GALLATIN, Tenn. (June 10, 2019) – Boater Dwight Fox of Gainesboro, Tennessee, won the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Music City Division tournament on Old Hickory Lake Saturday with five bass weighing 18 pounds, 1 ounce. For his efforts, Fox netted $2,941. Fox said he worked a mid-lake stretch on the main channel, fishing up to five miles in both directions of the takeoff at Bulls Creek Access.
“Everything came out of the main current,” said Fox, who earned his eighth career win in BFL competition. “Whenever the current hit chunk rock or a log or something in the water, it eddied out. The fish were in the water swirled up behind so they didn’t have to work as hard to fight current as they ambush food.
“I worked against the current with the boat, pitched my bait up into it and let it come around the cover and swirl around where the fish were,” continued Fox. “When it would leave the current and hit the dead water, that’s when the fish would get it.”
Fox said he caught seven keepers fishing a ½-ounce, black and blue-colored Killer jig with a black and blue Zoom Super Chunk trailer. He noted that the water was stained, and that he had more bites after 10 a.m.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Dwight Fox, Gainesboro, Tenn., five bass, 18-1, $2,941
2nd: Matt Stanley, Alexandria, Tenn., five bass, 17-4, $1,720
3rd: Kim Carver, Milledgeville, Ga., five bass, 16-12, $914
4th: John Graves, Mount Juliet, Tenn., five bass, 15-14, $934
5th: Jesse Rigsby, Old Hickory, Tenn., five bass, 15-9, $548
6th: Gerald Williams, Scottsville, Ky., five bass, 15-7, $502
7th: Elliott Lee, Old Hickory, Tenn., five bass, 15-4, $457
8th: Drew Boggs, Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 14-15, $411
9th: William Merrick, Mount Juliet, Tenn., five bass, 14-14, $365
10th: Tony Eckler, Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 14-7, $320
Graves caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 5 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $295. Teddy Baggett of Nashville, Tennessee, and Belinda Towry of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, each caught 11 pounds, 7 ounces, worth of bass Saturday to tie for the win in the Co-angler Division. After contingency awards, Towry took home $1,235, while Baggett pocketed $993.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Teddy Baggett, Nashville, Tenn., five bass, 11-7, $993
1st: Belinda Towry, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., four bass, 11-7, $1,235
3rd: Kelly Stone, Westmoreland, Tenn., five bass, 11-3, $440
4th: Brian Reed, Cookeville, Tenn., four bass, 10-4, $309
5th: Kibbee McCoy, Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 9-12, $315
6th: Justin Kimmel, Athens, Ga., four bass, 9-2, $393
7th: Grayson Butler, Lebanon, Tenn., three bass, 8-15, $221
8th: Ricky England, Sparta, Tenn., three bass, 8-9, $199
9th: Bobby Stinson, Scottsville, Ky., five bass, 8-2, $177
10th: Charles Bennington, Scottsville, Ky., four bass, 7-3, $146
10th: Robert Henze, La Vergne, Tenn., four bass, 7-3, $146
Towry caught the heaviest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 3 ounces. The catch earned her the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $142.