Boater Dicky Newberry of Houston, Texas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 3 ounces, to win Sunday’s rescheduled T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Cowboy Division event on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. For his finish, Newberry won $8,965.

“I started out fishing shallower ridges, but ended up catching staging females in drains,” said Newberry. “It took a little while to figure them out. Around 11 a.m. I worked through a drain that ran up the side of a point in deeper water. There was some scattered grass on the bottom, and I think there were females in there staging getting ready to move up to spawn.”
Newberry said the drain was around 100 feet wide and 12 feet down, and that he used a ¾-ounce red Rat-L-Trap and a Carolina-rigged lizard to catch his fish.

“I thoroughly fished the drain with both and caught 3 keepers,” said Newberry. “After that I ran to 10 or 12 different spots that looked similar to it, finding fish in over half of them. A lot of my day was about knowing where those additional drains were. I think a lot of people have a tendency to stay put if they start catching them, but I continued to move after those three bites.”

Newberry’s day was capped off with a 7-pounder at the last drain he visited, which he caught using the Rat-L-Trap.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Dicky Newberry, Houston, Texas, five bass, 22-3, $6,965 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Joe Beebee, The Woodlands, Texas, five bass, 21-3, $2,983
3rd: Skeeter Fowler, Grand Saline, Texas, five bass, 20-7, $2,222
4th: Justin O`Brian Cooper, Pelican, La., five bass, 19-1, $1,345
5th: Victor Hawkins, Sugar Land, Texas, five bass, 18-15, $1,153
6th: Brandon Thrash, Downsville, La., five bass, 17-12, $1,057
7th: Bobby Vice, Groves, Texas, five bass, 17-10, $961
8th: Jeff Wooldridge, Chandler, Texas, five bass, 17-9, $865
9th: Keith Suire Jr, DeRidder, La., five bass, 17-7, $769
10th: Richard Ballard, Sulphur, La., five bass, 17-2, $673

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Scotty Villiness of Ponca, Arkansas, caught a bass weighing 8 pounds, 13 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $940.

Ben Faucheaux of Natchitoches, Louisiana, won the Co-angler Division and $2,883 Sunday after catching a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 15 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Ben Faucheaux, Natchitoches, La., five bass, 17-15, $2,883
2nd: Ronnie Talbot, Mexia, Texas, five bass, 17-4, $1,441
3rd: Robert Royal, Vidor, Texas, five bass, 16-9, $1,430
4th: Jacob Brown, Center Point, La., five bass, 14-12, $673
5th: Christopher Chautin, Zwolle, La., five bass, 14-3, $577
6th: Carl Broussard, Logansport, La., five bass, 13-12, $504
6th: Fred Martin, North Little Rock, Ark., five bass, 13-12, $604
8th: Jeffrey Grubbs, Goodrich, Texas, five bass, 13-6, $408
8th: Skye Ball, Lumberton, Texas, five bass, 13-6, $408
10th: Stetson Overton, Irving, Texas, five bass, 13-2, $306
10th: Tanner Mizell, Many, La., five bass, 13-2, $356
10th: Cedric Jackson, Sicily Island, La., five bass, 13-2, $356
Royal caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a 7-pound, 5-ounce fish. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $470.