APPLING, Ga. (June 30, 2025) – Boater Andy Wicker of Cayce, South Carolina, caught a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 12 ounces, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Clarks Hill Lake. The tournament was the fourth event of the season for the BFL Savannah River Division. Wicker earned $4,259 for his victory.
For Wicker, the shallow bite never really happened. And while he wanted to go chase suspended schoolers, he never really unlocked how to catch big fish using that approach. So, with a three-bass limit in effect for this tournament, he decided to slow down and go fish with confidence for a few good bites using an old-school approach.
“I was basically just throwing a worm around,” he said. “I caught the big one (a 6-pound, 10-ounce bass) out of a brush pile. The other ones were just on stereotypical summer places – rocks and brush mostly. I started dragging a worm around old-school style.
“The three-fish limit I think was pretty key,” he added. “I don’t know that I would’ve done what I did with a five-fish limit. I probably would’ve wanted to chase schooling fish or suspended fish. It (the three-fish limit) makes it easier mentally to just go throw a big worm and get three bites.”
In most brush pile events, Wicker prefers to have a big milk run. But he only had a half-day to practice. So he stuck to one primary area, running from target to target with a Zoom Ol’ Monster.
“I got a fair amount of bites,” he added. “I guess it was tough and it wasn’t. I have a couple brush piles that are really good, but outside of those there’s a lot of dead brush. So you can go a long time in between bites.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Andy Wicker, Cayce, S.C., three bass, 14-12, $4,259
2nd: Wesley Sandifer, Chapin, S.C., three bass, 12-9, $1,840
3rd: Dan Geurtsen, Chapin, S.C., three bass, 12-0, $1,225
4th: Eric Allen, Powder Springs, Ga., three bass, 11-10, $859
5th: Lane Parker, Waleska, Ga., three bass, 10-13, $736
6th: Greg Rikard, Leesville, S.C., three bass, 10-10, $1,300 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contginency Bonus)
7th: Caleb Sheldon, West Columbia, S.C., three bass, 10-7, $613
8th: Bart Blackburn, North Augusta, S.C., three bass, 10-5, $552
9th: Matt O'Connell, Brooks, Ga., three bass, 9-14, $491
10th: Michael Wilson, Burnsville, N.C., three bass, 9-13, $429
Wicker caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $480. Tim Chadwick of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, won the co-angler division and $1,840 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 9 pounds, 6 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Tim Chadwick, Mount Pleasant, S.C., three bass, 9-6, $1,840
2nd: Gibson Huntley, Inman, S.C., three bass, 8-6, $920
3rd: Jeff Rikard, Leesville, S.C., three bass, 7-1, $520
3rd: Dwayne Parton, Anderson, S.C., three bass, 7-1, $520
5th: James Akins, Cumming, Ga., three bass, 6-15, $352
5th: Ashton Mabery, Wellford, S.C., three bass, 6-15, $352
7th: Jason Wood, Windsor, S.C., three bass, 6-10, $307
8th: Chase Gurkin, Simpsonville, S.C., three bass, 6-8, $276
9th: Jackson Williams, Keysville, Ga., three bass, 6-6, $245
10th: Benjie Winkler, Cleveland, Ga., three bass, 5-14, $215
Joe Smith of Sardis, Georgia, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $240, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 12 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
After four events, Lane Parker of Waleska, Georgia, now leads the Fishing Clash Savannah River Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 963 points, while Rusty Odom of Simpsonville, South Carolina, leads the Fishing Clash Savannah River Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 965 points.
The next event for BFL Savannah River Division anglers will be held Sept. 27-28, at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-clarks-hill-63025.html
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