BAINBRIDGE, Ga. (May 23, 2015) – Clint Brown of Bainbridge, Georgia, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 18 pounds, 3 ounces Saturday to win the Rayovac FLW Series Southeast Division event on Lake Seminole with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 52 pounds, 11 ounces. For his victory, Brown earned $40,000.
“The first two days of the tournament I was mainly sight fishing,” said Brown, who earned the win in just his fourth tournament with FLW. “Coming in to this tournament I has around 20 fish marked that I knew were on the beds, and I knew that I would be able to catch them come tournament time. My bait of choice was an Okeechobee-Craw-colored Bruiser Baits Intruder, Texas-rigged with a ¼-ounce weight.”
Brown said that he tried very hard to manage his bed fish throughout the three-day tournament. He caught four on day one, then filled out his limit with a frog. On day two he caught three off of the bed, then again filled his limit with a frog. He said that he was out of fish for the third and final day of competition and was forced to just go fishing.
“Today, I went to an area where I had gotten one bite in practice,” Brown said. “I hadn’t seen any other anglers fishing it throughout the week. I went to the back of a pocket that had a lot of shad and managed to catch eight keepers on a shad-colored Dirty Jigs swimjig.
“I had a decent five-bass limit, but I had two small fish,” Brown continued. “In the last hour of the day I had a hunch to switch things up and I ended up catching my two biggest fish of the day on a chartreuse and white ½-ounce buzzbait. Sometimes you just have to trust your instinct and hope you make the right decision. I did today, and to get the win on my home lake is just awesome.”
The top 10 pros on Lake Seminole were:
1st: Clint Brown, Bainbridge, Ga., 15 bass, 52-11, $40,000
2nd: Ken Ellis, Bowman, S.C., 15 bass, 49-5, $15,500
3rd: Tim Reneau, Del Rio, Texas, 13 bass, 42-13, $12,000
4th: Scott Wiley, Bay Minette, Ala., 14 bass, 41-0, $10,000
5th: John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., 10 bass, 40-9, $9,000
6th: Rodger Beaver, Dawson, Ga., 13 bass, 39-6, $8,000
7th: Clayton Batts, Macon, Ga., 11 bass, 38-9, $7,000
8th: John Bitter, Maitland, Fla., 13 bass, 37-6, $6,000
9th: Bradley Enfinger, Colquitt, Ga., 11 bass, 37-0, $5,000
10th: Sven Hilland, Sanford, Fla., 12 bass, 36-3, $4,000
Wayne Christopher of Huntsville, Alabama, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division Friday – a fish weighing 8 pounds, 2 ounces that earned him the day’s Big Bass award of $300. Greg Jeter of Bainbridge, Georgia, won the co-angler division and a Ranger Z117C with an Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor, with a three-day total of 12 bass weighing 41 pounds even. The top 10 co-anglers on Lake Seminole were:
1st: Greg Jeter, Bainbridge, Ga., 12 bass, 41-0, Ranger Z117C with 90-horsepower outboard ($27,000)
2nd: Tony Syfrett, Chipley, Fla., eight bass, 34-8, $5,000
3rd: Mike Spurlock, Ripley, W. Va., 14 bass, 34-2, $4,000
4th: Jim Short, Ocean Pines, Md., 11 bass, 31-4, $3,500
5th: Justin Sward, Vancleave, Miss., 11 bass, 30-4, $3,000
6th: Corey Radomski, Ocala, Fla., nine bass, 27-6, $2,500
7th: Aaron Richardson, Destin, Fla., seven bass, 22-6, $2,000
8th: Lee Frye, Brooksville, Fla., eight bass, 22-2, $1,750
9th: Don Lewis, Jacksonville, Fla., eight bass, 21-11, $1,500
10th: Daniel Beebe, Niota, Tenn., 10 bass, 21-0, $1,250
The next Rayovac FLW Series tournament will be a Northern Division event presented by Mercury, held June 4-6, on the James River in Henrico, Virginia.