BYRDSTOWN, Tenn. (March 18, 2019) – Boater Aaron Singleton of La Grange, Kentucky, brought five bass to the scale Saturday weighing 19 pounds, 5 ounces, to win the FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mountain Division tournament on Dale Hollow Lake. For his catch, Singleton took home $6,319.
“I worked through three or four mid-lake pockets and primarily fished laydowns. I caught fish in 15 to 20 feet of water and ended up with eight keepers,” said Singleton, who earned his first career victory as a boater on Dale Hollow Lake. “At the start of the morning I used a white custom spinnerbait with a white trailer that I’d done well with in practice, but after 9 [a.m.] or so, the sun got up and that bite died off. I switched over to a shaky-head rig and immediately started catching fish. I pretty much upgraded throughout the day.”
Singleton’s shaky-head rig consisted of a green-pumpkin-colored Zoom Trick Worm on a 3/8-ounce Buckeye Lures Spot Remover jig head. He said he ended up weighing four largemouth and one smallmouth – two from the spinnerbait and three from the shaky-head rig. His day was capped off with a 5½-pound smallmouth, which he caught on the shaky-head with 20 minutes left to fish.
“This was an awesome win for me. I got my first win here as a co-angler back in 2007, and now I have my first win as a boater here,” said Singleton.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Aaron Singleton, La Grange, Ky., five bass, 19-5, $4,319 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Dathan Jones, Harrodsburg, Ky., five bass, 18-11, $2,059
3rd: Blake Townsend, Irvine, Ky., five bass, 15-7, $1,374
4th: Robert Reagan, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 14-6, $961
5th: Michael Kennedy, Monroe, Tenn., five bass, 14-2, $924
6th: Pat Eichmann, Nancy, Ky., five bass, 14-0, $1,005
7th: Bryan Drury, Lexington, Ky., five bass, 13-14, $686
8th: Tim Smiley, White Pine, Tenn., five bass, 13-13, $918
9th: Aaron Bidarian, Lexington, Ky., five bass, 13-10, $549
10th: J.B. King, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 13-8, $480
Bennie Mutter of Glasgow, Kentucky, caught a 5-pound, 8-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $565. Travis Parrott of Byrdstown, Tennessee, won the Co-angler Division and $2,259 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 14 pounds, 9 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Travis Parrott, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 14-9, $2,259
2nd: Charles Bennington, Scottsville, Ky., three bass, 11-2, $1,030
3rd: Jeremiah Williams, Livingston, Tenn., three bass, 10-7, $1,019
4th: Matt Smith, Bowling Green, Ky., three bass, 10-0, $480
5th: Justin Davis, Cookeville, Tenn., three bass, 9-9, $412
6th: Glen Ruth, Frankfort, Ky., four bass, 8-5, $378
7th: Darren Kelly, Wartburg, Tenn., four bass, 8-2, $493
8th: Taylor Wisniewski, Lexington, Ky., four bass, 8-0, $309
9th: Shane Vickers, Tyner, Ky., three bass, 7-13, $275
10th: Casey Shearer, Nicholasville, Ky., three bass, 7-9, $240
Williams caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 5 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $282.