MARBURY, Md. (June 5, 2010) - Pro Bryan Schmitt of Deale, Md., caught a five-bass limit weighing 15 pounds Saturday to win the FLW American Fishing Series Northern Division bass fishing tournament on the Potomac River with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 54 pounds, 5 ounces. For his victory, Schmitt earned $25,000 and a 198VX Ranger boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard motor.
"I was flipping a black and blue jig all week long," Schmitt said. "I found some isolated grass clumps and fished one area the entire week and it paid off. I was about 15 minutes south of the launch site and just stayed put.
"The tide was key in my fishing this tournament; I had about an hour window in the morning when the tide was going out and the fish were biting good and then I got another hour window later on in the day when the tide came back in. Today was a shorter fishing day so we didn't get that extra change and I thought it was really going to hurt me, but I still managed to catch a limit and win this thing."
Rounding out the top-10 pros were:
2nd: Bill Chapman, Salt Rock, W. Va., 15 bass, 51-10, $8,500
3rd: Thomas Wooten, Huddleston, Va., 14 bass, 51-9, $6,000
4th: Chad Hicks, Rockville, Va., 15 bass, 50-15, $5,000
5th: Peter Yanni, Gaithersburg, Md., 13 bass, 45-11, $4,500
6th: Terry Olinger, Hume, Va., 13 bass, 44-15, $4,000
7th: Mike Hicks, Goochland, Va., 14 bass, 44-10, $3,500
8th: David Barker, Emmitsburg, Md., 15 bass, 44, $3,000
9th:Josh Querrey, Summersville, W.Va., 15 bass, 42-5, $2,500
10th: Allan Engelmeyer, Severn, Md., 12 bass, 34-13, $2,000
Bill Chapman caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Friday - a 7-pound, 2-ounce bass - that earned him the day's Big Bass award of $300.
Frank Miller of W. Nanticoke, Pa., won the Co-angler Division and $10,000 cash, with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 44 pounds, 2 ounces.
"The key to my success this week was being able to make changes and fishing slow", said, Miller. "The fish were real lethargic and I just had to do everything real slow.
"My first day I was using a frog, the 2nd day I changed to a jig, and today I threw a mix of everything, my keepers came on senkos and frogs. I think the other thing that made a difference for me was that I fished differently than my partners. I caught a really nice fish yesterday on grass between docks while my partner was concentrating on the docks themselves."
Miller caught five bass weighing 11-7 Thursday while fishing with pro Bill Chapman, to open the tournament in 15th place. On Friday he added five more bass weighing 20-4 to make the top-10 cut in first place while fishing with pro Rock Monteith of Columbia, S.C. Finally, on Saturday, he sealed the win with five bass weighing 12-7 while fishing with Bryan Schmitt.
Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers were:
2nd: David Williams, Fredericksburg, Va., 14 bass, 41-5, $4,000
3rd: Lynn Johnston, Peterborough, Ontario, 14 bass, 40-13, $2,000
4th: Edwin Jackson, Marshall, Va., 14 bass, 39-3, $1,750
5th: Gary McClain, Chesapeake, Va., 13 bass, 34-1, $1,500
6th: Claude (CG) Hicks, Rockville, Va., 12 bass, 32-12, $1,250
7th: Dave Kovack, Lancaster, Pa., 12 bass, 31-7, $1,000
8th: Russ Hamilton, Jr., Manassas, Va., 11 bass, 31-6, $900
9th: Andrew Luxon, Richmond, Ky., 13 bass, 31-3, $800
10th: Larry Church, Keysville, Va., nine bass, 30, $700
Larry Church caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Friday - an 8-pound, 5-ounce bass - that earned him the day's Big Bass award of $200.
The top pro and co-angler based on point standings from each of the FLW American Fishing Series divisions - Central, Northern, Southeast and Texas - will qualify for the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup. The top 50 pros and co-anglers from each division also qualify for the American Fishing Series Invitational on Wheeler Lake in Decatur, Ala., Nov. 4-6, with the winning pro and co-angler also advancing to the Forrest Wood Cup.