MARBURY, Md. (Aug. 19, 2019) – Boater Todd Langford of Great Falls, Virginia, won the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Shenandoah Division tournament on the Potomac River Saturday after catching a five-bass limit weighing 15 pounds, 2 ounces. Langford took home $2,600 for his efforts. Langford said he fished mid-river, in Occoquan Bay. He caught them out of heavy grass mats using a Texas-rigged green-pumpkin-colored Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver, paired with a 1¾-ounce weight.
“I really fished one area where you could get bit on– the river is fishing tough right now,” said Langford, who notched his first career win in FLW competition. “The area was probably 500 yards, but had key spots within the stretch. There was some moving water in those spots and the high tide helped.”
Langford’s bait was rigged on a straight shank hook via snell knot, tied to 65-pound-test PowerPro Super Slick braided line on a 7-foot, 11-inch Halo Twilite Series heavy–action flipping rod.
“I caught 7 or 8 keepers during the tournament,” said Langford. “They bit best when the water was moving – at the end of the incoming tide and the beginning of the outgoing tide.”
Langford went on to say that he caught a key fish in the very back of a creek during low tide around 1:30 p.m. using a white 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer with a white Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper trailer.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Todd Langford, Great Falls, Va., five bass, 15-2, $2,600
2nd: Thomas Svec, Chesapeake, Va., five bass, 14-1, $1,440
3rd: Greg Lahr, Fayetteville, N.C., five bass, 13-8, $900
4th: Ronnie Baker, Providence Forge, Va., five bass, 11-0, $810
5th: Troy Morrow, Eastanollee, Ga., five bass, 10-5, $460
5th: Jim Jarvis, Timberville, Va., three bass, 10-5, $460
7th: Brian Mullaney, New Market, Md., five bass, 10-4, $400
8th: Kermit Crowder, Matoaca, Va., five bass, 10-0, $510
9th: Dennis Middleton, Madison Heights, Va., five bass, 9-15, $320
10th: Travis Lugar, McGaheysville, Va., five bass, 9-12
Svec caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $240. Shawn Huwar of Fredericksburg, Virginia, won the Co-angler Division and $1,320 Saturday after catching four bass weighing 11 pounds, 6 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Shawn Huwar, Fredericksburg, Va., four bass, 11-6, $1,320
2nd: Costas Melendez, Shenandoah, Va., four bass, 8-15, $600
3rd: Michael Taylor, Providence Forge, Va., five bass, 8-10, $600
4th: Jeff Mellott, Warfordsburg, Pa., five bass, 7-10, $280
5th: Keith Allen, Sumerduck, Va., five bass, 7-6, $240
6th: John Poos, Manassas, Va., four bass, 7-5, $420
7th: Hayward Thaxton III, Emmitsburg, Md., three bass, 6-14, $200
8th: Barker Plake, Hodges, S.C., three bass, 6-4, $180
9th: John Castro, Lorton, Va., three bass, 6-1, $160
10th: Timothy Patch, Lorton, Va., two bass, 5-14
Huwar also caught the heaviest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 4 pounds, 10 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $120.