Hartman Wins Bass Fishing League Tournament on Kentucky-Barkley Lakes

GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (March 7, 2022) – Boater Jordan Hartman of Benton, Kentucky, caught five bass Saturday weighing 19 pounds, 11 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Tournament on Kentucky-Barkley Lake. The tournament was the season-opener for the Bass Fishing League LBL Division. Hartman earned $5,839 for his victory.

“I knew it was going to be windy, so I wanted to try to hit some of my better stuff as early as possible to catch what I could before the wind got up,” Hartman said. “I ran down to the Paris Landing area and fished the main lake there.”

Hartman said he had a limit of 12 pounds of smallmouth after spending 20 minutes at his first stop. Hartman said the smallmouth fell for a String King Pro Model 5XD crankbait. Hartman spent the rest of the day moving around and culling fish.

“Every place I stopped it just didn’t seem to go wrong,” Hartman said. “I just kept culling up. I probably caught 25 keepers.

“This win has been a goal of mine ever since I moved from Illinois to go to Murray State University,” Hartman added. “I started fishing these tournaments three or four years ago. It’s very hard to win when you’re fishing against all of the locals, so this is pretty special to me. It makes all of the time you spend on the water worth it.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

                1st:        Jordan Hartman, Benton, Ky., five bass, 19-11, $5,839
                2nd:       Marty Sisk, Evansville, Ind., five bass, 18-1, $2,419
                3rd:       Brad Kell, Benton, Ky., five bass, 18-0, $1,614
                4th:        Bill Schroeder III, Benton, Ky., five bass, 17-1, $1,129
                5th:        Harold Buchmeier, Gilbertsville, Ky., five bass, 16-3, $968
                6th:        Drew Boggs, Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 15-12, $887
                7th:        Jeff Defew, Benton, Ky., five bass, 15-11, $806
                8th:        Mike Suddoth, Dickson, Tenn., five bass, 15-3, $726
                9th:        Chris Hellebuyck, Waterford, Mich., five bass, 15-2, $1,845 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
                10th:     Ray Barga, Benton, Ky., five bass, 14-4, $565

Ron Smith of Walton, Kentucky, had a 5-pound, 1-ounce largemouth that was the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $730. Blake Smith of Tennessee Ridge, Tennessee, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $2,419 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 13 pounds, 5 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:

                1st:        Blake Smith, Tennessee Ridge, Tenn., five bass, 13-5, $2,419
                2nd:       Andrew Dunford, Christopher, Ill., three bass, 11-3, $1,210
                3rd:       Bill Wasden, Paris, Tenn., four bass, 11-1, $807
                4th:        Ethan Wheeler, Mayfield, Ky., two bass, 10-1, $930
                5th:        Peyton Coleman, Paducah, Ky., three bass, 10-0, $484
                6th:        John Dunn, Paducah, Ky., three bass, 9-15, $444
                7th:        Frank Haysley, Louisville, Ky., four bass, 9-14, $403
                8th:        Ed Daniell, West Frankfort, Ill., four bass, 8-12, $513
                9th:        Dean Hesse, Brandenburg, Ky., three bass, 8-5, $323
                10th:     Colin Fogerty, Memphis, Tenn., three bass, 7-10, $282

Wheeler caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 6 pounds, 4 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $365.