Walmart Bass Fishing League Regional Headed To Pickwick Lake

FLORENCE – The Walmart Bass Fishing League (BFL) is headed to Pickwick Lake Oct. 9-11 for one of six regional championships. The three-day tournament will feature the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers from each of the Cowboy, Hoosier, Music City and Volunteer divisions.

Anglers will take to the water to compete for the top prize of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Evinrude outboard and a Chevy 1500 Silverado in the Boater Division and a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Evinrude outboard in the Co-Angler division. The top six boaters and co-anglers will also qualify for one of the longest running championships in competitive bass fishing – the 2015 Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy.

“The fall is a tough time on the Tennessee River,” said Walmart pro Mark Rose, winner of the 2011 Walmart FLW Tour event on Pickwick Lake. “But,

it will still be a good tournament, and there will be a lot of fish caught. The guy who figures out how to catch a few 5-pounders will take it home. There will be a lot of different things going on. There will be fish in the grass, a few fish still on the ledges and fish starting to move back into the creeks.

“There will be a lot of topwater action going on, and a lipless crankbait could be good,” Rose continued. “A Strike King Caffeine Shad rigged weedless around the grass could be good, as well as a spinnerbait. For the few fish that are out on the ledges, this is a very good time to be throwing a crankbait.

“A one-two punch could definitely be a good game plan,” said Rose. “A guy might find some schooling fish or a place in the grass to catch about 14 pounds, and then pick up a big spoon or a Strike King 6XD crankbait and get out on the ledges to find a few bigger ones. Or someone might find an area in the grass with some bigger fish that they could catch by punching through the mats with soft plastics.”

The Walmart pro predicted that it would take around 50 pounds of bass to win this three-day event.

Anglers will take off from McFarland Park located at 1050 Clayborn Liles Drive in Florence, Alabama, at 7 a.m. each day. Weigh-ins on Thursday and Friday will be held at the launch site beginning at 3 p.m. Weigh-in on Saturday will be held at Walmart located at 2701 Cloverdale Road in Florence at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

The BFL Regional Championship event on Pickwick Lake is being hosted by Florence/Lauderdale Tourism.

The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 40 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and compete to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Rayovac FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.