GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (July 11, 2022) – Boater Josh Dowdy of Mayfield, Kentucky, caught three bass Saturday weighing 13 pounds even to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League tournament on Kentucky/Barkley Lakes. The tournament was the fourth event for the Bass Fishing League LBL Division. Dowdy earned $4,684 for his victory.
“I got to the first spot and got bit there and put my biggest fish in the boat,” Dowdy said. “Then the breeze changed from the south to out of the north, and that really set me up pretty good to get on some of the offshore spots I wanted to fish.”
Dowdy said the wind allowed him to position and hold his boat to make more methodical and efficient casts.
“When you’re dealing with small schools of fish – say fix or six fish – it really pays to get that first cast right in there where you want it,” Dowdy said. “You have to catch the first one in the school, because there won’t be another one. It’s just fishing one here and one there, picking them out throughout the day.”
Dowdy said he relied on slow, methodical technique, throwing a football jig as well as a Carolina rig to catch a total of six keepers during the course of the day.
“I was targeting ledges, gravel and shell bars 10 to 15 feet deep during the day,” Dowdy said. “I couldn’t get bit on brush. I just moved out to the main lake and started fishing the same old Kentucky Lake patterns everybody knows.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Josh Dowdy, Mayfield, Ky., three bass, 13-0, $4,684
2nd: Tim Griggs, Paducah, Ky., three bass, 12-13, $2,059
3rd: Lance Freeman, Eddyville, Ky., three bass, 11-9, $2,274 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
4th: Harold Buchmeier, Gilbertsville, Ky., three bass, 10-10, $1,261
5th: Ray Barga, Benton, Ky., three bass, 10-3, $824
6th: Harry Barber, Earlington, Ky., three bass, 10-0, $755
7th: Michael Wasden, Paris, Tenn., three bass, 9-13, $686
8th: Andrew Suggs, Cunningham, Tenn., three bass, 9-8, $618
9th: Ryan Deal, Evansville, Ind., three bass, 9-7, $549
10th: Stuart Arthur, Benton, Mo., three bass, 9-6, $456
10th: David Hames, Trezevant, Tenn., three bass, 9-6, $456
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Dowdy also had a largemouth that weighed 4 pounds, 15 ounces that was the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $565. Demetrius Griffin of Sturgis, Kentucky, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $2,059 Saturday after catching three bass weighing 9 pounds, 13 ounces.
The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:
1st: Demetrius Griffin, Sturgis, Ky., three bass, 9-13, $2,059
2nd: Todd Mowery, Madison, Ala., three bass, 9-1, $1,030
3rd: Alan Brasher, Decaturville, Tenn., three bass, 8-14, $687
4th: Ethan Wheeler, Mayfield, Ky., three bass, 8-4, $480
5th: Gary Gustafson, Gilbertsville, Ky., three bass, 8-3, $412
6th: Cory York, Benton, Ky., three bass, 7-13, $378
7th: Hayden Jett, Memphis, Ind., three bass, 7-11, $343
8th: Ed Daniell, West Frankfort, Ill., three bass, 5-15, $459
9th: Alexis Joyce, Benton, Ky., two bass, 5-13, $275
10th: Frank Haysley, Louisville, Ky., one bass, 5-9, $722
Haysley caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 9 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $282.
After four events, Toby Corn of Paducah, Kentucky, leads the Bass Fishing League LBL Division Boater Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 921 points, while Ed Daniell of West Frankfort, Illinois, leads the Strike King Co-Angler Division AOY race with 966 points.
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