LANTER WINS WALMART BASS FISHING LEAGUE ILLINI DIVISION OPENER ON REND LAKE

WHITTINGTON, Ill. (April 20, 2015) – Jodie Lanter of Carlyle, Illinois, weighed four bass totaling 12 pounds, 7 ounces Saturday to win the first Walmart Bass Fishing League Illini Division tournament of 2015 on Rend Lake. For his victory, Lanter earned $4,000.

“It feels really great to take home a check,” said Lanter. “It was a tough tournament to find sizable fish but my spot ended up producing some good weight.”

Lanter said that he targeted spawning bass on the north end of the lake along a 60-yard stretch of bank.

“It was the only stretch that I found that had fish in it,” said Lanter. “They were on the beds in about a foot and a half of water.”

Lanter used a chartreuse and white-colored spinnerbait as well as a custom-made swimjig to catch his fish.

“I threw the spinnerbait across the bed and ended up catching two nice fish early on and two more in the afternoon,” said Lanter. “I really got them to jump for those willow leaf blades I used.”

Lanter said that he caught around nine fish throughout his day.

“What put me ahead of the competition was the bank I was on,” Lanter went on to say. “There were a lot of gar and carp in the area and the sun hit the beds just right. It had everything the fish wanted.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1st:          Jodie Lanter, Carlyle, Ill., four bass, 12-7, $4,000

2nd:         Jerry Walker, Zeigler, Ill., four bass, 8-3, $2,000

3rd:          Toby Corn, West Frankfort, Ill., three bass, 7-10, $1,334

4th:          William Walker, Mulkeytown, Ill., three bass, 7-3, $933

5th:          Brad Pardue, Hecker, Ill., one bass, 6-3, $800

6th:          Darren Frazier, Anna, Ill., two bass, 4-9, $700

6th:          Dan Kehrer, Woodlawn, Ill., one bass, 4-9, $700

8th:          Michael Black, Toledo, Ill., two bass, 4-7, $600

9th:          Greg Mullins, Mount Vernon, Ill., one bass, 4-0, $533

10th:        Neil McCord, West Frankfort, Ill., two bass, 3-8, $467

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Pardue caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division, a fish weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces, and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $540.

Frank Williams of Saint Charles, Missouri, weighed in three bass totaling 8 pounds, 5 ounces Saturday to win $2,000 in the co-angler division.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1st:          Frank Williams, Saint Charles, Mo., three bass, 8-5, $2,000

2nd:         Steve Bowcock, Bridgeport, Ill., three bass, 6-9, $1,000

3rd:          Mario Rossi, Granite City, Ill., one bass, 4-8, $666

4th:          Michael Watson, Addison, Ill., one bass, 3-4, $467

5th:          Eugene Kim, Wheeling, Ill., one bass, 3-2, $400

6th:          Aaron Wehmeyer, Odell, Ill., one bass, 2-15, $367

7th:          James Schubert, Mount Vernon, Ill., one bass, 2-13, $333

8th:          Charles Dammerman, Owaneco, Ill., one bass, 2-7, $300

9th:          Christopher Cunningham, Green Valley, Ill., one bass, 2-6, $267

10th:        Daniel Brockett, Fairfield, Ill., one bass, 2-3, $221

10th:        Keith Clore, Percy, Ill., one bass, 2-3, $221

Rossi caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $270.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 22-24 Regional Championship on Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.

The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 50 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and compete to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the Walmart BFL All-American. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Rayovac FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.

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