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May 19, 2012
Brian Maloney Fishes a Black Garneau Baits Slam Stick to Win the 2012 BFL All-American and $120,000!  NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – During his final day on the
Potomac River, Brian Maloney heard Coast Guard vessels cutting through the waves; he heard government helicopters buzzing overhead;
he heard the thunder of a 21-gun salute. Nothing, however, compared to the memorable sound of a standing room only crowd cheering his
victory in the Wal-Mart BFL All-American.After leading the event on days one and two with 15 pounds, 4 ounces and 14-10, the Osage Beach, Mo. boater nabbed a final-round limit that weighed 13-6. His three-day total of 43-4 allowed him to slip past second-place Dick Shaffer by 6 ounces and claim a $120,000 prize. "I still can't believe this," an emotional Maloney said. "I didn't think I had (enough)." All three days, Maloney has leveraged the daily tide schedule by staking out a 75-yard stretch of shallow flats where ditches carved by storm water drains provide natural drop-back areas for fish on outgoing tides. All three tournament days saw outgoing tides from takeoff until early afternoon. Tides advance a little less than an hour each day, so the falling water scenario lasted progressively longer with afternoon incoming cycles starting later each day. While rising water grants fish expanding access to shoreline cover, falling tides pull them away from the shallows and into deeper sanctuaries until the water returns. Comparing tidal fisheries to the seasonal floodwaters of his Midwest home, Maloney noted that the fish get nervous when they don't have sufficient water over their backs. Knowing he'd face outgoing tides through most of the tournament time, he made finding low-water retreats his practice priority. "Those ditches may only be a foot or two deeper than the surrounding flats, but it was enough for them to be comfortable," Maloney said. "When the water started falling off the flats, the fish were coming to me." Although a chartreuse silent crankbait produced some of his fish, the top boater did most of his damage with a black Garneau Baits Slam Stick hand-poured paddle tail worm on a 5/16-ounce football head jig. Maloney said he made long casts on 10-pound fluorocarbon line and used an aggressive presentation to startle and irritate bass into biting.  "I was ripping the Garneau Baits Slam Stick – I wasn't playing with them," he said. "I wanted them to react to it. I was pulling it up off the bottom and hopping it 6-8 inches. I guess you could call it stroking a paddle tail. "I looked around me in practice and everybody was finessing the fish and using green baits. I decided to go with a darker bait and a more aggressive retrieve. What I was doing, I thought was the right thing and it seemed like it turned out pretty good today." With an FLW Tour Major event running concurrently out of National Harbor, the BFL All-American field was restricted to fishing north of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, while Tour anglers fished south. Every day, the All-Americans had to idle past the bridge en route to the check-in point, so the massive pilings presented an option for late-day limit fillers. Maloney said he took advantage of this giant fish-attractor each day of the event. "I made a last-minute decision to run down to the bridge," he said. "Every day I've been getting one that culled out. There's one pillar out there that likes me for some reason. The first two days of the event, every pillar had 10-12 boats around it. The first one I pulled up to I caught three there. It was on the Virginia side, just a couple of pillars off the main channel." Garneau Baits Pro Staff member Tommy Robinson fished the BFL All-American also and finished in 49th place. Tommy qualified for the 2012 BFL All-American by winning his BFL Regional along with a new truck and boat last October (see story below). Story and Photo courtesy of FLW Outdoors and writer David A. Brown October 24, 2011
Garneau Baits Pro Staffer Tommy Robinson Wins BFL Regional, Boat & Truck!  SCOTTSVILLE,
Ky. (Oct. 24, 2011) – Tommy Robinson of Westland, Mich., won the Walmart Bass Fishing League (BFL) Regional on the Barren
River Saturday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 40 pounds, 12 ounces. For his victory, Robinson won a 198VX Ranger boat with
a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor plus a Chevy 1500 Silverado and a berth in the BFL All-American Championship
tournament. This regional tournament featured the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers from the Great Lakes, Hoosier, Illini and Michigan
divisions of the Walmart FLW BFL circuit.
“I was fishing as far back in Peter’s Creek as you could get,” said Robinson. “I was bumpin’ stumps in 3 to 5 feet of water for the entire tournament. I started flipping with an EmGem by Garneau and then changed to Strike King 1.5 crankbaits which is what I caught most of my big fish on. There were a lot of guys fishing in the creek but they were mostly using jigs and flipping soft plastics. I was the only one throwing a crankbait. “I literally paddled my way to the championship,” Robinson continued. “On the last day I lost my trolling motor so had to use a wooden paddle to keep me in my key area. No one fished the creek on the final day with me and I knew I had a pretty good chance of winning when on my second cast I caught a 3-pounder. I knew then that the area had replenished and I had a good shot at winning. Garneau Baits congratulates pro staff member Tommy Robinson on his great achievement!  August 10, 2011 Ben Neilson, Garneau Pro Staffer, won the Lake Drive North tournament on Muskegon Lake July 31st, and overall was Angler of the Year of the Northern Division. August 6th at the White Lake BBT tournament in Whitehall Michigan, Garneau Pro Staffer Ben Neilson placed 2nd and Garneau Pro Staffer Luke Gritter placed 3rd. March 23, 2011 Garneau Baits custom dye sublimated tournament jerseys now available in 3 different exciting pattern styles, and short sleeve, long sleeve shirts or a hoodie. You can purchase them as is or add your own sponsor logos to any of the styles. Check out Garneau Baits Tournament Jerseys for details. |
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May 3, 2009 In early 2009 Garneau Baits proudly sponsored their first Elite Series Angler, Luke Gritter. Luke is 21 years old and is the youngest pro on the Elite tour. He qualified for the Elite Series in his first year trying. Click here to read the article "The Youngest Elite" on espn.com
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