Hartsell Wins Bass Fishing League Super Tournament on Grand Lake

GROVE, Okla. (Sept. 19, 2022) – Boater Toby Hartsell of Afton, Oklahoma, caught 10 bass weighing 28 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the two-day MLF Bass Fishing League tournament on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma. The tournament was the fifth and final regular-season event for the Bass Fishing League Okie Division. Hartsell earned $6,871 for his victory.

“It’s been pretty tough around here lately,” Hartsell said. “I tried to get a topwater bite going early, and I couldn’t get anything. So I went offshore and tried to focus on quality fish. I managed to get a few bites in and around the mid-lake area.”

Hartsell said he relied on a Berkley Japan Power Flutter for the majority of his bass, and said he caught just five keepers Saturday and seven or eight Sunday.

“I didn’t really expect this win,” Hartsell said. “It definitely wasn’t a ‘gimme.’”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

                1st:        Toby Hartsell, Afton, Okla., 10 bass, 28-12, $6,871
                2nd:       Lane Kindle, Stilwell, Okla., 10 bass, 26-12, $4,136
                3rd:       Cameron Foster, Wagoner, Okla., eight bass, 26-1, $2,290
                4th:        Gary Lower, Iola, Kansas, 10 bass, 25-3, $1,603
                5th:        Mark Talley, Grove, Okla., 10 bass, 24-13, $1,374
                6th:        Mark Shadowens, Kiefer, Okla., 10 bass, 24-6, $1,260
                7th:        John Shore, Owasso, Okla., 10 bass, 22-13, $1,145
                8th:        Dalton Warrington, Tishomingo, Okla., nine bass, 21-13, $1,031
                9th:        Justin Curnette, Grove, Okla., 10 bass, 21-12, $916
                10th:     Crawford Brantley, Grove, Okla., eight bass, 21-10, $802

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Dillon Roberts of Oologah, Oklahoma, and Brian Caruso of Moore, Oklahoma, both had bass that weighed 5 pounds, 13 ounces that were the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. Roberts and Caruso split the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $1,012. Thad Hewitt of Delaware, Oklahoma, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $3,455 Sunday after catching a two-day total of eight bass weighing 19 pounds, 5 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:

                1st:        Thad Hewitt, Delaware, Okla., eight bass, 19-5, $3,455
                2nd:       Justin Nobles, Owasso, Okla., eight bass, 18-4, $1,728
                3rd:       Alex Albert, Coppell, Texas, eight bass, 15-11, $1,254
                4th:        Patrick Weir, Park Hill, Okla., six bass, 12-10, $806
                5th:        Terry Moody, Owasso, Okla., five bass, 11-11, $691
                6th:        Andrew Workman, Stilwell, Okla., six bass, 11-10, $633
                7th:        Stanley Forrester, Westville, Okla., four bass, 11-9, $576
                8th:        Kevin Brown, Salina, Okla., five bass, 11-4, $518
                9th:        Levi Malone, Anderson, Mo., six bass, 11-4, $461
                10th:     Justin Fuller, Cushing, Okla., five bass, 11-1, $443

Dakota Nollen of Midwest City, Oklahoma, caught the largest bass in the Strike King Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 4 pounds, 8 ounces. The catch earned him the Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $502.