Rickey Morris finishes strong on final day to claim victory at )the Strike King NPFL Stop Two on Millwood Lake (Photo: NPFL/ Tanner & Travis Lyons)
Justin Brouillard
NPFL Press Release
After two steady days to start the event, Rickey Morris saved his best for last, capitalizing on
a key early window to claim the win at the Strike King NPFL Stop Two on
Millwood Lake. His three-day total of 48-pounds was enough to best second place
by a pound and earn his first NPFL shield.
Morris opened the event with 13-14 on a slower Day One and
followed it up with 14-4 on Day Two, steadily learning more about his areas. On
Championship Saturday, everything came together. He got going early and never
looked back, making the jump from around 16th place after Day Two to seal the
victory.
After a slow Day One for big fish, NPFL anglers saw what
lives in Millwood on Day Two. Big Bass honors went to Jared Lintner with a 9-0
kicker. Behind him, Hank Cherry weighed in an 8-2 giant as well.
Morris Makes His Move
Despite only coming to Millwood once before this event,
Rickey Morris knew he had to learn the lake before he could really start
fishing. So that’s what he did, running boat lanes, checking creeks, and
figuring out how to navigate for the week. Then came fishing.
“When I finally dropped the motor on Day One of practice,
the first thing I wanted to find was a shad spawn, and I looked for it all
over,” said Morris. “I had found a few places on the main lake, but heard there
had been some activity up the river, so I explored there too.”
With the shad spawn dialed, he knew he needed more. Despite
not getting a bite flipping all week, he locked a punch rod in his hand and
went to work on Tuesday, the final day of practice.
“I found an area and flipped in a few times and my line swam
off,” he said. “But I never set the hook. Later that day, I figured I might
want to know what the quality was, so I went back. Five flips later, I caught a
9.92. That was it — I got off the water and called it practice.”
After two consistent days, Morris again knew he needed more.
By 9 a.m. this morning, his shad spawn bite had died, but not before he caught
a 17.5-pound limit, a solid way to kick off Showdown Saturday. Still not
satisfied, he knew a few key bites would make the difference.
“I was flipping this afternoon and I knew something was up,”
he added. “The NPFL asked for my location, and then a camera boat showed up. I
knew then I might have a shot to win. I was fishing pencil reeds and came to a
rounded clump. I culled up with one fish slightly, but it clued me in.”
By the end of the day, Morris had fished every rounded clump he could find and worked his way to an almost 20-pound limit. He flipped junebug in practice but switched to white on Day Three, which made all the difference.
“I can’t even describe it, really,” he said. “I made good
decisions and things worked out this week. Even better, my family, my girls;
they all got to be here with me. Everyone behind the scenes, it was truly an
amazing week.”
Lintner Punches His Way to Second
While Day One was not what Jared Lintner was hoping for, his event actually
started even worse. Coming into practice on Sunday, an illness kept him
sidelined, giving him only about a day and a half to explore Millwood. While
not ideal to have limited time on a new body of water, he made the most of it.
“I had done some research like everyone else using Google
and such, and I also used the Deep Dive App,” he said. “I basically prepped for
a shallow spring event, but I didn’t prepare for being sick. I finally got on
the lake late Monday morning and basically just rode the whole lake and learned
how to navigate.”
When he did start fishing, a few key bites on a buzzbait
clued him into a pattern. Seeing both shallow and deeper vegetation, he
expanded to a punching bite, eventually using both to earn a second-place
finish.
“I think overall I caught four fish on the buzzbait and 11
on the punch rig,” he said. “That’s exactly how I like to fish. After a slower
Day One, where I was still figuring things out, I decided to mix it up. I
started on a big fish spot, caught a good one, and eventually landed the 9-0 on
a buzzbait.”
That fish earned him Big Bass honors for the week and
anchored his comeback. Once he got into a groove, he was able to generate bites
consistently.
“Today, I couldn’t get them to bite the buzzbait at all, so
I went straight to punching and got going early,” he added. “I noticed where
they were set up and remembered similar-looking areas from practice — the first
quarter mile leading into the sloughs. I narrowed it down, and if it had the
right depth and grass, I could get bites.”
While his slow start in practice and on Day One hurt his
chances at the win, Lintner is taking the positives, leaving Texarkana with
solid points, a strong finish and a second-place paycheck.
“You always want more practice, but sometimes too much can
make you overlook what’s right in front of you,” he said. “Being sick made it
tough, and I probably would have figured things out sooner, but it is what it
is. It was a grind, but it worked out.”
Final Results:
1 Rickey Morris 48-0
2 Jared Lintner 47-0
3 Brock Mosley 46-12
4 Shane Lineberger 45-2
5 Matt Herren 44-15
6 Barron Adams 43-12
7 Ryan Satterfield 43-5
8 Ray Hanselman 43-1
9 Keith Bardolf 42-11
10 Greg Hackney 41-7
11 Zack Birge 41-7
12 Tim Cales 41-5
13 Scott Wiley 41-4
14 Buddy Gross 41-4
15 Brandon Cobb 41-0
16 Wes Logan 40-14
17 Andrew Upshaw 40-6
18 K.J. Queen 40-5
19 Cliff Crochet 40-3
20 Hank Cherry 40-0
21 Timothy Reams 40-0
22 Darrell Davis 39-15
23 Jason Williamson 39-14
24 Luke Clausen 39-12
25 Chad Grigsby 39-6
26 Brad Whatley 39-1
27 Gerald Spohrer 39-1
28 Nick Brown 38-11
29 Mitchell Webb 38-11
30 Randall Tharp 38-8
31 Gerald Swindle 38-4
32 Andy Morgan 38-1
33 Logan Latuso 38-0
34 John Cox 36-14
35 Craig Chambers 36-11
36 Jason Meninger 36-10
37 Jason Burroughs 36-6
38 Wesley Gore 35-14
39 Alex Davis 35-3
40 Kyle Glasgow 34-13
41 Patrick Walters 34-8
42 Hunter Sales 34-5
43 Paul Browning 34-4
44 Harmon Davis 34-3
45 Scott Suggs 33-10
46 Todd Goade 33-9
47 Joey Bloom 33-9
48 Jon Canada 33-8
49 Derek Lehtonen 33-7
50 JT Russell 33-6
51 Greg Vinson 33-5
52 Alton Wilhoit 33-4
53 Jacob Powroznik 32-13
54 Scott Canterbury 32-13
55 Mike Quinlin 32-7
56 Garrett Smith 32-2
57 Joseph Lineberry 31-14
58 William Fletcher 31-7
59 Richard Cooper 31-6
60 Todd Auten 31-3
61 Russ Lane 31-3
62 David Williams 31-2
63 Kevin Rogers 31-0
64 Quentin Cappo 30-9
65 Charlie Apperson 30-8
66 Bill Lowen 30-6
67 Hunter Baughman 30-5
68 Corey Casey 30-0
69 Tim Frederick 29-15
70 Bob Behrle 29-14
71 Brad Staley 29-13
72 James Niggemeyer 29-10
73 James Watson 29-5
74 Travis Jewell 29-3
75 Bo Collins 28-12
76 Jason Reyes 28-2
77 J Todd Tucker 27-13
78 Drew Cook 26-15
79 Matthew McBee 26-15
80 Jordan Osborne 26-8
81 Jamie Pierce 26-6
82 Chris Baker 25-13
83 Fred Roumbanis 25-10
84 Josh Hooks 25-3
85 T-Roy Broussard 24-10
86 Austin Garland 24-8
87 Bill Day 24-4
88 Christopher Whisenant 24-3
89 Chad Marler 23-15
90 Gary Adkins 23-14
91 Dustin Williamson 22-10
92 Timothy Wilson 22-7
93 John Cox (GA) 21-11
94 Lendell Martin 20-15
95 Ron Johnson 20-11
96 David Wootton 19-10
97 Josh Butler 19-7
98 Dustin Reneau 19-6
99 Adam Savage 18-1
100 Chip Harrington 18-0
101 Josh Watkins 17-11
102 Paul Hodges 17-6
103 Stacey James 17-5
104 Darrel Robertson 16-1
105 Harry Moore 14-10
106 Pete Ponds 14-6
107 Scott Hamrick 14-2
108 Michael Comeau 14-0
109 Johnnie Adams 13-14
110 Jason Wilson 11-14
111 Dylan Freeze 10-7
112 Lavoyd Lemmond 9-12
113 Sean Alvarez 9-8
114 Troy Roder 8-15
115 Cole Harris 8-7
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