Drew Benton’s day-1 result from the Beaver Lake FLW Tour was disqualified on Friday after it was determined he violated the portion of Rule 13 regarding permitted fishing locations during Thursday’s competition.
According to FLW’s press release about day 2 of the tournament, “FLW officials were made aware that Benton fished within 50 feet of a marked No Fishing Zone in a commercial marina on Thursday.”
The area in question is a pocket in the Horseshoe Bend area of the lake. Benton said there were fish on beds in the back of the small pocket, but there were four large covered docks near the mouth of the pocket and a fifth dock that runs parallel to the shore behind them. The four larger docks all had “No Fishing” signs on them, but the last one did not.
Benton said he did not start fishing until he was at least 50 feet past the last corner of the dock parallel to shore.
“I put my trolling motor in the water right as I passed the fourth dock,” he said. “It looked totally different from the other docks. It had plants and decorations on it. To me, it looked like a residential dock.”
He said he didn’t make a cast right away, but he did flick a jerkbait into the water as he untangled the line from the rod guides. He ultimately fished around the bank, catching two bass on a jerkbait and one off a bed before leaving. He finished day 1 with 12-11 and was in 19th place.
When he got to the ramp Friday morning, he was told tournament director Bill Taylor needed to speak with him as another competitor had questioned whether the area Benton was fishing was off limits.
“I showed him where I fished,” Benton said. “I told him (the last dock) wasn’t marked. I swore it was a residential dock. It just looked different in every way compared to the other docks in there.”
Benton asked Taylor for a ruling, but none was made at that point. As blast off for Friday’s competition approached, Benton asked Taylor if he’d take a boat ride to the pocket in question to see for himself. Taylor agreed.
“I took him to where I fished and he saw where there were no signs,” Benton said.
Upon dropping Taylor off at the ramp, Benton said he again asked for a decision and Taylor said he needed to discuss it further with FLW operations vice president Kathy Fennel.
“That’s the thing that disappointed me the most about this process,” Benton said. “He’s the tournament director. He had a chance to give me a decision right there.”
Benton fished the rest of day 2 in limbo, essentially, as he wasn’t sure if his day-1 result would stand or be nullified.
“I wasted 2 hours of fishing time today trying to get it squared away,” he said. “I was all stressed out. I had to fish like I’d zeroed (on Thursday) so I figured I needed to catch 17 or 18 pounds and the only way to do that is to catch big largemouth and the only place to do that is up the river. I fished until 11 and didn’t have a bite. I ran down toward the dam and caught a couple keepers to salvage some points.”
Not until Benton was in the bag line waiting to weigh in did he get confirmation that his day-1 weight had been disqualified. He said Taylor told him he reviewed footage from an FLW iON camera that was mounted on Benton’s boat on Thursday and it showed Benton putting his trolling motor down and flipping the bait in the water prior to making a cast.
“He told me as soon as I put that bait in the water, I was in violation of the rule,” Benton said. “If that’s the case, what about guys checking baits before blast off in the off limits by the ramp?”
Benton said he reached out to Taylor on Friday night to see if there is an appeals option available to him, but FLW rules do not allow for appeals of rulings made by the tournament director.
Benton came into the Beaver Lake event 20th in points following an 8th-place finish at Lewis Smith Lake. The day-1 DQ resulted in him placing 153rd this week, an outcome that will deal a big blow to his Forrest Wood Cup hopes.
“I was on kind of a hot streak with two Top-10s and looking at another one here,” he said. “I could’ve caught another 10 or 12 pounds, but what am I going to do? It is what it is. I’m just going to move on from it.”
