Partee Wins Bass Fishing League Tournament on Harris Chain of Lakes

LEESBURG, Fla. (March 7, 2022) – Boater Blaine Partee of Oviedo, Florida, caught five bass Saturday weighing 26 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Tournament on Harris Chain of Lakes. The tournament was the third event for the Bass Fishing League Gator Division. Partee earned $6,000 for his victory.

“First thing in the morning I stopped at a shell bar not far from the boat ramp, and in the first 15 minutes I had four fish that weighed 21 pounds,” Partee said. “Then they just seemed to shut off on us and we moved around from here to there to other shell bars and I eventually caught another 5-pounder, and that basically sealed the deal for me.”

Partee said he targeted specific shell bars that featured wind current and used a Carolina rig tipped with a Bitter’s Magic Wand to land three of his fish and a chartreuse-back Rapala DT10 crankbait to complete his bag with two keepers. Partee said he caught 14 keepers in 8 to 13 feet of water during the course of the day.

“This win is awesome,” Partee said. “I’ve been trying a long time to win one of these events, and I finally got it done. It’s pretty amazing.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

                1st:        Blaine Partee, Oviedo, Fla., five bass, 26-12, $6,000
                2nd:       Eric Panzironi, Longwood, Fla., five bass, 26-6, $3,000
                3rd:       Kolbi Morgan, Land O Lakes, Fla., five bass, 26-0, $2,000
                4th:        Ben McCann, Bradenton, Fla., five bass, 24-12, $1,400
                5th:        Rob Milbut, Alapaha, Ga., five bass, 22-3, $1,200
                6th:        Levi Crossway, Callahan, Fla., five bass, 21-0, $1,100
                7th:        Ricky Grant, Inverness, Fla., five bass, 20-4, $2,000
                8th:        James McLees, Eustis, Fla., five bass, 19-14, $900
                9th:        Jeffrey Harper, Fleming Island, Fla., five bass, 19-6, $800
                10th:     Arnie Lane, Lakeland, Fla., five bass, 18-7, $700

Grant had a 9-pound, 13-ounce largemouth that was the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $1,000. Loren Hepler of Mulberry, Florida, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $3,000 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 21 pounds, 13 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:

                1st:        Loren Hepler, Mulberry, Fla., five bass, 21-13, $3,000
                2nd:       Jesse Taylor, Jacksonville, Fla., five bass, 18-5, $1,500
                3rd:       Kenneth Bivins, Orlando, Fla., five bass, 18-2, $1,500
                4th:        Robert Kinder, Tampa, Fla., five bass, 15-12, $700
                5th:        Clayton Stokes, Haines City, Fla., five bass, 15-11, $600
                6th:        Aaron Gengler, Lakeland, Fla., five bass, 14-8, $525
                6th:        Steven Obester, Palatka, Fla., five bass, 14-8, $525
                8th:        Clint Sterling, Safety Harbor, Fla., five bass, 14-1, $450
                9th:        Steven Hollingsworth, Lakeland, Fla., five bass, 13-15, $400
                10th:     Justin Brown, Frostproof, Fla., five bass, 13-11, $550

Bivins caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 7 pounds, 2 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $500.