Fishing brush piles gives win on Lake Wylie

Joseph Marks of Duncan weighed a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds, 3 ounces June 18 to win the fourth FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) North Carolina Division tournament of 2016 on Lake Wylie. For his victory, Marks took home $6,056.

“I spent the day fishing the lower end of the lake, on the South Carolina side,” said Marks, who earned his first win in FLW competition. “I rotated through five brush piles and was able to piece together some decent catches.

“I started out throwing a drop-shot rig with a Morning Dawn-colored Roboworm in 14 to 18 feet of water,” he said. “Before 9 a.m., I had a limit worth 12 pounds. Around 10:30 a.m., I switched to a green-pumpkin custom jig and caught another 15 keepers.”

Marks said he preferred to position his baits inside the brush piles, even if it meant getting them hung up on the branches.

“I threw the jig and let it sit there on the bottom and the fish would pick it up,” Marks said. “It was hard to feel them bite and was very slow, but it worked. With the drop-shot, I used 5/16-ounce weights and went through about 40 of them from having to rip out of the brush. I had to let it fall inside, though, to get the reaction bite. It was a great day on the water.”

Two local anglers finished in the top 10. Jason Quinn of Rock Hill finished at No. 6 with 12 pounds, 2 ounces for $689. Michael Stephens of Gastonia finished at No. 7 with 11 pounds, 13 ounces to take home $626.

Travis Young of Gastonia, caught a 5-pound, 7-ounce bass – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $490.

Also, there were two ties for the day. No. 3, both teams brought in 14 pounds, one ounce and No. 9, two teams reeled in 11 pounds, one ounce.

Tommy Swicegood of Salisbury, N.C., weighed in five bass totaling 12 pounds, 13 ounces, Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $2,123. Swicegood also caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 1 ounce and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $245.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 27-29 Regional Championship on Lake Hartwell in Seneca. 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 are competing 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. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

This story was originally published June 27, 2016 at 1:09 PM with the headline "Fishing brush piles gives win on Lake Wylie."