TRENTON, Mich. (Aug. 26, 2024) – Boater Jerry Arnett of Mexico, Indiana, caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 10 ounces, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Tournament on the Detroit River. The tournament was the fourth event of the season for the BFL Michigan Division. Arnett earned $3,514 for his victory.
In most Detroit River tournaments, anglers have options of staying in the river, running to Lake St. Clair or running to Lake Erie. Typically, the lakes dominate the top of the standings. That didn’t matter to Arnett. He stayed in the river the whole time and fished the way he likes to fish.
“I was fishing a jig, and I had to be moving the bait as slow as possible,” he said. “It’s just my cup of tea of fishing. I’m an old river rat, I guess. I just love fishing the river stuff better.”
In the river, he was able to target smallmouth bass on smaller rocky current breaks, rather than searching them out across vast flats in the lakes. His best areas were close to deep water, near the main river channel.
“They’re just like isolated areas,” he said. “It seems like where the fish congregate.”
Arnett started on his best spot in the morning and caught a limit. Once the fish quit biting there, he hit two other spots before circling back to the starting area and making a couple of crucial culls.
His jig was a simple 1/2-ounce green-pumpkin brush jig matched with various Zoom and beaver-style trailers. Casting a jig is old-school smallmouth fishing, which fits just right for Arnett.
“That’s my favorite way of fishing,” he said.
After 66 BFL tournaments, this is Arnett’s first win. And in every way, he’s the definition of a BFL weekend warrior. Arnett, 68, has been grinding it out in BFL events on a regular basis since 2011, all while managing the paving company he’s owned for 48 years. It’s a business that has him “still out there on the job every day working.”
Of course, this workweek will be a little different. That’s because when the pavers start rolling, they’ll be under the direction of a BFL champ.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Jerry Arnett, Mexico, Ind., five bass, 22-10, $3,514
2nd: Hunter Colwell, Sidney, Ohio, five bass, 21-9, $2,257 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
3rd: Jonathon Dewey, Fort Gratiot, Mich., five bass, 21-2, $1,172
4th: Clayton Reitz, Morton, Ill., five bass, 19-6, $820
5th: Brett Haake, Shorewood, Ill., five bass, 19-1, $673
5th: Nolan Mandel, Harrison Township, Mich., five bass, 19-1, $673
7th: Brandon Cottrell, Germantown, Ohio, five bass, 19-0, $586
8th: Matthew Davis, Morenci, Mich., five bass, 18-14, $527
9th: Ryan Kwiecinski, Oak Forest, Ill., five bass, 18-11, $469
10th: Jeremy Reese, Powell, Ohio, five bass, 18-10, $410
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Matt Nashadka of Massillon, Ohio, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 14 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $450. Bryan Kalen of Mooresville, Indiana, won the co-angler division and $1,995 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that also totaled 22 pounds, 10 ounces.
The top 11 co-anglers finished:
1st: Bryan Kalen, Mooresville, Ind., five bass, 22-10, $1,995
2nd: Tommy Bayer, Cincinnati, Ohio, five bass, 17-13, $886
3rd: Robert Miller, Litchfield, Mich., five bass, 17-4, $591
4th: John Wall, Western Springs, Ill., five bass, 16-14, $414
5th: Scott Davis, Morenci, Mich., five bass, 16-12, $355
6th: Terry Bucciarelli, Ypsilanti, Mich., five bass, 16-8, $575
7th: Greg Shaughnessy, Miami, Fla., five bass, 16-7, $295
8th: Jason Cook, Edwardsburg, Mich., five bass, 15-12, $266
9th: Josh Morrison, Whitehouse, Ohio, five bass, 15-11, $236
10th: Freddy Adkins, East Bernstadt, Ky., five bass, 15-5, $196
10th: Daniel Dumais, Trenton, Mich., five bass, 15-5, $196
Kalen also earned the Big Bass co-angler award of $222, catching a bass that weighed in at 6 pounds, 1 ounce – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
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