Brumnett Wins Bass Fishing League Tournament on Fort Gibson Lake

July 11, 2022
BFL News Archive

WAGONER, Okla. (July 11, 2022) – Boater Brett Brumnett of Wagoner, Oklahoma, caught three bass Saturday weighing 13 pounds, 15 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Tournament on Fort Gibson Lake . The tournament was the fourth event for the Bass Fishing League Okie Division. Brumnett earned $12,199, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

“I started out fishing mid-lake throwing a (River2Sea) Whopper Plopper, and I caught a keeper on it early,” Brumnett said. “So, I fished there for the first couple of hours and then moved to the upper end of the lake and started fishing laydowns and stumps. I ended up catching two more keepers up there flipping a Gene Larew Biffle Bug and a 10-inch Berkley Powerbait Power Worm. Then I finished the day fishing rock piles and upgraded twice.

“I probably caught 15 fish, and 12 of those were keepers,” Brumnett added. “I pulled up on one of my rock piles and caught a 4½-pounder and that put me at about 12 pounds at that time. I hit a few more of my spots and didn’t get any bites, so I went back to that rock pile with 20 minutes to go and caught another 4½-pounder off of it.”

Brumnett’s win was his second BFL victory on Fort Gibson Lake. His first came in 2017.

“The lake’s been fishing tough, and I had two sons who fished on the boater side, so I had to work around them,” Brumnett added with a laugh. His son, Eli, finished sixth in the event, and son Tate placed 33rd.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

                1st:        Brett Brumnett, Wagoner, Okla., three bass, 13-15, $12,199 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
                2nd:       Sheldon Collings, Grove, Okla., three bass, 13-6, $2,100
                3rd:       Dillon Roberts, Claremore, Okla., three bass, 12-8, $1,983
                4th:        Brent Homan, Graham, Texas, three bass, 12-3, $910
                4th:        Wyatt Ryan, Ada, Okla., three bass, 12-3, $910
                6th:        Eli Brumnett, Wagoner, Okla., three bass, 11-11, $770
                7th:        Steven McLarty, Broken Arrow, Okla., three bass, 11-6, $700
                8th:        Nick Kincaid, Coweta, Okla., three bass, 11-2, $830
                9th:        Lane Kindle, Stilwell, Okla., three bass, 10-14, $560
                10th:     Jason Horton, Eucha, Okla., three bass, 10-4, $490

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Roberts caught a largemouth that weighed 5 pounds, 5 ounces that was the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $585. Doug Thompson of Mabelvale, Arkansas, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $2,100 Saturday after catching three bass weighing 10 pounds even.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:

                1st:        Doug Thompson, Mabelvale, Ark., three bass, 10-0, $2,100
                2nd:       Nathan Christie, Claremore, Okla., three bass, 9-0, $1,050
                3rd:       Chip Porche, Bixby, Okla., three bass, 8-8, $701
                4th:        Harold Frazier, Okmulgee, Okla., three bass, 8-2, $590
                5th:        Michael Shinstine, Springdale, Ark., three bass, 8-0, $420
                6th:        Alan Hill, Ada, Okla., three bass, 7-7, $385
                7th:        David Hamilton, Rogers, Ark., three bass, 7-6, $350
                8th:        Jerrod Madden, Purcell, Okla., two bass, 7-5, $315
                9th:        Thad Hewitt, Delaware, Okla., three bass, 7-1, $262
                9th:        Patrick Sanchez, Muskogee, Okla., two bass, 7-1, $262

Derrick Skinner of Muskogee, Oklahoma, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 4 pounds, 14 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $292.

After four events, Ian Leybas of McAlester, Oklahoma, leads the Bass Fishing League Okie Division Boater Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 974 points, while David Blankinship of Cushing, Oklahoma, leads the Strike King Co-Angler Division AOY race with 968 points.