PALATKA, Fla. (Oct. 15, 2018) – FLW Tour pro Troy Morrow of Eastanollee, Georgia, caught a three-day cumulative total of 15 bass weighing 57 pounds, 10 ounces, to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Regional championship on the St. Johns River. Morrow earned $65,000 for his efforts, including a new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and automatic entry into the 2019 BFL All-American Championship.
“I had a rough start to practice. I got in late and had issues with my boat, so I missed some time,” said Morrow, who logged his fourth career victory in BFL competition. “I elected to stay close to where I was staying and learn as much as I could about the area, which was from the north end of Lake George to Little Lake George. I ended up fishing there all three days.
“As practice progressed, I found two shell beds they were schooled up on, so I started there on Day One,” Morrow continued. “I had a limit by the time I got to the second one, but they weren’t as big as they were in practice. After the second shell bed, I ran to some docks. I didn’t want to burn too many docks from my main area, so at about 12:30 (p.m.) I focused on a row of new docks and caught another big one.”
Morrow said that in addition to his keeper on Day One, those particular docks produced a 7-pound, 12-ouncer, on Day Three. On Day Two, Morrow said he made the same milk run, but the fishing was slower. He said it took him longer to put together a limit and leave his main area.
“Day Three was even slower – I only had five keeper bites and thought I blew it,” said Morrow. “I stayed close to takeoff for the first 20 minutes and caught a keeper. The outgoing tide was later each day, and by Day Three it was approximately 11 (a.m.) before I felt comfortable fishing my key stuff. I went to the shoals, but didn’t get anything. At my main docks, I did get one that was close to 4 pounds at slack tide, which was a bonus. Once the tide got moving I caught the 7-pound, 12-ouncer.”
Morrow finished out the day by catching two keepers at the shoals.
For lures, Morrow said he used a Texas-rigged, Black Grape-colored Zoom Ol’ Monster Worm on a 5/0-sized Gamakatsu round bend hook with a ¼-ounce tungsten weight for both the shoals and the docks. His rig was attached to 20-pound-test Sunline fluorocarbon line and a 7-foot, 6-inch heavy-action Duckett Fishing rod. He also worked in a chrome-colored topwater bait at the shoals.
The top six boaters that qualified for the 2019 BFL All-American were:
1st: Troy Morrow, Eastanollee, Ga., 15 bass, 57-10, $65,000
2nd: Matt Kinney, Bunnell, Fla., 15 bass, 51-0, $10,200
3rd: Grant Kelly, Milledgeville, Ga., 13 bass, 49-11, $5,100
4th: Jason Reed, Hollister, Fla., 15 bass, 49-10, $3,000
5th: Nicholas Hoinig, Port St. Lucie, Fla., 15 bass, 49-6, $2,000
6th: Kip Carter, Mansfield, Ga., 15 bass, 48-11, $2,800
Rounding out the top-10 boaters were:
7th: George Kapiton, Inverness, Fla., 15 bass, 47-5, $1,600
8th: Dylan Peppers, Good Hope, Ga., 15 bass, 47-4, $1,400
9th: Kevin Dees, Montgomery, Ala., 14 bass, 42-5, $1,200
10th: Stacy Adams, Hazlehurst, Ga., 15 bass, 41-8, $1,000
Randy Paquette of Sarasota, Florida, won the Co-angler Division and a new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard with a three-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 34 pounds, 10 ounces.
The top six co-anglers that qualified for the 2019 BFL All-American were:
1st: Randy Paquette, Sarasota, Fla., 10 bass, 34-10, $45,200
2nd: Gary Murphy, Homer, Ga., 10 bass, 30-13, $5,050
3rd: Donnie Davis, Greer, S.C., 11 bass, 26-7, $2,500
4th: Ernie Thompson, Anthony, Fla., 13 bass, 24-2, $1,500
5th: Frank Godwin Jr., Bainbridge, Ga., 13 bass, 23-13, $1,000
6th: Levi Crossway, Jacksonville, Fla., 11 bass, 23-7, $900
Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers were:
7th: Kenneth Hunnicutt, Jacksonville, Fla., 13 bass, 23-3, $800
8th: Donald Dills, Mineral Bluff, Ga., 10 bass, 23-0, $700
9th: Christian Greico, Tampa, Fla., 10 bass, 22-2, $600
10th: Spencer Sato, Warner Robins, Ga., nine bass, 21-6, $500