GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (Sept. 11, 2017) – Cole Floyd of Leesburg, Ohio, won the Bass Fishing League (BFL) LBL Division tournament on Kentucky and Barkley lakes Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 40 pounds, 10 ounces. For his efforts, Floyd took home $5,504.
“I fished near Paris and worked through 15 different areas with bars and flats,” said Floyd, who earned his first career-victory in FLW competition. “Some of them had stumps and wood mixed in, and I got a couple of bites at each. When I got bit, they were the right kind of fish.”
Floyd said he caught 90 to 95 percent of his fish throwing a Bone-colored Evergreen SB 125 Topwater Plug. He said he put 15 keepers in the boat each day, and that they came from 1 to 2 feet of water.
“I feel like a lot of the field did the same thing out there,” said Floyd. “They fished flats and big bass areas, but didn’t know where their next bite would come from. I put down my Power Poles and fished small stretches – some were even as small as 20 by 20 feet. If I didn’t get a bite, I moved on and could usually get something going. I didn’t waste much time looking for them.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 10 bass, 40-10, $5,504
2nd: Drew Boggs, Lebanon, Tenn., 10 bass, 32-1, $2,752
3rd: Terry Bolton, Paducah, Ky., 10 bass, 31-2, $3,040
4th: Brandon Hunter, Benton, Ky., six bass, 22-9, $1,384
5th: Dwight Fox, Gainesboro, Tenn., seven bass, 21-4, $1,101
6th: Dustin Vaal, Hardin, Ky., five bass, 20-15, $1,009
7th: John Hopkins, Hendersonville, Tenn., six bass, 20-1, $917
8th: Craig Hipsher, Benton, Ky., seven bass, 20-0, $826
9th: David Carroll, Manitou, Ky., seven bass, 19-12, $734
10th: Jim Eakin, Clarksville, Tenn., seven bass, 19-0, $642
Bolton caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 11 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $705. Ryan Dowell of Brandenburg, Kentucky, caught a two-day total of eight bass weighing 22 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $2,752.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Ryan Dowell, Brandenburg, Ky., eight bass, 22-12, $2,752
2nd: Jeff Johnston, Nashville, Tenn., six bass, 16-10, $1,576
3rd: Ray Arning Jr, Walnut Hill, Ill., four bass, 12-8, $968
4th: Chris Brunt, Elkhart, Ind., four bass, 12-7, $642
5th: Trey Shearer, Nicholasville, Ky., five bass, 12-4, $550
6th: Wesley Dunn, Paducah, Ky., three bass, 11-10, $857
7th: Chuck Rounds, Benton, Ky., four bass, 9-2, $459
8th: Rick Lemar, Saint Louis, Mo., four bass, 8-6, $413
9th: Kerry Conkle, Bartlett, Tenn., two bass, 8-6, $367
10th: Danny Robinson, Fairland, Ind., three bass, 8-3, $321
Dunn caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 6 pounds, 6 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $352.