SMYRNA, Tenn. (May 15, 2017) – Adam Wagner of Cookeville, Tennessee, won the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Music City Division tournament on Percy Priest Lake Saturday with five bass weighing 20 pounds, 3 ounces. For his winning limit, Wagner collected $3,901.
“I caught everything I weighed in on a green-pumpkin (Zoom) Brush Hog on a Carolina rig,” said Wagner, the 2009 BFL All-American champion who earned his tenth career-victory in FLW competition. “At my first area I caught the biggest fish of the event. It was a point, but more of a gap between an island and the shoreline.”
Around 9 a.m., Wagner made his way to a main-lake point where he targeted bass congregating along an intersection of pea gravel and chunk rock.
“I caught one on just about every cast,” said Wagner. “They were piling on top of each other – it was crazy. I tried to swap baits but the only thing they would bite was the Brush Hog.”
Wagner said the majority of his fish came from 6 to 10 feet of water.
“I ran up the Stones River with 20 minutes left to fish and caught a 4½-pounder which eventually got me the win,” said Wagner. “It was from an island with some shallow rocks. I wouldn’t have won without that fish – it was incredible.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Adam Wagner, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 20-3, $3,901
2nd: John Hopkins, Hendersonville, Tenn., five bass, 19-6, $1,748
3rd: Brandon Eddings, Nashville, Tenn., five bass, 16-6, $1,099
4th: Brittain Joyce, Murfreesboro, Tenn., five bass, 15-5, $769
5th: Terry Steele, Sparta, Tenn., five bass, 14-1, $659
6th: William Merrick, Mount Juliet, Tenn., five bass, 13-15, $604
7th: Brandon Edel, Hendersonville, Tenn., five bass, 13-8, $549
8th: Matt Stanley, Alexandria, Tenn., four bass, 13-4, $494
9th: John Graves, Mount Juliet, Tenn., five bass, 13-3, $439
10th: Larry Holland Jr., Murfreesboro, Tenn., five bass, 12-15, $385
Wagner’s largest bass – a 6-pound, 2-ouncer – was the largest of the event and earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $405. John Davenport of Huntsville, Alabama, won the Co-angler Division and $1,644 Saturday after weighing a five-bass limit totaling 15 pounds, 5 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: John Davenport, Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 15-5, $1,644
2nd: Sam Loveless, Somerset, Ky., five bass, 13-6, $822
3rd: Jacob Frawley, Nolensville, Tenn., five bass, 11-0, $749
4th: Larry Goss, Hartsville, Tenn., three bass, 10-1, $356
4th: Mark Sneed, Nashville, Tenn., five bass, 10-1, $356
6th: Jonathan Wylie, Smyrna, Tenn., three bass, 9-12, $301
7th: George Welch, Hernando, Miss., four bass, 9-3, $274
8th: Robert Bobbitt, Mountt Juliet, Tenn., three bass, 8-14, $247
9th: Darryl Humphrey, Murfreesboro, Tenn., two bass, 7-12, $219
10th: Howard Dowdy, Livingston, Tenn., three bass, 7-11, $192
Mike Todd of Thompson’s Station, Tennessee, caught the biggest bass among Co-angler Division anglers, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 13 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $98.