HENDERSON, N.C. (May 23, 2005) - Boater Bryan Perry of Raleigh earned $4,493 Saturday as winner of the Bass Fishing League Piedmont Division bass fishing tournament on Kerr Lake. The tournament was the third of five regular-season Piedmont Division events and featured 150 boaters vying for the win, which earned Perry 200 points in the Boater Division. Perry also earned the $1,000 Garmin Grand award, $1,000 Ranger Cup award and $500 Powered by Yamaha award for a grand total of $6,993.
Perry's winning catch of five bass weighed 16 pounds, 1 ounce. He fished a crankbait on main-lake stumps and rocks.
Finishing second was with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 5 ounces that earned him $2,247. Burley Hamill III of Wake Forest claimed $1,471 as the third-place finisher thanks to five bass weighing 14 pounds, 14 ounces. In fourth was Carl Ward of Durham with five bass weighing 14 pounds, 9 ounces worth $1,144, and finishing fifth and earning $940 was Sam Cole of Lexington with five bass weighing 14 pounds, 8 ounces.
Garry Wray of Burlington took Boater Division big-bass award honors, earning $750 for a 5-pound, 13-ounce bass. He caught his big bass on a Texas-rigged Brush Hog.
Ronald Livengood of Henderson bested 150 Co-angler Division competitors to earn $2,247 as the winner, thanks to five bass weighing 12 pounds, 12 ounces that he caught on a spinnerbait fished along a windy point.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Tim Atkins of Durham (five bass, 12 pounds, 10 ounces, $1,123); Michael Chlomoudis of Murfreesboro (four bass, 11 pounds, 8 ounces, $734); James Kirkland of Holly Springs (five bass, 10 pounds, 15 ounces, $572); and Jim Nichols of Chapel Hill (five bass, 10 pounds, 5 ounces, $470).
Robert Whitehurst of Quinton, Va., earned $375 as the co-angler big-bass award winner with a 4-pound, 13-ounce bass he caught on a Carolina-rigged watermelon lizard fished in stumps 8-12 feet deep.
The Piedmont Division's next event will be held July 23 on the Chickahominy River near Williamsburg, Va. The Piedmont Division will wrap up its regular season Sept. 17-18 with a two-day Super Tournament on Kerr Lake near Henderson.