Vannerson Wins Bass Fishing League Tournament on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes

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GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (March 25, 2019) – Boater Rob Vannerson of Benton, Kentucky, brought a five-bass limit to the scale weighing 21 pounds, 5 ounces, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) LBL Division tournament on Kentucky and Barkley lakes. For his win, Vannerson was awarded $3,466. Vannerson said he worked along the west side of Kentucky Lake from Kentucky Dam Marina to the Highway 68 bridge. He said he was able to put 14 or 15 keepers in the boat.

  

“I was throwing a [3/8-ounce, white] Z-Man ChatterBait with a [white smoke-colored 3.5-inch] boot tail swimbait on secondary flats –looking for run-off ditches that were in the spawning pockets,” said Vannerson, who logged his first career win in FLW competition. “I’d throw up into the ditches and work it back to where I was, working both banks of the ditches.

  

“The fish sat on the sides where the break line is –where the water runs down through the ditch,” Vannerson said. “The baitfish used the break to run up and down the edges of the ditches. There were both bucks and female bass in there.”

  

Vannerson said he used a 7-foot, medium-heavy Fitzgerald Stunner casting rod spooled with 15-pound-test Fitzgerald Vursa fluorocarbon line.

  

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

               1st:          Rob Vannerson, Benton, Ky., five bass, 21-5, $3,466

               2nd:         David Carroll, Manitou, Ky., five bass, 17-7, $1,733

               3rd:          Stuart Eversole, Middletown, Ohio, four bass, 17-4, $1,590

               4th:          Pat Hatcliff, Murfreesboro, Tenn., four bass, 15-14, $1,309

               5th:          Shawn Penn, Benton, Ky., three bass, 13-5, $693

               6th:          Stu Moyer, Indianapolis, Ind., three bass, 12-15, $735

               7th:          Hunter Louden, Springville, Tenn., three bass, 12-11, $578

               8th:          Griff Estes, Murray, Ky., three bass, 12-7, $520

               9th:          Daniel Sepeck, West Union, Ohio, four bass, 12-4, $462

               10th:        Adam Craig, Buchanan, Tenn., four bass, 12-2, $404

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Eversole caught a 6-pound, 12-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $435. William Son of Madisonville, Kentucky, won the Co-angler Division and $1,693 Saturday after catching four bass weighing 14 pounds, 8 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

               1st:          William Son, Madisonville, Ky., four bass, 14-8, $1,693

               2nd:         Jordan Dunning, Madisonville, Ky., four bass, 12-0, $846

               3rd:          Timothy Nanzer, Bourbonnais, Ill., two bass, 9-8, $564

               4th:          Fred Combs, Portland, Tenn., two bass, 9-1, $395

               5th:          Eric Bobbett, Salem, Ill., two bass, 7-10, $339

               6th:          Jamie Wise, Fort Campbell, Ky., two bass, 7-4, $296

               6th:          Jake Steinkuhl, Evansville, Ind., two bass, 7-4, $396

               8th:          Randall Argo, Murray, Ky., two bass, 7-1, $254

               9th:          Art McCray, Groveport, Ohio, one bass, 6-11, $438

               10th:        Joseph Gulash, Edwardsville, Ill., two bass, 5-12, $198

McCray caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 6 pounds, 11 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $212.