ROGERS -- Fishing from the back of the boat Friday behind Mark Rose of West Memphis, Joey Cifuentes of Clinton caught the third heaviest limit in the Wal-Mart FLW tournament to win the $25,000 co-angler championship Friday at Beaver Lake.
Cifuentes, 27, a cattle rancher, caught five bass weighing 8 pounds, 2 ounces on Thursday, and then he weighed in 17-10 Friday for a total weight of 25-12.
"It was an unbelievable day," Cifuentes said. "I couldn't hardly do anything wrong."
Starting the day with a shaky head jig, a Beaver Lake staple, Cifuentes said he caught a light limit of Kentucky bass Friday. When the wind picked up, he said he switched to a jig and spinnerbait. The switch made a big difference, producing one 5-pounder and another that was just shy of 5 pounds.
Rose, who caught five bass Friday that weighed 13-12, finished the day in 69th place with a total weight of 20-12.
"He was doing the same thing I was," Cifuentes said. "The deal was I was landing it right on the fish. It might have been a matter of hitting them on the head, or maybe making the right cast at the right angle. Sometimes in the back of the boat you get different angles at fish."
Rose got a little anxious over the size fish Cifuentes caught, but he said there was no tension between the two.
"I had 17-10 with 2 hours left to fish," Cifuentes said. "I backed off and let him try to catch bigger fish. He's a class act He was fine.
Sports on 04/16/2016