LEXINGTON, N.C. (May 12, 2025) – Boater Mitch Drew of Gold Hill, North Carolina, caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 10 ounces, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on High Rock Lake. The tournament was the third event of the season for the BFL Piedmont Division. Drew earned $2,648 for his victory. Drew was dialed in on a bream bed pattern at High Rock. He caught most of his fish on a topwater popper, with a few coming on a spinnerbait.
“The bluegills right now are starting to come to the bed on our lake,” he said. “They like shallow flats and sandy bottoms. I just targeted all kinds of sandy bottoms with shallow flats today. You see a lot of bream and sometimes you catch a few. It was just a good day. That’s all you can say about it.”
Staying on the move was key for Drew. He ran from flat to flat, visually hunting the spawning bream, then caught a crucial break midday.
“We had cloud cover, but we had the sun peaking in and out,” he said. “And finally, the sun peaked out a little bit around noon, which brought the bream closer to the top where they were easier to see. I caught a lot of fish between 12 and 1 o’clock. That’s when I caught three of my big fish, too.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Mitch Drew, Gold Hill, N.C., five bass, 22-10, $2,648
2nd: Charles Bowman, Kernersville, N.C., five bass, 21-4, $1,324
3rd: Zac Ridenhour, Salisbury, N.C., five bass, 18-7, $882
4th: Ricky Bomar, Lynchburg, Va., five bass, 16-5, $618
5th: Chad Sims, Lancaster, S.C., five bass, 16-4, $530
6th: Jason Barnes, Concord, N.C., five bass, 16-3, $1,395 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
7th: Jeff Taylor, Long Island, Va., five bass, 15-13, $441
8th: Landon Whicker, Winston-Salem, N.C., five bass, 15-10, $497
9th: David Farrington, Greensboro, N.C., five bass, 15-7, $353
10th: Keith Roberts, Hurt, Va., five bass, 15-5, $309
Jason Barnes of Concord, North Carolina, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $285. David Deciucis of Chester, Virginia, won the co-angler division and $1,324 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 4 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: David Deciucis, Chester, Va., three bass, 14-4, $1,324
2nd: Troy Mitten, Cumberland, Va., three bass, 11-15, $804
3rd: Jason Hinger, Timberlake, N.C., three bass, 11-5, $590
4th: Larry Freeman Jr., La Crosse, Va., three bass, 10-4, $309
5th: Charles Wood, Thomasville, N.C., three bass, 9-13, $265
6th: Kiel Guin, Knoxville, Tenn., three bass, 9-11, $232
6th: James Roten, West Jefferson, N.C., three bass, 9-11, $232
8th: Alex Moss, Lambsburg, Va., three bass, 9-7, $199
9th: Dustan Hudson, Grover, N.C., three bass, 8-8, $177
10th: Grady Stanley, Fuquay-Varina, N.C., three bass, 8-3, $154
Troy Mitten of Cumberland, Virginia, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $142, catching a bass that weighed in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
After three events, Chris Brummett of Lynch Station, Virginia, now leads the Fishing Clash Piedmont Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 721 points, while Derek Stanley of Fuquay Varina, North Carolina, leads the Fishing Clash Piedmont Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 723 points.
The next event for BFL Piedmont Division anglers will be held July 12, at the James River out of Henrico, Virginia.
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