HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (Sept. 24, 2018) – Boater Adam Wright of Benton, Arkansas, won the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Arkie Division tournament on Lake Hamilton Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 31 pounds, 10 ounces. For his win, Wright pocketed $6,387. Wright said he fished all over the main lake Saturday and Sunday, hitting 15 diffeent areas Saturday and 20 on Sunday. He said he was able to put 17 keepers in the boat, mostly with a white Stanley Ribbit frog and a Black’s Custom Lures buzzbait with a white Zoom Horny Toad.
“I used a medium retrieve and made thousands of casts. They were just getting to the bank in shallow grass,” said Wright, who logged his fourth career win as a boater in BFL competition – third on Lake Hamilton. “On Saturday, I had them by 10 a.m. – it was the perfect storm. It rained the night before and it played into my strategy. I had some brush piles ready, but when it rains they go shallow.”
Wright said that when it rained during the tournament he used the buzzbait, and when it subsided, he switched to the frog.
“On Sunday I caught my largest – a 4-pound, 13-ouncer – on two ‘donkey-rigged’ white Zoom Super Flukes. It came from a 5-foot-deep creek channel at around 12:30 (p.m.). They were breaking there Saturday, but I couldn’t catch them. It was my fifth fish and ended up being my kicker as well.”
Wright said he used blue and green-colored 60-pound-test Sunline FX2 braided line on a a 7-foot, 1-inch G. Loomis NRX heavy casting rod and Lew’s Tournament Pro reel.
“The NRX is the perfect rod for swimming a frog,” said Wright. “And the Lew’s high speed reel gave me the right cadence – more repetitions and faster casts.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Adam Wright, Benton, Ark., 10 bass, 31-10, $6,387
2nd: Cody Kemp, Donaldson, Ark., 10 bass, 28-5, $2,694
3rd: Wayne Dixon, Morrilton, Ark., 10 bass, 26-5, $1,795
4th: Matt Wood, Jessieville, Ark., 10 bass, 25-13, $2,147
5th: Chip Hawkins, Little Rock, Ark., 10 bass, 23-10, $1,177
6th: Teddy Bogard, Rison, Ark., 10 bass, 20-14, $988
7th: Quincy Houchin, Mabelvale, Ark., 10 bass, 20-8, $898
8th: Steve Howard, Conway, Ark., 10 bass, 19-13, $808
9th: Leland Nixon, Bee Branch, Ark., 10 bass, 19-12, $718
10th: Keith Green, Arkadelphia, Ark., 10 bass, 19-5, $628
Wood caught a bass weighing 4 pounds, 13 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $690. Trevor Delaney of Benton, Arkansas, caught a two-day total of eight bass weighing 18 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $2,694.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Trevor Delaney, Benton, Ark., eight bass, 18-12, $2,694
2nd: Dusty Rhoades, Gravelly, Ark., 10 bass, 17-7, $1,547
3rd: Ethan Sutton, Hot Springs, Ark., 10 bass, 17-3, $899
4th: Daniel Elam, Lamar, Ark., 10 bass, 15-1, $628
5th: Robert Bogard Jr., Conway, Ark., 10 bass, 14-11, $539
6th: Kevin Clark, Malvern, Ark., 10 bass, 14-6, $544
7th: Jody Jones, Harvey, Ark., nine bass, 14-3, $449
8th: John McCullar, Benton, Ark., nine bass, 12-0, $404
9th: Cody Nickles, Vanndale, Ark., five bass, 11-12, $359
10th: Brian Choate, Conway, Ark., seven bass, 11-2, $314