CO-ANGLER CHAMP
ON TOUR
BFL REGIONALS
DEtAILS
Sept. 29-oct. 1, 2016 presented by mercury hosted by Rhea Economic & tourism Council Divisions: Arkie, hoosier, LbL, mountain
DAVIDSON DOMINATES AT LAKE CHICKAMAUGA
GRASS BITE KEY IN TOUGH AUTUMN TOURNAMENT
By Richard Simms
ryan Davidson was all smiles as he walked to the weigh-in stand on the final day of the 2016 T-H Marine Bass Fishing League Regional presented by Mercury on Lake Chickamauga.
Dusty Huggins, who hails from Russellville, Ark., was sitting in the leader’ s seat at the time, but based on the heft of Davidson’ s bag of bass, it was clear he was going to replace Huggins on the throne. Sure enough, Davidson’ s day-three bag boosted his tournament catch to 46 pounds, 14
2017 All-American Qualifiers
boaters: scott Bateman Jasper, Ind. drew Boggs Lebanon, tenn. ryan davidson branchland, W. Va. dustin Huggins Russellville, Ark. william merrick mount Juliet, tenn. matt stanley Alexandria, tenn.
Co-anglers: Brody camPBell oxford, ohio jacoB Harris bonne terre, mo. jeremy new yorktown, Ind. dennis taylor murray, ky. jimmy terry mabelvale, Ark. Billy watson murfreesboro, tenn. ounces – putting him nearly 12 pounds ahead of Huggins.
Davidson’ s performance, while not indicative of what Chickamauga is capable of producing at its peak, was nevertheless impressive in what turned out to be a challenging autumn tournament. Only three anglers managed a limit on the final day, and several in the top 20 followed up good catches on day one with just a couple of keepers on day two.
Davidson’ s go-to pattern was typical for fall on most Tennessee River impoundments. He found his best success flipping a YUM Bad Mamma into submerged hydrilla.
“ I was fishing stuff I thought the fish would be staging in; coming into the thicker mats,” he says.“ Day one I got a lot of bites and caught them quick, but that pattern kind of fizzled out.”
He responded by moving closer to the bank, where he continued flipping and fishing fast.
“ My trolling motor was on high. You flip in there, hop it one time, and if you don’ t get bit you’ re on to the next clump. Every fish I caught over 2 1 / 2 pounds, I basically never got it [ the bait ] to the bottom,” he recalls.
Davidson, from Branchland, W. Va., built up a 4-pound lead going into the third and final day, but felt that the fish he had been catching were thinning out. He decided to take a bit of a gamble in the final round and started slinging a weedless frog over thick mats.
“ I went to a new area and caught two solid keepers in the first 30 minutes, and that kind of relaxed me a little bit,” he recalls.
Unfortunately, Davidson missed two big fish after that.
“ They were both probably 5-pound-class fish, and that got me rattled,” he recalls.
Luckily, he’ d been saving an area he had found in practice for just such a situation. Not willing to bank on the high-risk frog bite any longer, Davidson ran to that last-ditch area to get back in
CO-ANGLER CHAMP
his comfort zone and reverted to flipping grass.
“ As soon as I pulled up on it I caught three just bam, bam, bam,” he recalls.“ It feels good. I fished clean all week, and that made the difference. In these tough tournaments, when they bite you better put them in the boat.”
Putting them in the boat earned Davidson a spot in the 2017 BFL All-American, a check for $ 20,200 and a shiny new Ranger Z518C with a 200-hp Mercury motor worth $ 45,000.
Name: Jimmy Terry hometown: Mabelvale, Ark. total Weight: 20-11( 7 fish) Winning program: Terry used a popper and a spinnerbait the first two days to make the top-10 cut, but he earned the win on day three by switching to a Strike King Bitsy Flip Jig with a Zoom Super Chunk trailer. He used a black-and-blue combo around areas with dirty water.
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FlwFisHing. com i january 2017