RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (April 1, 2017) – Arkansas angler Quincy Houchin of Mabelvale, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 11 pounds, 7 ounces Saturday to lead wire-to-wire and win the FLW Series Central Division tournament on Lake Dardanelle. Houchin’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 45 pounds, 4 ounces, was enough to earn him the win by an 11-ounce margin and a check for $50,200.
“I was really nervous today when I was only bringing 11 pounds to the scale, but I knew that it was pretty tough out there for everybody,” said Houchin, a 10-year Bass Fishing League (BFL) veteran who was fishing in his first career FLW Series event. “Midday I lost a 5-pounder right at the boat and I thought that I had just lost $50,000. To get the win, today, in my first Costa event – I am blessed.”
Houchin said that he caught his fish this week fishing a backwater area in the mid- to upper-end of the lake. He said it was a ¾-mile long stretch full of wood and timber that was 4 to 8 feet at its deepest point, but he fished it as shallow as 2 feet.
“I was catching 8 to 10 keepers a day out of there,” Houchin said. “There wasn’t a lot of fish, but the ones that I was catching there were quality.”
Houchin said that of the 15 bass that he weighed in throughout the week, one came on a natural-green-colored Spro Bronzeye frog, two came on a black moss-colored Lucky Craft 2.5 crankbait and the rest came flipping a Texas-rigged green-pumpkin and red-colored Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver.
“The key for me was finding that backwater where no one else was fishing,” Houchin said. “There is a huge sandbar you have to cross to get back there, and most of the time you can’t. But, I checked it in practice and the water was ankle deep, so I was able to work my way back in there. I don’t know if anyone else had tried, but I was the only boat in there all week.”
The top 10 pros on Lake Dardanelle were:
1st: Quincy Houchin, Mabelvale, Ark., 15 bass, 45-4, $50,200
2nd: Tom Silber, Labadie, Mo., 15 bass, 44-9, $20,600
3rd: Joey Cifuentes, Clinton, Ark., 15 bass, 43-13, $14,500
4th: Josh Ray, Alexander, Ark., 15 bass, 43-8, $12,500
5th: Zach King, Clarksville, Ark., 15 bass, 42-1, $11,500
6th: Evan Barnes, Hot Springs, Ark., 15 bass, 40-8, $9,250
7th: Garrett Paquette, Canton, Mich., 14 bass, 39-1, $8,000
8th: Shannon Pierce, Pine Bluff, Ark., 15 bass, 38-15, $7,000
9th: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 15 bass, 38-15, $6,000
10th: Brandon Lee, Ratcliff, Ark., 10 bass, 31-4, $4,500
Michael Stetich of Ankeny, Iowa, caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 8 ounces Thursday – the biggest of the tournament in the Pro Division. For his catch, Stetich earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $300. Robert Bartoszek of Hampshire, Tennessee, won the Co-angler Division and a new Ranger Z175 boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude outboard motor. Bartoszek earned his win with a three-day total catch of 14 bass weighing 37 pounds, 2 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers on Lake Dardanelle were:
1st: Robert Bartoszek, Hampshire, Tenn., 14 bass, 37-2, $28,350
2nd: Mark Howard, Mesquite, Texas, 13 bass, 31-13, $6,300
3rd: Alan Hults, Gautier, Miss., 12 bass, 29-13, $5,000
4th: Bud Pruitt, Houston, Texas, 15 bass, 29-1, $4,000
5th: James Ingram, Quitman, Ark., 12 bass, 28-5, $3,500
6th: Buddy Rudolph, Hot Springs, Ark., nine bass, 27-5, $3,000
7th: Max Wilson, Everton, Mo., 13 bass, 26-4, $2,500
8th: Mark Shelton, Fayetteville, Ark., eight bass, 23-3, $2,200
9th: Scott Blaesi, North Platte, Neb., seven bass, 20-0, $1,600
10th: Christopher Lemon, Mooresville, Ind., seven bass, 19-7, $1,350
Shelton caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday, a largemouth weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces, and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $200.