The North Carolina Division of the $8 million Walmart Bass Fishing League will visit High Rock Lake on Saturday for the fourth of five regular-season events. As many as 200 boaters and 200 co-anglers are expected to compete for as much as $45,000 in cash, including a top award of $6,000 in the Boater Division. The winning co-angler will earn as much as $3,000 cash.
Big Bass awards of up to $1,000 and $500, respectively, will also be awarded in the Boater and Co-angler Divisions.
Anglers may register for the tournament online at FLWOutdoors.com or by calling 270- 252-1000. Onsite registration will be held Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Walmart store at 323 S. Arlington St. Entry fees are $200 for boaters and $100 for co-anglers.
Tamarac Marina & Campground will host the takeoff at 7 a.m. and the weigh-in at 3 p.m.
The top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers in each of the BFL’s 28 divisions at the end of the season advance to a regional championship. Seven regional championships will each send six boaters and six co-anglers to the Walmart BFL All-American, which features a $1 million purse and a top award of $140,000 in the Boater Division and $70,000 in the Co-angler Division. The winning boater and winning co-angler at the All-American will advance to the no-entry-fee $2.5 million Forrest Wood Cup in Atlanta in 2010. This event, featuring a top award of $1 million, is the most lucrative tournament in all of competitive bass fishing.
The final regular-season North Carolina Division tournament, a two-day Super Tournament, will be held on Lake Norman on Sept. 26-27.
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East Rowan High School senior Jaimie H. Mullen, who won the Rowan County National Wild Turkey Federation academic scholarship, has won the state-level scholarship also.
She now has a chance at winning the national scholarship.
She will be attending the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in the fall.
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C.J. Johnston and Matt Stanley of Salisbury won the Fishers of Men Piedmont Division’s season-ending tournament at High Rock Lake on June 13.
They caught a record 21.26 pounds of bass, beating the old record by one pound held by Jarrett and Gary Freeze of China Grove.
They pocketed $1,080 for their win. Weigh-in was at at Tamarac Marina.
Second place went to twin brothers Larry and Gary Rose from Lexington with a weight of 17.32 pounds and a payout of $774. Steve Sink and Terry Foster of Lexington had 16.42 pounds for third place that got them a check for $602. Fourth place went to Dean Collins and Ray Furr with 15.34 pounds, and they also won big fish of the tournament and largest fish of the year, which was 5.76 pounds.
Fifth place went to Robert Mixon and Robert Lambert of Lexington.
Steve Singleton and Wayne Needham won the series championship by three points. Mixon and Lambert settled for second.
Angler of the year was won by Wayne Parish from Walkertown. Jonathon Leanord and Andrew Byrd won the Rookie of Year Award.
The first tournament of the fall trail will be at Tuckertown Lake on Aug. 8. For more information, call Mike Sides at 704-239-4097 or visit www.fompiedmont.com.