FLW Outdoors
Published June 22, 2009

WINNECONNE, Wis. (June 22, 2009) – Clayton Reitz of Morton, Ill., won the Walmart Bass Fishing League® Great Lakes Division tournament on Lake Winneconne Saturday with a five-bass catch weighing 15 pounds, 9 ounces. The victory earned Reitz $4,472 and placed him one step closer to qualifying for the Fort Madison Regional Championship in Fort Madison, Iowa, Oct. 1-3, where he could ultimately win a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck.

Reitz said he caught his fish by flipping a 4-inch brown tube in the West Poygan area.

Rounding out the top five boaters are Brady Farrell of Fort Atkinson, Wis. (five bass, 13-8, $1,864); Bill Frisk of Holmen, Wis. (five bass, 13-8, $1,864); Bradley Ksionek of Wausau, Wis. (five bass, 12-9, $1,043); and Paul Trudeau of Huntley, Ill. (five bass, 12-5, $894).

Frisk won the Boater Division Big Bass award, earning $650 for a 4-pound, 4-ounce bass.

Mark McCartney of Rochelle, Ill., earned $2,157 as the co-angler winner Saturday thanks to five bass weighing 13 pounds, 2 ounces.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Ronald Syverson of La Crosse, Wis. (five bass, 11-4, $1,079); Dave Robel of Muscoda, Wis. (five bass, 10-9, $717); Nick Kasten of Lake Geneva, Wis. (five bass, 9-13, $503); and Arden Damberg of Wheatland, Iowa. (five bass, 9-11, $431).

Ken Haslam of Mukwonago, Wis., earned $305 as the co-angler Big Bass winner after catching a 3-pound, 9-ounce bass.

The next Great Lakes Division event will be held on the Mississippi River in Prairie Du Chien, Wis., July 18.

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 no-entry-fee Regional Championship where boaters fish for a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck and co-anglers fish for a new Ranger boat. Seven regional championships will each send six boaters and six co-anglers to the no-entry-fee Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy, 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. Anglers who compete in all five regular-season events within a division but do not advance to a Regional Championship are eligible to compete in the Chevy Wild Card, which will also send six boaters and six co-anglers to the All-American for a total of 48 boaters and 48 co-anglers advancing through BFL competition.

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. In all, the BFL offers weekend anglers the opportunity to qualify for three no-entry-fee championships with total cash awards exceeding $3.5 million. Plus, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers from each BFL division may move up to the Stren Series™ for 2010 while All-American champions have the option to advance directly to the Walmart FLW Tour®.

In BFL competition, boaters supply the boat and compete from the front deck against other boaters. Co-anglers compete from the back deck against other co-anglers.

As the nation’s leading provider of affordable, close-to-home weekend tournaments, the BFL is widely credited with opening competitive bass fishing to the masses. It also serves as a steppingstone for anglers who wish to advance to the Stren Series and ultimately the FLW Tour – bass fishing’s most lucrative tournament circuit.

Total awards are based on a full field of 200 boats in every tournament.

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.




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