FLOWOOD, Miss. (June 6, 2016) – Timmy Smith of Petal, Mississippi, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 20 pounds, 4 ounces, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mississippi Division tournament on Ross Barnett Reservoir. For his victory, Smith took home $5,103. Smith said he began his day fishing an assortment of brush piles on a hump near the dam. He said he positioned his boat in approximately 15 feet of water while he casted into 7-foot ranges.
“It was one of those areas where you can sit all day and not catch anything, or you can get some good, quality bites fairly quickly,” said Smith, who earned the first win of his FLW career. “In three hours, I caught three good-sized fish – two on a Carolina-rigged, Plum Apple-colored Zoom Ol’ Monster Worm and one on a custom green-pumpkin-colored jig rigged with a green-pumpkin Strike King Rage Craw.”
Smith said he followed a similar pattern throughout the day at nearby humps, ledges and points. He said he rotated between the two baits and boated an additional 12 keepers.
“We hopped around to about four or five more areas to finish out the day,” said Smith. “We caught a lot in terms of numbers, but only those first three had some size to them. I still had a great time out there.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Timmy Smith, Petal, Miss., five bass, 20-4, $5,103
2nd: Larry Rochelle, Canton, Miss., five bass, 19-8, $2,232
3rd: Ed Dunnaway, Flowood, Miss., five bass, 16-9, $1,489
4th: Casey O'Donnell, Scottsboro, Ala., five bass, 16-0, $1,041
5th: Shannon Denson, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 15-12, $893
6th: Bradley Burns, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 15-5, $818
7th: Teddy Cranford, Seminary, Miss., five bass, 14-11, $744
8th: Ray King, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 14-5, $669
9th: Brandon Wilcher, Canton, Miss., five bass, 14-1, $595
10th: Mike Norsworthy, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 13-14, $521
Smith also caught a 7-pound, 9-ounce bass – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $640. Tim White of West Point, Mississippi, weighed in five bass totaling 16 pounds, 9 ounces, Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $2,232. The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Tim White, West Point, Miss., five bass, 16-9, $2,232
2nd: Cody Martin, Killen, Ala., five bass, 15-10, $1,116
3rd: Bobby McDill, Raleigh, Miss., five bass, 12-4, $1,063
4th: Jordan Fowlkes, Collierville, Tenn., five bass, 11-3, $521
5th: Anthony Thomas, Jackson, Miss., five bass, 11-0, $446
6th: Bernard Crump, Jackson, Miss., three bass, 10-1, $409
7th: Alan Dutton, Meridian, Miss., five bass, 10-0, $372
8th: Jesse Steadham, Byram, Miss., four bass, 9-12, $335
9th: Mitchell Bond, Collins, Miss., five bass, 9-9, $298
10th: Curtis Powell, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 9-2, $260
McDill caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 6 pounds, 2 ounces and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $320.