BUCHANAN, Tenn. (June 19, 2015) – Curtis Richardson of Belleville, Ontario, Canada, took the lead on day two of the BFL All-American tournament on Kentucky Lake with a 21 pound, 15 ounce five-bass limit and a two-day cumulative of 10 bass weighing 46-12. The tournament now heads into the final day of competition with the boater and co-angler fields being cut to the final 10 in the three-day event. Richardson will enter the final day with a 1-pound, 4-ounce lead over second-place angler Billy Schroeder of Paducah, Kentucky, who has a two-day weight of 10 bass totaling 45-8.
“My strategy today was to find areas with a lot of fish but that were close together,” said Richardson, who qualified for the All-American via the TBF National Championship. “I wanted to be able to hit a spot, then let things calm down and go back at a later time.
“I caught my first two fish around 9 a.m. on a ledge with a shell bed on top,” continued Richardson. “They were my two biggest and came from 16 to 18 feet of water. After that I went to a point with stumps on the end and caught two more fish – a 3-pounder on a drop-shot rig and a 4-pounder on my main bait.”
Richardson said his third spot was a “classic Kentucky Lake ledge” that only produced a 2-pound fish for him, the smallest of his stringer.
“I have confidence my bites tomorrow will be 5-pounders on my two main areas,” Richardson said.
Richardson declined to discuss his individual baits, but said that he was “fishing fast.”
“All of my spots were within about five miles of one another,” said Richardson. “Tomorrow I plan to stick to the same pattern. If I get a bite at the spots I’m hitting now, there’s a ninety-percent chance it’s a big one. My co-anglers and I haven’t caught many small ones at all.”
The top 10 boaters advancing to the final day of competition on Kentucky Lake are:
1st: Curtis Richardson , Belleville, Ontario, Canada, 10 bass, 46-12
2nd: Billy Schroeder, Paducah, Ky., 10 bass, 45-8
3rd: Bobby Padgett, LaGrange, Ga., 10 bass, 44-15
4th: Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 10 bass, 44-3
5th: J.R. Henard, Rogersville, Tenn., 10 bass, 42-0
6th: Chris Martinkovic, Hamilton, Ohio, 10 bass, 41-12
7th: John Hopkins, Hendersonville, Tenn., 10 bass, 39-11
8th: Chris Daves, Spring Grove, Va., 10 bass, 39-4
9th: Jeff Johnston, Marion, Ark., 10 bass, 37-0
10th: Zach Grounds, Fortville, Ind.,10 bass, 35-3
Will Treadwell of Buford, Georgia, leads the co-angler division with two-day total of 10 bass weighing 36 pounds, 11 ounces followed by Dennis Burdette of Lindside, West Virginia, in second place with 10 bass weighing 33-11. The top 10 co-anglers are:
1st: Will Treadwell, Buford, Ga., 10 bass, 36-11
2nd: Dennis Burdette, Lindside, W. Va., 10 bass, 33-11
3rd: Charles Hardin, Evansville, Ind., 10 bass, 33-8
4th: Gant Conley, Lyons, Ga., nine bass, 31-10
5th: Ryan Sykes, Hamilton, Ohio, 10 bass, 30-8
6th: Joe Eubanks, Marietta, Ga., 10 bass, 29-8
7th: Bob Burgess, Charleston, W. Va., eight bass, 28-6
8th: Cole Huskins, Mount Holly, N.C., 10 bass, 28-4
9th: James Hatch, Gainesville, Fla., seven bass, 24-11
10th: Jonathan Semento, Okahumpka, Fla., nine bass, 24-7
Anglers will take off Saturday for the final day of competition from the Paris Landing State Park ramp located at 16055 Highway 79 N. in Buchanan at 7 a.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at Walmart, located at 1210 Mineral Wells Ave., in Paris, Tennessee, beginning at 4 p.m.