SCOTTSVILLE, Ky. (June 24, 2024) – Boater Cole Logsdon of Brownsville, Kentucky, caught a three-bass limit weighing 12 pounds, 4 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Barren River. The tournament was the fourth event of the season for the BFL Mountain Division. Logsdon earned $3,418 for his victory.
In the Barren River Lake event, anglers were limited to weighing three fish. Add in a field of more than 80 boaters on a small reservoir, and it was almost a guarantee that weights would be tight in this tournament. Logsdon overcame those challenges by relying on a ton of experience on the lake.
“I live 20 minutes down the road,” he said. “I’ve spent a lot of time out on Barren River over the years. Especially, I’ve had a lot of help over the years from some people who mentored me. That kind of came into play with the late boat draw I had. Some of the history stuff I had was the deal. I got lucky because I was the second-to-last boat out and I couldn’t get on a lot of my stuff.”
Logsdon spent most of his practice scanning the lake for offshore schools. He didn’t even take rods with him for practice. In the tournament, he started the morning by running to one of his better areas only to find another boat there. When he shifted to his second spot – a shallow drop – Logsdon found the type of school he’d been hunting for all through practice.
“I eased up the lake, set the trolling motor down and there they were,” he said. “I knew it was about to go down right then. I got right in a hurry.
“It’s a place that we’ve fished for a long time, and when they get there, they get there. It’s a place I knew, but it’s a place I wasn’t expecting the fish to be there. I sat there for probably 45 minutes.”
After he left that area, Logsdon started running and gunning. He figures he deployed the trolling motor 40 to 50 times throughout the day and wound up making some key culls that bumped up his three-fish limit to more than a pound better than second place.
“I knew with 80 boats it was going to be a packed house, and these guys are so good I knew they were going to find a lot,” Logsdon said. “I just got lucky and got on a spot I knew and they were there, and it worked out in my favor.”
Logsdon’s key lures were a homemade football-head jig, a Strike King 6XD crankbait and a Stealth Lures umbrella rig with 6th Sense 3.2-inch Divine Swimbaits.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Cole Logsdon, Brownsville, Ky., three bass, 12-4, $3,418
2nd: Dathan Jones, Harrodsburg, Ky., three bass, 11-0, $1,709
3rd: Michael Morrison, Stamping Ground, Ky., three bass, 10-15, $1,263
4th: Trent Suratt, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., three bass, 10-14, $798
5th: Josh Boone, Richmond, Ky., three bass, 10-13, $655
5th: Christopher O’Bryan, Harned, Ky., three bass, 10-13, $1,075
7th: Lee Sinclair, Albany, Ky., three bass, 10-7, $570
8th: Isaac Peavyhouse, Jamestown, Tenn., three bass, 10-4, $513
9th: Grant Adams, Campbellsville, Ky., three bass, 9-12, $456
10th: Clint Brodsky, Burlington, Ky., three bass, 9-7, $1,199 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Christopher O’Bryan of Harned, Kentucky, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 8 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $420. Johnny Suratt of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, won the co-angler division and $1,709 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 8 pounds, 14 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Johnny Suratt, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., three bass, 8-14, $1,709
2nd: Robert Pepiot III, Lexington, Ky., three bass, 8-12, $712
2nd: Devin Brown, Richmond, Ky., three bass, 8-12, $712
4th: Chevy King, Russell Springs, Ky., three bass, 8-10, $609
5th: Josh Smith, Williamsburg, Ky., three bass, 7-6, $342
6th: Jerry Wittmer, Shepherdsville, Ky., three bass, 7-3, $313
7th: Dan Basham, Taylorsville, Ky., three bass, 6-15, $285
8th: Jeff Johnston, Nashville, Tenn., three bass, 6-11, $256
9th: Ben Carter, Lancaster, Ky., three bass, 6-5, $228
10th: Pete Balishin, Sharps Chapel, Tenn., three bass, 6-1, $349
Chevy King of Russell Springs, Kentucky, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $210, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 3 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
After four events, Michael Morrison of Stamping Ground, Kentucky, leads the Fishing Clash Mountain Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 969 points, while Johnny Suratt of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, leads the Fishing Clash Mountain Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 949 points.
The next event for BFL Mountain Division anglers will be held Sept. 14-15, at Lake Cumberland in Monticello, Kentucky.
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