MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. (April 15, 2019) – Boater Justin Lanier of Macon, Georgia, caught five bass Saturday weighing 18 pounds, 1 ounce, to win the 2019 Bass Fishing League (BFL) Bulldog division tournament on Lake Sinclair. Lanier earned $4,399 for his victory.
“I have been fishing Lake Sinclair for several years, but a lot of the guys in this tournament have much more experience than I do,” said Lanier, who earned his first career victory in BFL competition. “The key for me was making the right decisions as far as where I was fishing and my timing.”
Although Lanier wanted to remain tight-lipped about the specifics of his win, he did say that he was fishing mid-lake, targeting docks and seawalls with a spinnerbait.
“I was keying in on the baitfish – shad,” Lanier said. “The bite was a little better in the morning, but I ended up with nine or 10 keepers throughout the day.”
Lanier said he threw his spinnerbait on a custom spinnerbait rod with an Abu Garcia REVO reel and 17-pound-test monofilament line.
.The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Justin Lanier, Macon, Ga., five bass, 18-1, $4,399
2nd: Kip Carter, Mansfield, Ga., five bass, 17-13, $2,750
3rd: Jason Smith, Dawson, Ga., five bass, 15-12, $1,398
4th: John Duvall, Madison, Ga., five bass, 15-9, $980
5th: Clabion Johns, Covington, Ga., five bass, 15-3, $840
6th: Matt Baty, Bainbridge, Ga., five bass, 14-8, $770
7th: Max Gresham, Valdosta, Ga., five bass, 13-3, $665
7th: Mike Cleveland, Monticello, Ga., five bass, 13-3, $957
9th: Justin Durham, Bishop, Ga., five bass, 13-1, $560
10th: Lee Nunnally, Social Circle, Ga., five bass, 12-14, $490
Cleveland and Michael Meason of Senoia, Georgia both caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 10 ounces, so both split the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $585. Dax Liner of Mineral Bluff, Georgia, won the Co-angler Division and $2,119 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 11 pounds, 7 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Dax Liner, Mineral Bluff, Ga., five bass, 11-7, $2,119
2nd: Early Whitaker, Iron City, Ga., five bass, 9-13, $1,009
3rd: Spencer Sato, Warner Robins, Ga., five bass, 9-11, $675
4th: March Glenn, Decatur, Ga., four bass, 9-0, $793
5th: Marty Everson, Leesburg, Ga., four bass, 8-12, $404
6th: Blake Yarbrough, Fitzgerald, Ga., five bass, 8-6, $370
7th: Wesley Bennett, Monroe, Ga., five bass, 7-14, $336
8th: Mark Denney, Bonaire, Ga., five bass, 7-12, $303
9th: Jody Ward, Dothan, Ala., three bass, 7-9, $252
9th: Kenneth Cash, Jefferson, Ga., five bass, 7-9, $252
Glenn caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 14 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $272.