BRANDON, Miss. (Oct. 2, 2017) – Reigning Forrest Wood Cup Champion Justin Atkins of Florence, Alabama, added to his stellar 2017 campaign Sunday, winning the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mississippi Division tournament on Ross Barnett Reservoir with a two-day cumulative total of 10 bass weighing 24 pounds, 6 ounces. Atkins was awarded $7,646 for his victory. Atkins said he spent the tournament on the lower end of the lake targeting offshore fish. He said he caught the majority of his fish throughout the weekend using a 10-inch black Berkley Power Worm.
“I had one big school that was 10- to 14-feet deep,” said Atkins, who had seven prior top-10 finishes in BFL competition. “That’s where’d I’d start each morning to get a limit.”
Atkins said he moved to shallower brush piles around 10:30 a.m. each day.
“My Humminbird electronics helped me locate the brush piles and which of them were holding fish,” said Atkins. “I could also see the subtle changes on the bottom. I’ve never owned a unit that you could see fish that shallow.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Justin Atkins, Florence, Ala., 10 bass, 24-6, $5,646 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Teddy Cranford, Seminary, Miss., 10 bass, 24-5, $2,823
3rd: Dan Love, Pearl, Miss., seven bass, 20-0, $1,816
4th: Shannon Denson, Brandon, Miss., 10 bass, 19-10, $1,271
5th: Marty Torrence, Crystal Springs, Miss., nine bass, 19-6, $1,089
6th: Mitch Crane, Columbus, Miss., seven bass, 18-10, $998
7th: Darrell Hunter, Lena, Miss., seven bass, 18-8, $908
8th: Bobby McDill, Raleigh, Miss., seven bass, 18-3, $817
9th: Chris Wooten, West Point, Miss., seven bass, 17-4, $1,074
10th: Timmy Smith, Petal, Miss., eight bass, 17-4, $635
Larry Savell of Brandon, Mississippi, caught a 6-pound, 8-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the Boater Big Bass award of $348. Hunter Utley of Cordova, Tennessee, caught a two-day total of eight bass weighing 19 pounds even to win the Co-angler Division and $3,272.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Hunter Utley, Cordova, Tenn., eight bass, 19-0, $3,272
2nd: Mike Allen, Crystal Springs, Miss., eight bass , 16-15, $1,411
3rd: Jason Mitchell, Hamilton, Miss., six bass, 13-5, $908
4th: Ray Higginbotham, Brooksville, Miss., six bass, 10-12, $635
5th: Kevin Culpepper, Seminary, Miss., four bass, 10-8, $545
6th: Charles Conn, Pearl, Miss., six bass, 10-0, $499
7th: Mike Hall, Purvis, Miss., four bass, 9-13, $454
8th: Bobby Murphy, Florence, Miss., five bass, 9-13, $408
9th: Jimmy Tisdale, Ellisville, Miss., five bass, 9-4, $363
10th: Lance Jackson, Starkville, Miss., three bass, 9-2, $318
Utley also caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 5 pounds, 1 ounce – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $349.