ANDERSON, S.C. (Feb. 16, 2022) – Greenville, South Carolina angler Derrick Bridges brought five bass to the scale Saturday totaling 16 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the MLF Bass Fishing League Tournament on Lake Hartwell . The tournament was the season-opener for the Bass Fishing League South Carolina Division. Bridges earned $4,652 for his victory.
“So much of this tournament was just fishing history,” said Bridges, who earned his first career victory in MLF competition. “I’ve got a lot of experience on this lake, but I didn’t get but a couple of hours of practice. And I didn’t get to do anything in the morning, which is critical on Lake Hartwell. So, I ran history.”
Bridges said he fished in the mid-lake area, on both the Georgia and South Carolina sides. He said he caught one early on a Keitech swimbait, then the rest of his eight keepers came on a jig.
“I caught one on a brown mop jig, and the rest on a ½-ounce green-pumpkin-colored War Eagle Heavy Finesse jig,” Bridges said. I used (Zoom) Speed Craws and the Zoom Super Chunk Jr. for trailers, but I don’t think they were real important.”
Bridges credited his forward-facing sonar as being important to his success.
“Could I have won without my forward-facing sonar – sure. I’ve won a lot of tournaments with out it,” Bridges went on to say. “But it just makes you so much more efficient. You could see a fish in a bush 50 to 60 feet away and chunk your jig in there – if you didn’t see the fish come off the structure – you might as well move on.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Derrick Bridges, Greenville, S.C., five bass, 16-12, $4,652
2nd: Randy Childers, Anderson, S.C., five bass, 16-6, $2,326
3rd: Justin Kimmel, Athens, Ga., five bass, 16-2, $1,551
4th: Greg Glouse, Liberty, S.C., five bass, 15-15, $1,086
5th: Brent Story, Atlanta, Ga., five bass, 15-14, $930
6th: Shannon Poore, Walhalla, S.C., five bass, 15-11, $853
7th: Alex Cummings, Lyman, S.C., five bass, 15-8, $775
8th: Justin Raines, Easley, S.C., five bass, 15-0, $698
9th: Jason Burroughs, Hodges, S.C., five bass, 14-11, $1,320 (includes $500 MLF Phoenix Bonus)
10th: Bo Price, Seneca, S.C., five bass, 14-9, $543
Shane Cantley of Elgin, South Carolina, caught a 6½-pounder – the heaviest bass weighed in the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Big Bass Boater award of $685.
Albert McNair of Watkinsville, Georgia, won the Co-angler Division and $2,620 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 17 pounds, 7 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Albert McNair, Watkinsville, Ga., five bass, 17-7, $2,620
2nd: Blake Gillispie, Reidsville, N.C., five bass, 14-15, $1,144
3rd: William Chris Bensel, Abbeville, S.C., five bass, 12-2, $762
4th: Wess Johnson, Covington, Ga., three bass, 11-14, $534
5th: Darren Ashley, Calhoun Falls, S.C., five bass, 10-13, $658
6th: Ryan Evans, Columbia, S.C., five bass, 10-3, $419
7th: Eddie Hall, Inman, S.C., four bass, 10-1, $381
8th: Casey McQuerns, Appling, Ga., five bass, 9-10, $343
9th: Arthur Harris, York, S.C., five bass, 8-11, $286
10th: Zahreed McClinton, Fort Bragg, N.C., five bass, 8-11, $286
McNair also caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in 7 pounds even. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $332.
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