EUFAULA, Ala. (April 23, 2018) – Boater Curtis Hillman of Abbeville, Alabama, caught five bass weighing 23 pounds, 11 ounces, Saturday to win the FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bulldog Division tournament on Lake Eufaula. For his finish, Hillman netted $4,199. Hillman spent his day dissecting areas in Barbour Creek, Cheneyhatchee Creek and near the Highway 82 bridge. He said he targeted bass in 6 to 10 feet of water near humps and rocks and was able to catch his first limit by 8 a.m.
“I got on a shad spawn and caught them with a chartreuse-colored squarebill crankbait and a Citrus Shad-colored (Strike King Pro Model) 5XD crankbait,” said Hillman, who logged his first win in BFL competition. “The local authorities generated water until 11 a.m. and that’s what kept them in our areas.
“After my first limit I culled the rest of the day,” Hillman continued. “I caught them better on wind-blown banks. I didn’t get much in clear water – it needed to be stained.”
Hillman’s day was capped off by a kicker which he pulled from grass in Cowikee Creek using a Strikezone Swim-Tastic Swim Jig with an unnamed trailer.
“I only had an hour left to fish and that catch sealed the deal for me - it was the pound I needed to win.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Curtis Hillman, Abbeville, Ala., five bass, 23-11, $4,199
2nd: Michael Conley, Bainbridge, Ga., five bass, 22-10, $2,300
3rd: Mark Stillwell, Salem, Ala., five bass, 22-9, $1,398
4th: Bryan Meadows, Hogansville, Ga., five bass, 21-11, $1,080
5th: Austin Lang, Dothan, Ala., five bass, 21-7, $840
6th: Scott Montgomery, Eufaula, Ala., five bass, 20-10, $735
6th: Mark Holloway, Madison, Ga., five bass, 20-10, $735
8th: Shane Peck, Gainesville, Ga., five bass, 19-4, $630
9th: Matt Henry, Milledgeville, Ga., five bass, 18-14, $560
10th: Mark Burns, Good Hope, Ga., five bass, 18-11, $490
Michael Wilder of Macon, Georgia, brought a 6-pound, 13-ounce bass to the scale – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $585. Emory Walden of Newnan, Georgia, won the Co-angler Division and $2,492 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 18 pounds, 4 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Emory Walden, Newnan, Ga., five bass, 18-4, $2,492
2nd: C.J. Norton, Juliette, Ga., five bass, 16-5, $1,050
3rd: Jacob Robinson, Temple, Ga., five bass, 14-9, $751
4th: Shaun Mulhall, Cumming, Ga., five bass, 13-7, $490
5th: Blake Yarbrough, Fitzgerald, Ga., five bass, 13-3, $420
6th: Michael Wilcox, Haddock, Ga., three bass, 12-7, $385
7th: Christopher Wilder, Macon, Ga., four bass, 11-12, $350
8th: Bart Vigo, Upatoi, Ga., three bass, 11-0, $315
9th: Chance Hebert, Norcross, Ga., five bass, 10-15, $280
10th: Dylan Hudson, Phenix City, Ala., five bass, 10-13, $245
Walden also caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 6 pounds, 9 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $292.