GLASGOW, Ky. (Oct. 23, 2017) – Boater Eric Sanders of Lexington, Kentucky, caught a three-day cumulative total of 12 bass weighing 33 pounds, 10 ounces, to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Regional tournament on the Barren River. Sanders earned $65,000 for his efforts, including a new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and automatic entry into the 2018 BFL All-American Championship. Sanders spent the weekend targeting brush piles and deep rock about 25 feet deep. He said his best brush was located off the ends of bluffs outside main-lake pockets.
“The (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers started the winter drawdown about a week ago, and it kind of screwed up the shallow bite,” said Sanders, who earned his first career victory in FLW competition. “I just knew I had to fish out deep.”
All week, Sanders slowly dragged a 1/2-ounce Stan Sloan’s Zorro Bait Co. Booza Brush Bug jig. He used a Strike King Rage Twin Tail Menace Grub trailer Thursday and Friday, and a Zoom Twin Tail Grub trailer on Saturday.
“As soon as you felt rock or wood with the jig and pulled off of it, that’s when they ate it,” said Sanders. “You had to feel the cover – that was crucial.”
The top six boaters that qualified for the 2018 BFL All-American were:
1st: Eric Sanders, Lexington, Ky., 12 bass, 33-10, $65,000
2nd: Tim Rhoades, Bowling Green, Ky., 14 bass, 33-2, $10,000
3rd: Clint Bissonett, Beavercreek, Ohio, 12 bass, 27-1, $5,200
4th: Jack Dalzell, Elyria, Ohio, 12 bass, 27-0, $3,100
5th: Kyle Weisenburger, Ottawa, Ohio, 11 bass, 25-11, $2,000
6th: Brad Leifermann, Andover, Minn., 11 bass, 25-3, $1,800
Rounding out the top-10 boaters were:
7th: Ronny Webb, Dyersburg, Tenn., 10 bass, 25-2, $1,600
8th: Dick Shaffer, Rockford, Ohio, 11 bass, 24-11, $1,400
9th: Brandon Houston, Burlington, Ky., 11 bass, 24-7, $1,200
10th: Heath Wagner, Angola, Ind., 12 bass, 23-15, $1,000
Jim Stone of Greenwood, Indiana, won the Co-angler Division and a new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard with a three-day cumulative catch of eight bass weighing 23 pounds, 5 ounces.
The top six co-anglers that qualified for the 2018 BFL All-American were:
1st: Jim Stone, Greenwood, Ind., eight bass, 23-5, $45,100
2nd: Philip Borsa, Redford, Mich., 11 bass, 20-2, $5,000
3rd: Andrew Gilliland, McArthur, Ohio, nine bass, 16-9, $2,500
4th: Danny Nicklin, Highland, Ill., eight bass, 15-9, $1,500
5th: Paul Vonwald, La Crosse, Wis., five bass, 14-11, $1,000
6th: Joseph Gulash, Edwardsville, Ill., five bass, 14-2, $900
Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers were:
7th: James Wathen, Royal Oak, Mich., six bass, 13-1, $800
8th: Mark Saunders, Medina, Ohio, six bass, 12-2, $700
9th: David Dieling, Eddyville, Ky., five bass, 11-5, $600
10th: Hunter Fillmore, Waynesville, Ohio, five bass, 11-5, $550