LAKEVIEW, Ohio (Sept. 10, 2018) – Boater Brandon Houston of Burlington, Kentucky, won the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Buckeye Division tournament on Indian Lake Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 19 pounds, 2 ounces. Houston took home $4,944 for his win.
“I started out fishing pads on Saturday, but I didn’t have a fish in the boat at 11 (a.m.),” said Houston, who earned his second career win in BFL competition. “I decided to move and fish stretches of rock in the Black Hawk area of the lake. Other anglers seemed to be casting reaction-type baits like spinnerbaits and crankbaits, so I decided to slow down and drag a tube.”
Houston said he used a Texas-rigged green-pumpkin Strike King KVD Pro-Model Tube with a ¼-ounce tungsten weight with a 4/0-sized Black Chrome-colored Owner Wide Gap Plus hook. He threw the bait using 20-pound-test Seaguar InvizX line on a 7-foot Falcon BuCoo SR Heavy Casting rod.
“On Sunday I started by the ramp and a caught couple of keepers, but then went until 11:30 (a.m.) again without a bite,” said Houston. “I went down a stretch where I’d caught a couple on Saturday and caught two more. By that time, I’d already fished my main stretch from Saturday, but it seemed like they were pulling up on that rock later in the day, so I went back at about 1:30 (p.m.) and caught my biggest fish of the day. Those were the only five bites I got.”
Houston added that his second fish – a 2½-pounder – came from pads on a black Strike King KVD Sexy Frog.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Brandon Houston, Burlington, Ky., 10 bass, 19-2, $4,944
2nd: Cody Seeger, Bellefontaine, Ohio, 10 bass, 15-7, $2,472
3rd: Kyle Weisenburger, Ottawa, Ohio, 10 bass, 15-5, $1,579
4th: Jeremy Tenwalde, Ft. Jennings, Ohio, nine bass, 14-12, $1,107
5th: Miles Johnson, Centerville, Ohio, 10 bass, 13-7, $1,249
6th: Eric Moore, Hamilton, Ohio, eight bass, 13-4, $870
7th: Josh Smith, Hamilton, Ohio, eight bass, 11-14, $791
8th: Ron Hiles, Piketon, Ohio, five bass, 11-8, $1,282
9th: Jay Ellis, Celina, Ohio, five bass, 10-7, $633
10th: Kevin Spears, New Boston, Ohio, four bass, 9-8, $553
Hiles caught a bass weighing 3 pounds, 12 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $570. Austin Thome of Oxford, Ohio, caught a two-day total of seven bass weighing 8 pounds, 10 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $2,238.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Austin Thome, Oxford, Ohio, seven bass, 8-10, $2,238
2nd: Jordan Scales, Russells Point, Ohio, five bass, 7-15, $1,119
3rd: James McWhorter, Hamilton, Ohio, four bass, 6-12, $748
4th: Mark Miller, Baltic, Ohio, three bass, 5-9, $522
5th: Darian Ginter, Maplewood, Ohio, five bass, 5-7, $448
6th: Aaron Stahley, Batavia, Ohio, four bass, 5-1, $610
7th: Jeff Turner, Plainfield, Ill., three bass, 5-0, $373
8th: David Rackley, Kettering, Ohio, three bass, 4-11, $336
9th: Rick McGuire, Brookville, Ohio, two bass, 4-8, $298
10th: Aaron Kuhlmann, Hamilton, Ohio, three bass, 4-7, $261
Logan Kaplon of Rural Valley, Pennsylvania, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 3 pounds even – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $262.