While practicing for the Gator Division BFL season opener on Okeechobee in early January, a buddy asked Ben Townend if he would mount a 10-pounder if he caught one.

“Yeah,” he quuipped, “if you loan me the money.”

Ironically, Townend hauled in a 10-pound, 2-ounce behemoth largemouth to ice his first win in BFL competition and he’d love nothing better than to have to find the money to mount it’s twin after the second Gator BFL on the Big O this Saturday.

“They’ve been catching some big ones,” said Townend. “Val Osinski caught a 9-pound, 10-ounce bass in the Rayovac FLW Series Southeastern Division tournament last weekend.” (Osinski, of Pompano Beach, Fla., weighed in a three-day total of 15 bass at a whopping 70 pounds, 8 ounces, to win $40,000 for first place.)

“I can’t recall them catching big ones like that on the south end of the lake in the last few years, but it shows just how good the fishery is,” Townend said.

While he and Osinski both won on the south end, Townend said the wild card in Saturday’s tournament could be the matted vegetation on the north end of the lake.

“The water is warming up a little bit, but the problem is the wind has been blowing north to northwest for about four days and I think it is going to blow like that all through the tournament. That is definitely going to have an effect on the south end of the lake, so people will have to adjust.”

Hedging his bets, Townend practiced on the north end of the lake last weekend and did well, he said.

“It will probably be a game time decision. I will probably run down south first thing in the morning, then I might be on the north end in the afternoon,” he said. “Most of the guys have been getting on the fish first thing in the morning. The fish have been real active early and then the bite slows down in the afternoon. The last few weeks the winning bags have been coming out before 11 o’clock.”

Townend, 23, has had a spotty career in BFL competition, mainly because his job keeps him from practicing and sometimes from being able to participate in a tournament, he said.

“I own an ice company in Boynton Beach. Last year I got a huge order for ice and had to work seven days a week, so I never had time to do any pre-fishing. I did fish the first one last year because I was already entered, but did not get to pre-fish, and I pretty much bombed in that one.”

This year is a little different, he said. He has had time to practice most every weekend and it showed in that first BFL when he won it.

“The lake is only 45 minutes from my home and with all of them begin on Okeechobee I can fish them all.”

He will be fishing for another huge lunker in every one of the tournament, he said. After all, he has already got a spot on the wall next to that first 10-pounder.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings in BFL divisions will qualify for the Oct. 8-10 Regional Championship on Lake Sinclair in Milledgeville, Ga. 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.

 

Walmart BFL – Gator Division

Sat, Jan 31, 2015

Lake Okeechobee

Roland Martin Marina & Resort

www.flwoutdoors.com