Louisiana angler dominates Texas division tourney

Published Thursday, July 01, 2010

By MATT WILLIAMS

Special to The Eagle

Bart Blakelock of Lake Charles, La., topped the pro field in the FLW Outdoors American Fishing Series Texas Division event held June 17-19 on Toledo Bend Reservoir. Blakelock reeled in 66 pounds, 2 ounces over three days to distance himself from second-place finisher Wayne Ebarb of Many, La., by nearly 5 pounds.

Blakelock said he caught his fish in 18-25 feet of water. He used jigs, Texas rig junebug worms and crankbaits to secure the $21,943 win.

Other Top 10 finishers were Lamonte Loyd of Gilmer, Jeremy Guidry of Opelousas, La.; Ryan Pinkston of Center; Ronnie Bickham of Brookeland; Glen Freeman of Converse, La.; George Jeane Jr. of Evans, La.; Paul Ferguson of Whitehouse; and Kevin Lasyone of Dry Prong, La.

Guidry and Bickham ended the season finale in a deadlock for the AFS Angler of the Year title. The tiebreaker was decided by tallying the anglers' accumulative weights for the entire season. Guidry won the title and earned a berth to the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup on Aug. 5-8 at Lake Lanier in Atlanta, Ga.

The winner of The Cup earns $500,000 plus another $100,000 if Ranger contingency qualified.

Larry Cotton of Huffman won the Toledo Bend co-angler division with 46 pounds, 6 ounces, which paid $8,858.

Jeff Sprague of Forney sealed the co-angler AOY title with a second-place finish worth $3,543.

Weatherford's Gary Klein is the only Texas pro to qualify for the BASS Elite Series postseason field, which is comprised of the Top 12 points qualifiers after eight events. In July, the 12 pros will compete in back-to-back events in Alabama to decide the 2010 AOY champion.

California's Skeet Reese is currently in the lead with 216 points. His nearest threat is Edwin Evers of Talala, Okla., 201 points.

*

Lockwood promoted to big game post: Mitch Lockwood, a veteran wildlife biologist and white-tailed deer program leader with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, was recently promoted to big game program leader.

Lockwood has been acting as the TPWD's big program leader since January 2009, when former program leader Clayton Wolf was promoted to wildlife division director for the state agency.

---

Share this story:

 Google   Yahoo  digg  del.icio.us   facebook   Slashdot