MONTICELLO, Ky. (May 23, 2022) – Boater Jason Akemon of McKee, Kentucky, caught five bass Saturday weighing 16 pounds, 6 ounces, to win the MLF Bass Fishing League tournament on Lake Cumberland . The tournament was the third event for the Bass Fishing League Mountain Division. Akemon earned $5,550 for his victory.
“I went looking for post-spawn largemouth that might be up feeding on shad, but I didn’t find any,” Akemon said. “What I did find was fish on the inside edge of the short pockets on the main lake. If there was mud with big chunk rock, there were smallmouth there. They were stacked up in 10 to 15 feet just sitting there.”
Akemon said he targeted the smallmouth with a Keitech 3.3-inch Swing Impact FAT Swimbait with a ¼-ounce head. He noted they bit well until the sun came out, then shied away. Akemon said he then shifted to a Carolina rig with a Zoom Super Speed Craw to catch his bass. He said he caught 15 fish during the course of the tournament, 10 of which were keepers.
“I had a limit by 10 o’clock and then just started upgrading,” Akemon said. “I won the BFL event on Lake Cumberland in 2018 by sight fishing, which is my strength. But I wanted to win it again.
“A lot of the places I caught fish were places I had been night fishing with my mentor years ago when he was teaching me to fish,” Akemon added. “So this win was pretty sentimental to me.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Jason Akemon, McKee, Ky., five bass, 16-6, $5,550
2nd: Chip Chambers, Elizabethton, Tenn., five bass, 13-15, $2,615
3rd: Eldon Newcomb, Mt. Vernon, Ky., five bass, 13-14, $1,609
4th: Clay Reece, Lexington, Ky., five bass, 13-6, $1,127
5th: Taylor Stumbo, Prestonburg, Ky., five bass, 13-4, $966
6th: Jeff Carman, Liberty, Ky., five bass, 12-7, $804
6th: Michael Morrison, Stamping Ground, Ky., five bass, 12-7, $804
6th: Ryan White, Lancaster, Ky., five bass, 12-7, $1,104
9th: Ryan Davidson, Branchland, W.V., five bass, 11-10, $1,144 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
10th: Bailey Gay, Union, Ky., five bass, 11-8, $563
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Akemon caught a bass weighing 3 pounds, 15 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – earning him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $720. Caleb Chambers of Elizabethton, Tennessee, won the Co-angler Division and $2,515 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 13 pounds, 10 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Caleb Chambers, Elizabethton, Tenn., five bass, 13-10, $2,515
2nd: Ralph Feldman, Lancaster, Ky., five bass, 10-4, $1,207
3rd: James Wheatley, Coxs Creek, Ky., four bass, 10-3, $806
4th: Tobie Ummel, Leitchfield, Ky., three bass, 8-13, $523
4th: Joe Harmeyer, Greensburg, Ind., four bass, 8-13, $523
6th: Lenny Bays, Dayton, Ky., five bass, 8-11, $443
7th: Todd Stopher, London, Ky., four bass, 7-12, $402
8th: Andrew Adams, Science Hill, Ky., three bass, 7-11, $362
9th: Bryan Whittaker, Richmond, Ky., four bass, 7-9, $302
9th: Levi Allgeier, Bardstown, Ky., four bass, 7-9, $302
Barry King of Liberty, Kentucky, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 4 pounds, 8 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $360.
After three events, Tristan Abbott of Somerset, Kentucky, leads the Bass Fishing League Mountain Division Boater Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 725 points, while Todd Stopher of London, Kentucky, leads the Strike King Co-Angler Division AOY race with 710 points.