MOUNT IDA, Ark. (Feb. 28, 2022) – Boater Jon Craven of Sheridan, Arkansas, caught five bass Sunday weighing 21 pounds, 14 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Tournament on Lake Ouachita . The tournament was the second event for the Bass Fishing League Arkie Division. Craven earned $7,296, including a $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.
“I started off fishing some standing timber with a little bit of grass with some rock mixed in,” said Craven, who notched his first Phoenix Bass Fishing League win. “My first fish was a 6-pounder, and the very next cast was a 5-pounder.”
Craven said the action slowed a bit, but he managed to catch two 2½-pound bass on a Queen Tackle Tungsten Hammerhead Rattling Football Jig for four fish in the livewell. He then changed strategies and targeted brush piles and rock banks. Craven said he made a stop at a steep bluff and sat in 70 feet of water and used his Garmin Panoptix LiveScope to locate a piece of standing timber in 40 feet of water that held a good fish.
“I threw the A-Rig out and got it to bite,” Craven said. “It was a 6-pound, 6-ounce fish. And that put me at 21-14 with 45 minutes left in the tournament.
“It was a grind for me,” Craven added. “I only had five keeper bites all day.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Jon Craven, Sheridan, Ark., five bass, 21-14, $7,296 (includes $2,500 Phoenix Bonus)
2nd: Quincy Houchin, Mabelvale, Ark., five bass, 17-10, $1,996
2nd: Kanon Harmon, Benton, Ark., five bass, 17-10, $2,711
4th: Josh Hilton, Clarksville, Ark., five bass, 16-6, $1,119
5th: Timmy Poe, Bryant, Ark., five bass, 16-1, $1,159
6th: Justin Howard, Austin, Ark., five bass, 15-14, $839
6th: Bryer Pennington, Prescott, Ark., five bass, 15-14, $839
8th: Brian Bean, Hot Springs, Ark., four bass, 14-15, $719
9th: Derek Sandlin, Mount Ida, Ark., five bass, 14-14, $639
10th: Kevin Brown, Hot Springs, Ark., five bass, 14-13, $760
Harmon had a 6-pound, 7-ounce largemouth that was the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $715. Timothy Preator of Hensley, Arkansas, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $2,364 Sunday after catching five bass weighing 18 pounds, 5 ounces.
The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:
1st: Timothy Preator, Hensley, Ark., five bass, 18-5, $2,364
2nd: Jonathan Simms, Hot Springs, Ark., five bass, 17-11, $1,182
3rd: Aaron Calvert, Russellville, Ark., five bass, 14-11, $788
4th: Briley Knowles, Texarkana, Ark., five bass, 14-9, $552
5th: Buck Blackwell, Pine Bluff, Ark., five bass, 12-15, $673
6th: Colton Welch, Leola, Ark., four bass, 10-3, $433
7th: Brian (Shane) Ray, Hot Springs, Ark., three bass, 9-7, $394
8th: Frank Reynolds, Bryant, Ark., five bass, 8-14, $355
9th: Blake Defoor, Waldron, Ark., four bass, 8-8, $315
10th: Nicholas Wade, Hot Springs, Ark., four bass, 8-5, $276
John McCullar of Benton, Arkansas, and Herbert Kimbrough of North Little Rock, Arkansas, each caught fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 4 ounces to split the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award. Both McCullar and Kimbrough received $176.
https://dev.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-ouachita-22822.html
BFL News Archive