Stratton wins on Arkansas River: Sanders wins co-angler title

Darrin Stratton of Russellville, Ark., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 21 pounds, 5 ounces Saturday to win the second Walmart Bass Fishing League Okie Division tournament of 2014 on the Arkansas River. For his victory, Stratton earned $4,948.

Stratton milked one breakline to pick up his first BFL win in the first BFL tournament that he has ever entered. “I caught ‘em on a swimjig,” said Stratton. “I was fishing a little break the fish were moving up on. I had lots of boats around me, it was a community area. I went back and forth all day along a 70-yard stretch in a backwater.”

Stratton said that the water depth on his break was 1- to 2-feet deep, and that he didn’t make a cast in water deeper than 3 feet.

“We probably caught 15 fish. They kept moving in all day. I had three waypoints marked and you could almost count on a fish if you gave them a 15 minute rest.

“I didn’t think I would win,” continued Stratton. “I pre-fished the last two weeks and had one spot where I thought I could catch 40 fish. But it was so shallow that I got stuck on a sandbar and couldn’t get in there.

“It’s pretty exciting to win. I fished tournaments until my son got old enough to play baseball. At that point, I stopped fishing tournaments for six years. He’s not playing travel baseball this year, so I’m getting back into it.”

Rounding out the top 10 pros were:

2nd: Kevin Treece, Fort Smith, Ark., five bass, 19-7, $2,474
3rd: Ed Barton, Vian, Okla., five bass, 19-5, $1,649
4th: Christopher Jones, Bokoshe, Okla., five bass, 18-13, $1,155
5th: Darren Mize, Spiro, Okla., five bass, 17-13, $990
6th: Nick Aber, Piedmont, Okla., five bass, 17-4, $907
7th: Mike Michelson, Altus, Okla., five bass, 17-0, $825
8th: David Youngblood, Owasso, Okla., five bass, 16-15, $742
9th: Jeff Ransom, Muldrow, Okla, five bass, 16-8, $660
10th: Chris McCall, Brookeland, Texas, five bass, 16-7, $577 + $300 Evinrude Bonus

Complete results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.

Steve Sanders of Gore, Okla., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 19 pounds, 12 ounces Saturday to win $2,474 in the co-angler division.

Author: Tom Behrens

Tom Behrens has over 50 years experience in fishing and hunting across the United States. Much of this time was spent in Oklahoma and Texas where he became very familiar with the outdoor opportunities in these states. You may contact him by email at: [email protected]