BAINBRIDGE, Ga. (Oct. 26, 2009) - Patrick Dobbins of Opelika, Ala., won the Walmart Bass Fishing League Lake Seminole Regional Bass Fishing Championship Saturday with a three-day 15-bass catch weighing 36 pounds, 5 ounces. The victory earned Dobbins a Ranger 198VX boat with a choice of a 200 horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha motor and a Chevrolet 1500 Silverado. The win also helped him qualify for the 2010 BFL All-American where he could ultimately win a top prize of $140,000 and a trip to the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup.
"That was the best win ever," Dobbins said. "You can't beat that at all. I went to an area with less-pressured fish and less boat traffic, about an hour from the takeoff, and it really paid off.
"I went into this tournament thinking I would be fishing grass," Dobbins added. "It's my style to fish the river. On Wednesday during practice I got eight bites flipping, but of course I didn't set the hook on anything."
Dobbins said he flipped a creature bait paired with a 1 1/4-ounce tungsten weight into trees sitting in three feet of water. He admits he caught a couple of fish on a spinnerbait during the course of the tournament, but maintains the creature bait was the bait that produced the win.
"I was getting seven to eight bites a day on that bait," Dobbins said. "I just got lucky and didn't run out of fish."
Rounding out the top five boaters are Billy Bowen Jr. of Ocala, Fla. (12 bass, 28-10, $3,000); Ty Garrett of Pulaski, Tenn. (14 bass, 26-4, $1,500); Jay Brewer of Collinwood, Tenn. (10 bass, 25-3, $1,200); and Charles Cummings of Leeds, Ala. (13 bass, 23-0, $1,100).
Wayne Montgomery of Lake Wales, Fla., won a Ranger 198VX boat with a choice of a 200 horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha motor as the co-angler winner Saturday thanks to eight bass weighing 25 pounds, 2 ounces.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Ray Holloway of Snellville, Ga. (nine bass, 21-15, $1,500); Michael Corbett of Oxford, Ala. (seven bass, 20-11, $750); Joe Edwards Jr. of Kissimmee, Fla. (seven bass, 19-6, $600); and Jay Galimore of Auburn, Ala. (six bass, 18-6, $550).