MUSKOGEE, Okla. (June 24, 2024) – Boater Blake Capps of Muskogee, Oklahoma, caught a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 9 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Bass Fishing League (BFL) on the Arkansas River. The tournament was the fourth event of the season for the BFL Okie Division. Capps earned $10,877, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory. Capps employed simple, shallow-water river fishing tactics to get the win. He also decided not to lock to maximize his fishing time.
“There’s a lot of current on the main Arkansas River,” he said. “I was mainly focusing on the main-river eddies and stuff like that – places for them to kind of slide out of the current – whether that be a rock or bend in the river or laydown.”
Capps kicked off the morning throwing a Heddon Super Spook topwater bait in current seams, primarily around rock jetties. He also caught some on a Gene Larew Biffle Bug in those same areas. The topwater bait produced the biggest fish of the day.
“Later in the day, I went farther downriver, and I made some of my best culls on a Booyah (XCS1 Series) square bill,” he added. “The laydowns were the main thing I was focusing on with the square bill. There was a ton of current right on the logs.”
According to Capps, a depth of 2 feet of water was “deep” for this pattern. And it was clearly a quality bite, as his co-angler, Jeff Corriveau, also came out victorious.
“We caught ’em all day,” Capps said. “It was a lot of fun. It really surprised me there weren’t more people out there doing it with me. I never really had any company wherever I went.
“It was a pretty simple pattern,” he added. “Not a whole lot of rods out on the deck. My front graphs were turned off. I just went fishing. It was all visual stuff, too. It’s nice going to the bank and turning the locaters off and just going fishing.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Blake Capps, Muskogee, Okla., five bass, 20-9, $10,877 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd: Joel Baker, Talala, Okla., five bass, 16-5, $1,408
2nd: Nic Conger, Fort Smith, Ark., five bass, 16-5, $1,823
4th: Dale Andrews, Jay, Okla., five bass, 15-15, $788
5th: Zachery Fowler, Konawa, Okla., five bass, 13-3, $675
6th: Shane Pickett, Rose Hill, Kan., five bass, 13-1, $919
7th: Ian Leybas, McAlester, Okla., five bass, 12-12, $563
8th: Brett Brumnett, Wagoner, Okla., five bass, 12-1, $507
9th: Mike Hesson, Hackett, Ark., five bass, 11-15, $450
10th: Shonn Goodwin, Moore, Okla., five bass, 11-7, $394
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Nic Conger of Fort Smith, Arkansas, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $415. Jeff Corriveau of Owasso, Oklahoma, won the co-angler division and $1,689 Saturday, after bringing four bass to the scale that totaled 12 pounds, 2 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Jeff Corriveau, Owasso, Okla., four bass, 12-2, $1,689
2nd: Thad Hewitt, Delaware, Okla., five bass, 11-14, $944
3rd: Russell Malone, Grove, Okla., four bass, 10-0, $564
4th: David Blankinship, Cushing, Okla., three bass, 9-12, $394
5th: Randy Peoples, Prairie Grove, Ark., three bass, 9-1, $338
6th: Nathan McCartney, Inola, Okla., four bass, 8-0, $310
7th: Charles Covington, Claremore, Okla., three bass, 7-10, $281
8th: Marco Flores, Topeka, Kan., four bass, 7-6, $253
9th: Daniel Payne, Warr Acres, Okla., three bass, 7-5, $225
10th: Lane McCartney, Braggs, Okla., three bass, 6-13, $197
Stephen Vogel of Muenster, Texas, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $207, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 3 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
After four events, Chris M. Jones of Bokoshe, Oklahoma, leads the Fishing Clash Okie Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 965 points, while Alan Hill of Ada, Oklahoma, leads the Fishing Clash Okie Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 936 points.
The next event for BFL Okie Division anglers will be held Sept. 14-15, at Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma.
https://dev.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-arkansa-river-62424.html
Bass Fishing League (BFL) News