MANY, La. (Feb. 23, 2009) - Boater Chris McCall of Jasper, Texas, won the Bass Fishing League Cowboy Division bass fishing tournament on Toledo Bend Lake Saturday with a five-bass catch weighing 22 pounds, 14 ounces. The victory earned McCall $2,703 and placed him one step closer to qualifying for the DeGray Lake Regional Championship in Arkadelphia, Ark., Oct. 22-24, where he could ultimately win a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck.
Rounding out the top five boaters are Jerrel Pringle of Hemphill, Texas (five bass, 19-2, $1,352); Joel James of Orange, Texas (five bass, 19-1, $901); Alan Fitts of Hemphill, Texas (five bass, 18-7, $631) and Barry Houser of Sugar Land, Texas (five bass, 18-2, $541).
Danny Iles of Hemphill, Texas took home the Boater Division Big Bass award, earning $300 for an 8-pound, 9-ounce bass.
Dustin Robison of Anacoco, La., earned $1,352 as the co-angler winner Saturday thanks to three bass weighing 12 pounds, 12 ounces.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Pete Clark of Malvern, Ark., (five bass, 12-10, $676); Mark Milward of Austin, Texas (four bass, 11-13, $450); Brandon Booth of Bryan, Texas (three bass, 11-8, $315); and John Semken of College Station, Texas (three bass, 10-2, $270).
Booth earned $150 as the co-angler Big Bass winner after catching a 6-pound, 9-ounce bass.
The next Cowboy Division event will be held on the Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Jasper, Texas, March 14.
The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers in each of the BFL's 28 divisions at the end of the season advance to a no-entry-fee Regional Championship where boaters fish for a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck and co-anglers fish for a new Ranger boat. Seven regional championships will each send six boaters and six co-anglers to the no-entry-fee Wal-Mart BFL All-American, which features a $1 million purse and a top award of $140,000 in the Boater Division and $70,000 in the Co-angler Division. Anglers who compete in all five regular-season events within a division but do not advance to a Regional Championship are eligible to compete in the Chevy Wild Card, which will also send six boaters and six co-anglers to the All-American for a total of 48 boaters and 48 co-anglers advancing through BFL competition.
The winning boater and winning co-angler at the All-American will advance to the no-entry-fee $2.5 million Forrest Wood Cup in Atlanta in 2010.
In BFL competition, boaters supply the boat and compete from the front deck against other boaters. Co-anglers compete from the back deck against other co-anglers.