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ON TOUR
BFL REGIONALS
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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
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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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