-27 BFL Regional Championship on Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.
The 2018 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2018 BFL All-American will be held May 31-June 2 at Cross Lake in Shreveport, Louisiana, and is hosted by the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.