DORTCH WINS COSTA FLW SERIES SOUTHEASTERN DIVISION FINALE ON WHEELER LAKE

ROGERSVILLE, Ala. (May 14, 2016) – Bradley Dortch of Bay Minette, Alabama, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds, 11 ounces Saturday to win the Costa FLW Series Southeastern Division finale on Wheeler Lake presented by Mercury with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 45 pounds, 10 ounces. For his win, Dortch took home $40,000.

“I spent each day of the tournament targeting postspawn bass on the Elk River,” said Dortch, who earned his first win in FLW competition. “I focused on stretches of bank on the outsides of spawning pockets where fish were moving out from the shallows.

The Alabama angler said the discovery allowed him to narrow down his six areas to two specific stretches, 15 to 20 miles up the Elk River.

“On day one I rotated between six areas that were 100- to 150-yard stretches of bank,” continued Dortch. “I threw a green-pumpkin Picasso Straight Shooter Swimjig with a green-pumpkin NetBait Paca Craw trailer to laydowns and flipped another Paca Craw under bushes and to undercut banks. I ended up catching six keepers.

Dortch said a specific fish on day one helped him dial in on where the bass were congregating in his areas.

“I skipped the swimjig all the way to the bank where the current had eroded a lip and caught a 3-pounder in six inches of water,” said Dortch. “The bream were feeding right there under the shore. It was a huge discovery for me. From then on, when I skipped laydowns, I made sure to get the bait all the way to the bank into those undercuts. If it didn’t get there, you weren’t getting a bite.”

The Alabama angler said the discovery allowed him to narrow down his six areas to two specific stretches, 15 to 20 miles up the Elk River.

“I kept on skipping and flipping and caught eight keepers on day two and another eight on day three,” said Dortch. “They were good bites, but I was not expecting to win. It was a great tournament.”

The top 10 pros on Wheeler Lake were:

1^st:          Bradley Dortch, Bay Minette, Ala., 15 bass, 45-10, $40,000

2^nd:         Kim Carver, Milledgeville, Ga., 15 bass, 44-14, $15,500

3^rd:          Dustin Smith, Mount Dora, Fla., 15 bass, 44-5, $12,000

4^th:          Bryan New, Belmont, N.C., 15 bass, 42-2, $10,000

5^th:          Glenn Browne, Ocala, Fla., 15 bass, 40-8, $9,300

6^th:          Allan Glasgow, Ashville, Ala., 15 bass, 40-2, $8,000

7^th:          Terry Tucker, Gadsden, Ala., 15 bass, 39-11, $7,000

8^th:          Jared Dial, Winter Haven, Fla., 15 bass, 38-10, $6,000

9^th:          Bradford Beavers, Ridgeville, S.C., 15 bass, 37-5, $5,000

10^th:        Bryant Adam, Madison, Miss., 12 bass, 30-5, $4,000

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Browne caught a bass weighing 7 pounds, 2 ounces Friday – the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division – that earned him the day’s Big Bass award of $300.

Allen Armour of Cumming, Georgia, won the co-angler division and a Ranger Z117 with a 90-horsepower Mercury outboard motor. Armour earned his win with a three-day total catch of 15 bass weighing 32 pounds, 15 ounces.  

The top 10 co-anglers on Wheeler Lake were:

1^st:          Allen Armour, Cumming, Ga., 15 bass, 32-15, $27,000

2^nd:         Scap Cicero, Wetumpka, Ala., 12 bass, 30-1, $5,000

3^rd:          Doug Logan, Springville, Ala., 14 bass, 29-1, $4,200

4^th:          Anthony Hunt, Plantation, Fla., 13 bass, 28-0, $3,500

5^th:          Clint Horton, Ripley, Miss., 12 bass, 24-12, $3,000

6^th:          Jason Smith, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., 13 bass, 24-10, $2,500

7^th:          David Hudson, Jasper, Ala., 12 bass, 23-13, $2,000

8^th:          Josh Robbins, Chesnee, S.C., 12 bass, 23-12, $1,750

9^th:          Matt Leicher, Athens, Ala., 10 bass, 22-10, $1,500

10^th:        Eulon Lee Jr., Eclectic, Ala., 10 bass, 20-8, $1,250

Brent Barnes of Chattanooga, Tennessee, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division Thursday, a bass weighing 7 pounds, 3 ounces that earned him the day’s Big Bass award of $200.

The Costa FLW Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western. Each division consists of three tournaments with competitors vying for valuable points that could earn them the opportunity to fish in the Costa FLW Series Championship. The 2016 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Nov. 3-5 on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri.

The Costa FLW Series on Wheeler Lake was hosted by Florence/Lauderdale Tourism. It was the final Southeastern Division tournament of 2016. The next Costa FLW Series tournament will be the Western Division finale, held May 19-21, on the California Delta in Bethel Island, California. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.