ROGERS, Ark. (April 28, 2017) – Pro Cody Meyer of Auburn, California, caught a five-bass limit weighing 12 pounds, 8 ounces Friday to retain his lead in the FLW Tournament at Beaver Lake with a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 28-9. He now holds a slim 3-ounce lead over second place pro Jason Reyes of Huffman, Texas, in the four-day event.
“I started on the same spot where I got the majority of my fish yesterday and caught a limit by 10 (a.m.),” said Meyer, who has two prior top-10 finishes at Beaver Lake in FLW Tour competition. “The fishing was definitely a lot slower and the fish weren’t as big today, but I was happy to have a limit.
“I left that area and went to a spot where I had marked a bedding smallmouth in practice,” Meyer continued. “The water has come up quite a bit, so I couldn’t see her and I was just pitching to where I thought it was. I ended up catching a nice largemouth there – some good luck.”
Meyer said that he ended up catching two more fish later in the day and his five-bass limit that he brought to the scale consisted of two largemouth bass and three smallmouth. He said that the same baits that he used on Day One produced again for him on Friday – a tube, a drop-shot rig, a swimbait and a flipping rod.
“The chances of getting another limit out of my starting area is slim to none,” Meyer said. “Tomorrow I’m just going to go fish. You have to take it one day at a time here and concentrate on getting the right bites. Hopefully tomorrow I can make the right decisions and find the big ones.”
The top 20 pros that made the Buck Knives Cut and will fish Saturday on Beaver Lake are:
1st: Cody Meyer, Auburn, Calif., 10 bass, 28-9
2nd: Jason Reyes, Huffman, Texas, 10 bass, 28-6
3rd: Dean Alexander, Georgetown, Texas, 10 bass, 26-3
4th: Brandon McMillan, Clewiston, Fla., 10 bass, 24-13
5th: Nick Gainey, Charleston, S.C., 10 bass, 24-5
6th: Randy Blaukat, Joplin, Mo., 10 bass, 23-12
7th: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 10 bass, 23-9
8th: Christopher Brasher, Longview, Texas, 10 bass, 23-3
9th: Mud Hole Custom Tackle pro John Cox, DeBary, Fla., nine bass, 23-2
10th: Keith Bryan, Novato, Calif., 10 bass, 23-2
11th: Johnny McCombs, Morris, Ala., 10 bass, 22-14
12th: Matt Stefan, Junction City, Wis., 10 bass, 22-13
13th: Tim Frederick, Leesburg, Fla., 10 bass, 22-10
14th: Daniel Kweekul, Bryant, Ark., nine bass, 22-5
15th: Jeff Dobson, Bartlesville, Okla., 10 bass, 22-4
16th: Drew Montgomery, Maiden, N.C., 10 bass, 22-2
17th: Quaker State pro Scott Canterbury, Springville, Ala., 10 bass, 21-10
18th: Scott Ashmore, Broken Arrow, Okla., eight bass, 21-2
19th: Joseph Webster, Fulton, Miss., 10 bass, 21-2
20th: Bradley Dortch, Atmore, Ala., 10 bass, 21-2
Ashmore earned the Big Bass award on the pro side Friday, weighing a 5-pound, 3-ounce largemouth to win the $500 prize. Overall there were 651 bass weighing 1,208 pounds, 10 ounces caught by 153 pros Friday. The catch included 97 five-bass limits.
Charley Slaton of Valliant, Oklahoma, won the co-angler division and $20,000 Friday with a two-day total of nine bass weighing 17 pounds, 15 ounces, followed by Billy Messer of Spartanburg, South Carolina, who finished in second place with 10 bass weighing 17 pounds, 14 ounces, worth $7,550.
The top 10 co-anglers on Beaver Lake finished:
1st: Charley Slaton, Valliant, Okla., nine bass, 17-15, $20,000
2nd: Billy Messer, Spartanburg, S.C., 10 bass, 17-14, $7,550
3rd: Ken Harp, Springdale, Ark., 10 bass, 17-11, $5,000
4th: Michael Allbright, Athens, Texas, 10 bass, 17-4, $4,000
5th: Rich Dalbey, Greenville, Texas, eight bass, 17-4, $3,000
6th: Chuck Kavros, Grass Valley, Calif., eight bass, 16-6, $2,500
7th: Mark Howard, Mesquite, Texas, eight bass, 16-3, $2,000
8th: Scott Parsons, Rogers, Ark., eight bass, 16-2, $1,800
9th: Gary Haraguchi, Redding, Calif., 10 bass, 15-5, $1,700
10th: Drew Barnes, Bella Vista, Ark., nine bass, 15-4, $1,600
Dennis Crawford of Rogers, Arkansas, earned $250 for the Big Bass award in the co-angler division with a 4-pound, 6-ounce bass. Overall there were 325 bass weighing 552 pounds, 3 ounces caught by 125 co-anglers Friday. The catch included 19 five-bass limits.