ANDERSON, S.C. (May 14, 2018) – Boater Kerry Partain of Elberton, Georgia, caught five bass weighing 14 pounds, 14 ounces, to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) South Carolina Division tournament Saturday on Lake Hartwell. For his efforts, Partain took home $3,705. Partain said he worked through nearly 30 areas from the Tugaloo River down to the dam, catching eight keepers throughout the tournament.
“I used a weightless Zoom Super Fluke early for postspawn fish on shoals and points,” said Partain, who logged his first win in FLW competition. “I fished main-lake areas in anywhere from 2 to 10 feet of water.”
Following the postspawn bite, Partain caught two bedding fish – a 3- and 4-pounder – from mid-lake spawning beds. He said he was near docks, and used a Texas-rigged Watermelon Magic-colored Zoom Fluke Stick.
“I ran points for postspawners to finish out the day,” said Partain. “I ran up the Tugaloo and Seneca arms and basically hit any areas coming off the spawning flats.”
Partain’s afternoon postspawn baits were a Watermelon Candy-colored Zoom Finesse Worm on a drop-shot rig and a shaky-head jig with a green-pumpkin Zoom Magnum Swamp Crawler.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Kerry Partain, Elberton, Ga., five bass, 14-14, $3,705
2nd: Justin McLeese, Iva, S.C., five bass, 12-14, $1,753
3rd: Troy Morrow, Eastanollee, Ga., five bass, 12-5, $1,169
4th: Henry Kratz, Pelzer, S.C., five bass, 10-7, $820
4th: Joey Nichols, Cumming, Ga., five bass, 10-7, $820
4th: David Milsaps, Ranger, Ga., five bass, 10-7, $1,120
7th: Marcus Church, Seneca, S.C., five bass, 10-6, $525
7th: Joe Anders, Easley, S.C., five bass, 10-6, $525
7th: Randy Childers, Anderson, S.C., five bass, 10-6, $525
10th: Scott Chatham, Kingston, Ga., five bass, 10-3, $409
Randy Gentry of Franklin, North Carolina, brought a 5-pound, 4-ounce bass to the scale – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $440. Keith Lewis of Franklin, North Carolina, won the Co-angler Division and $1,853 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 10 pounds, 10 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Keith Lewis, Franklin, N.C., five bass, 10-10, $1,853
2nd: Tim Watson, Martin, Ga., five bass, 10-3, $926
3rd: Rusty Smith, Liberty, S.C., five bass, 9-8, $585
4th: Darren Jeter, Marshall, N.C., five bass, 9-3, $409
5th: Chris Nunziato, Elberton, Ga., five bass, 8-13, $351
6th: Samson Faulk, Lyman, S.C., five bass, 8-12, $321
7th: Harold Chappell, Central, S.C., five bass, 8-4, $292
8th: Michael Smith, Piedmont, S.C., five bass, 7-10, $263
9th: Thomas Morris, Walhalla, S.C., four bass, 7-9, $234
10th: Bill Hawkins, Piedmont, S.C., five bass, 7-6, $204
James Durham of Hartwell, Georgia, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 3 pounds, 14 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $110.