June 3, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
A Smithville man is an All-American Co-Angler Champion and the recipient of $50,000.
Matthew Bouldin claimed the All-American Title Saturday by winning the three day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Cross Lake in Shreveport, Louisiana. Bouldin had a final-day rally of 18 pounds, 4 ounces to snatch the win away from Jesse Parks of Avondale, Arizona., who led for the first two days, by a margin of only 4 ounces.
According to FLWFishing.com Bouldin caught limits each day while fishing with Pat Upthagrove, Nick Deering and Roger Fitzpatrick. He started Saturday’s championship round in third place, having weighed in qualifying-round limits of 16-9 and 9-11. But Saturday, Bouldin out-fished his pro partner to close a gap of more than 5 pounds and walk away a champion.
Bouldin said every day was a challenge. He relied heavily on a combination of shaky heads comprised of 1/8-, 3/16- and 5/16-ounce Buckeye Lures Spot Remover heads and either Zoom Trick Worms or Zoom Mag Finesse Worms, as well as two sizes of the River2Sea Whopper Plopper.
Bouldin fished the 1/8-ounce shaky head on spinning tackle, and the heavier heads on baitcasting tackle. He started out flipping the 5/16-ounce model, but midway through the tournament he realized the heft of the Mag Finesse Worm made it possible to flip and skip with the 3/16-ounce head.
That became his go-to “heavy” model for the final day. It was a big producer in the end because he could fish with baitcasting tackle more easily and efficiently in the wind or when his boater was covering water at a fast clip.
Bouldin, a minister is a student at Tennessee Tech where he is studying to become an accountant.
The 2018 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, advance to one of six regional tournaments where they 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 BFL All-American. The 2018 BFL All-American was held May 31-June 2 at Cross Lake in Shreveport, Louisiana, hosted by the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.
The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament season will continue Saturday, June 9, for Music City Division anglers with a tournament on Center Hill Lake. Up to 400 boaters and co-anglers will be competing for top awards of up to $8,000 and $3,000 respectively in the one-day tournament.