POLARIS
International Giants
Yelton, Thornburg Win Polaris
Sportsman Giveaway
This year, FLW teamed up with its
partners at Polaris to give away two
Polaris Sportsman 570 EPS ATVs, valued
at approximately $7,799 each. One winner
was chosen from entries that were includ-
ed each time someone signed up to fish a
Bass Fishing League tournament. The
other was pulled from a pool of entries
taken online and at FLW tournaments
throughout the season.
Here are the lucky winners.
An avid angler, Thornburg has only
recently gotten into tournament fishing. The
2019 season was his first fishing the BFL,
which he did from the back of the boat in
the Okie Division. He plans to fish the BFL
again next season and potentially a couple
FLW Series events before eventually going
to the boater side in the near future.
POWER YO UR PAS S IO N
FLW’s international reach has brought
new tournaments and more exposure to
the sport of bass fishing from every corner
of the globe, just about everywhere you
can find bass swimming around. That
includes places like Zimbabwe, where
giant bucketmouths are apparently pretty
common.
Back in late August, anglers participat-
ing in the 2019 FLW Zimbabwe
Championship hammered on giant bass
after giant bass, pulling mind-boggling limits
from the waters of Lake Mteri in the south-
eastern part of the country. The winning
bag, caught by Roger Cousens (above),
totaled 101.83 pounds over just three days
of competition, with the average bag across
the field nearing the 29-pound mark.
DAKOTALITHIUM.COM
JACOB YELTON | Age: 21
Christianburg, Va.
“It made my year,” says Yelton of win-
ning the new ATV. “I think that’s the
coolest thing that’s probably ever hap-
pened to me in my life. It was a really
unbelievable experience. I’m still kind of
awestruck about the whole situation.”
Yelton fished the BFL Piedmont
Division as a co-angler and plans to do so
again next season. He plans to use his
new Polaris Sportsman 570 EPS for plow-
ing some driveways this winter and riding
around on his 20-acre property.
RICHARD THORNBURG | Age: 33
Lindsay, Okla.
“I was really excited; my fiancée was,
too,” Thornburg says. “We live in the coun-
try. We have 140 acres. It’ll allow me to do
all the riding I want to do.”
WINTER 2020 I FLWFISHING.COM
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