ON TOUR
DEtAILS
BFL REGIONALS
oct. 6-8, 2016
presented by Evinrude
hosted by Vance County Department of tourism
Divisions: Northeast, Savannah River, Shenandoah, Volunteer
WRIGHT WINS ANOTHER WITH CRANKBAITS
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NORTH CAROLINA VETERAN TAKES THE TOP SPOT AT KERR LAKE
avid Wright of Lexington, N.C., won the 2016 T-H Marine
Bass Fishing League Regional on Kerr Lake with a three-
day total weight of 43 pounds, 9 ounces and pocketed
$20,000 and a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-hp Evinrude out-
board. He also gained a berth in the BFL All-American – the
fourth in his career.
Based on his past experiences on Kerr Lake, Wright
expected to fish shaky heads around grass mats, but at the
tournament’s outset he was surprised to find much less
grass than he had at any other time during the past five
years. It necessitated a quick change in his strategy.
“When I fished Kerr Lake 15 years ago, there was very little
grass, at least the portion that I fished,” says Wright. “Then it
became covered up in elodea, and fishing in the fall meant find-
ing the grass. So I expected it to be that way for this tournament.”
After seeing the change, Wright reverted to a game plan
similar to the one he employed back in the days before the
elodea showed up in Kerr.
“At that point, I focused on stumps, brush and rock piles in
Nutbush Creek,” he says. “I caught most of my fish on rocks.”
Wright started with a shaky head, but didn’t have much
luck. When he spotted fish following the shaky head back to
the boat, Wright surmised he might draw strikes on a
crankbait. The veteran angler then switched to a crankbait,
limited out and culled fish every day of the event.
2017
All-American
Qualifiers
CO-ANGLER CHAMP
Name: Peter Balishin
hometown: Sharps Chapel, Tenn.
total Weight: 24-00 (11 fish)
Winning program: Balishin won the co-angler division by
fishing a shaky head with a Zoom worm in green pump-
kin with blue flake. He worked the edges of rocks and
grass with a slow presentation. The program worked in
the shallows and, on the final day, in deeper water.
Rapala DT10 and DT16 crankbaits in the hot-mustard
color handled the bulk of his work early on, with a bluegill-col-
ored DT14 pitching in. On day two, the DT14 was the go-to
choice. When that bite slowed, Wright began casting a WEC
crankbait (made by Zoom) in bone white with an orange belly.
He fished the WEC the rest of the way, cycling back through
the Rapalas when the WEC bite cooled off temporarily.
“I think they got tired of seeing those Rapala lures so
much over the three-day period, and they were pretty will-
ing to bite the Zoom [WEC]. When the Zoom bite slowed, I
would go back through the Rapalas. As long as I threw them
near rocks or some type of structure, I knew I would catch
fish,” Wright says.
On day three, the weather turned nasty as Hurricane
Matthew clipped the region. Rain and fog greeted anglers
that morning, so at takeoff Wright played it safe, pulling over
to let the rest of the field pass him on the way to their pre-
ferred fishing holes. Wright then tucked into the first cove
out of the wind and began catching fish early on the WEC
crankbait. He ended up culling keepers there.
Wright, considered by many to be one of the best
crankbait anglers in tournament fishing, says there’s more
to crankbait fishing than just casting and reeling lures. He
relied on his decades of experience with cranking plugs to
seal the win.
“Not all crankbaits run true out of the package, but I keep
a box of crankbaits that run true, and that I’ve caught fish
on,” he says. “That gives me confidence, and that mental
part of fishing is what many anglers overlook, especially
when weather is a factor.”
boaters:
cHris daves, Spring Grove, Va.
Brandon gray, Bullock, N.C.
ricHard PHilliPs, Asheville, N.C.
derrick snavely, Johnson City, Tenn.
david wrigHt, Lexington, N.C.
cavin young, Prince George, Va.
january 2017 i FlwFisHing.com
By Brian Cope
Co-Anglers:
Peter BalisHin, Sharps Chapel, Tenn.
donnie davis, Greer, S.C.
david Primavera, Winder, Ga.
greg ravitsky, Ashburn, Va.
timotHy wacker, Knoxville, Tenn.
david winters, Rock Hill, S.C.
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