Bradford Beavers of Ridgeville, S.C. won the FLW Series Championship at Kentucky Lake on Saturday with a 14-15 stringer that gave him a three-day total of 45-12. His winning margin over runner-up Todd Hollowell was more than 12 pounds.
Beavers weighed the day's only limit. The other nine finalists scaled only eight fish between them. Bryan Thrift, the reigning FLW Tour Angler of the Year who caught 27 1/2 pounds on day 1, blanked on the final day.
“I’m speechless – I can’t believe I won one of these events,” said Beavers, who will return to the Forrest Wood Cup for the second consecutive year. “I’ve been in the top 10 in four of these, and my fish have always fallen off on the last day. It’s unbelievable.”
The field faced incredibly difficult conditions on Kentucky Lake this week. Bites were scarce and the weather wasn’t very cooperative. The top 10 endured a fog delay at Saturday morning’s takeoff that lasted nearly 2 hours. Despite the setbacks, Beavers was able to bring in consistent limits of around 15 pounds each day and vault to the top of the standings after the third and final day of competition.
Beavers spent his week fishing shallow bars on the main lake, just north of New Johnsonville. He said he worked through three areas, with two producing the bulk of his weight.
“I wanted to fish down there because I saw it had more shallow water and that’s where the grass used to be, from what I’ve read,” said Beavers. “I think they were community holes because a lot of people were fishing them. I tried to slow down and get on stretches where people fished for like five minutes before moving on.
“The sweet spots were about 35 yards long and had deep water nearby, I don’t think I caught a fish in more than 1 1/2 to 2 feet of water all week. I had to run my trolling motor on 25 (slow) just to keep from spooking them. It’s hard to be that stealthy in shallow water, but I tried to take advantage of the wind and let it push me.”
Beavers said he caught 90 percent of his fish this week on one lure – a bone and chrome-colored Heddon Zara Spook. He also threw a River2Sea Whopper Plopper, a Cotton Cordell Red Fin and a pearl white-colored Zoom Magnum Fluke.
“The ticket for me today was adding a treble hook to the fluke,” he said. “I caught one and lost three, but after I attached the treble hook it was on.”
The top finisher from each of the six FLW Series divisions who qualified for the 2018 Forrest Wood Cup were:
> Southeastern: Bradford Beavers, Ridgeville, S.C., (1st overall)
> Southwestern: John Soukup, Agra, Okla., (6th)
> Central: Todd Hollowell, Fishers, Ind., (2nd)
> Northern: Bill Chapman, Salt Roci, W.V. (10th)
> Western: Brent Shores, Boise, Idaho (14th)
> International: Michael Mathee, Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa (9th)
Additionally, the overall top 5 finishers who were not the highest finisher in their division also qualified for next year' Cup. Those five anglers were:
> 3rd: Larry Stoafer, Leavenworth, Kan.
> 4th: Tim Fox, Meridian, Miss.
> 5th: Chad Foster, Pequot Lakes, Minn.
> 8th: Jason Abram, Piney Flats, Tenn.
> 11th: Sheldon Collings, Grove, Okla.
