GROVE, Okla. (May 16, 2016) – Jeffrey Smith of Knob Noster, Missouri, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 17 pounds, 6 ounces, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Ozark Division tournament on Grand Lake. For his victory, Smith took home $4,235.
“In the morning I ran to a backwater pocket on the north end that was littered with riprap,” said Smith, who earned the second win of his FLW career. “There was a low bridge, but with my new aluminum Ranger I was able to raise the trolling motor and get under it. No one else could get back to where the rain had pushed the fish to.
“In the backwater I caught three of my limit fish – including a 5-pounder – flipping a Black Neon-colored Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver,” Smith continued. “They were in about a foot of water along scattered wood, logs and laydowns.”
At 8 a.m., Smith said he ran to his second area – a ledge off of a point in a Honey Creek cove – to focus on postspawn bass.
“I filled my limit with a shaky-head rig with a green-pumpkin Zoom Magnum Worm,” said Smith. “I fished in 12 feet of water and ran the bait slow along the bottom. I ended up with five bites all day and they paid off.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Jeffrey Smith, Knob Noster, Mo., five bass, 17-6, $4,235
2nd: Benjamin King, Garnett, Kan., five bass, 17-5, $2,118
3rd: Tim Fleetwood, Forsyth, Mo., five bass, 16-15, $1,713
4th: Matthew Roberts, Osage Beach, Mo., five bass, 16-12, $988
5th: Nick Lebrun, Bossier City, La., five bass, 16-10, $847
6th: Brad Koehler, Coweta, Okla., five bass, 15-14, $776
7th: Thomas Canady, Bartlesville, Okla., five bass, 15-9, $670
7th: Wes Endicott, Joplin, Mo., five bass, 15-9, $670
9th: Ben Verhoef, Osage Beach, Mo., five bass, 15-7, $565
10th: Preston Frazell, Cleveland, Okla., five bass, 15-1, $494
James Rogers of Springdale, Arkansas, caught a 5-pound, 13-ounce bass – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $590. Phillip Delong of Stillwater, Oklahoma, weighed in five bass totaling 16 pounds, 1 ounce, Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $2,118. The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Phillip Delong, Stillwater, Okla., five bass, 16-1, $2,118
2nd: Denise Dill, Laurie, Mo., five bass, 12-15, $1,059
3rd: Aaron Strohkirch, Camdenton, Mo., five bass, 12-9, $706
4th: Johnny Ward Jr., Waynesville, Mo., four bass, 12-3, $494
5th: Rich Purington, Plattsmouth, Neb., five bass, 11-2, $406
5th: Richard Bower III, Jefferson City, Mo., five bass, 11-2, $406
7th: Reggie Britt, Prairie Village, Kan., four bass, 10-3, $353
8th: Randy Staton, Muskogee, Okla., four bass, 9-15, $318
9th: Cody Millican, Highlandville, Mo., five bass, 9-13, $282
10th: Dan Goetz, Columbia, Ill., three bass, 9-6, $234
10th: Grant Nisbet, St. Louis, Mo., two bass, 9-6, $529
Nisbet caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 12 ounces and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $295.