BIRDSEYE, Ind. (June 11, 2018) – Boater Nick Uebelhor of Jasper, Indiana, won the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Hoosier Division tournament on Patoka Lake Saturday with four bass weighing 16 pounds, 4 ounces. Uebelhor pocketed $4,637 for his win.
“I fished the Costa (FLW Series) event on Kentucky and Barkley lakes this week, so I didn’t get to practice, but Patoka Lake is 20 minutes from my house and is pretty much my home lake,” said Uebelhor, who notched his second career win in FLW competition. “I ran main-lake points. I hit probably 10 or 15 spots first thing in the morning to see what they were on, and then narrowed it down to around five areas that I rotated through.”
Uebelhor threw a variety of lures Saturday including crankbaits, Carolina-rigged soft-plastics, a 10-inch Berkley Powerbait Power Worm and a football jig with a craw trailer.
“Every one of my fish was caught dragging something on the bottom,” said Uebelhor. “I ended up with four – two keepers and two big ones. I caught a 6-pounder around 11 (a.m.) and a 5½ in the last 10 minutes of my day.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Nick Uebelhor, Jasper, Ind., four bass, 16-4, $4,637
2nd: B.J. Worland, Wheatland, Ind., four bass, 15-0, $1,958
3rd: Scott Spayd, Ferdinand, Ind., three bass, 11-8, $1,307
4th: Brian Funkhouser, Bloomington, Ind., four bass, 11-5, $914
5th: William Briere, Mooresville, Ind., three bass, 10-6, $1,150
5th: Greg McMinoway, New Albany, Ind., four bass, 10-6, $850
7th: Bryce Kalen, Indianapolis, Ind., three bass, 10-3, $653
8th: Mike Quinlin, Mooresville, Ind., three bass, 10-1, $588
9th: Mark Nies, Cannelton, Ind., three bass, 10-0, $522
10th: Doug Ruster, New Palestine, Ind., three bass, 9-6, $457
Uebelhor’s 6-pound, 3-ounce, bass was the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $520. Tim Knight of Bargersville, Indiana, won the Co-angler Division and $2,218 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 16 pounds, 7 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Tim Knight, Bargersville, Ind., five bass, 16-7, $2,218
2nd: Ryan Sykes, Hamilton, Ohio, five bass, 15-10, $1,079
3rd: J.P. Lamphere, Bloomington, Ind., three bass, 11-13, $653
4th: Chad Ellis, Brownsburg, Ind., three bass, 9-4, $507
5th: Douglas Salzman, Newburgh, Ind., two bass, 8-2, $392
6th: Harold Schuler, Louisville, Ky., two bass, 6-8, $359
7th: Dustin Burk, Brookville, Ind., two bass, 6-5, $326
8th: Tim McCue, Greenwood, Ind., two bass, 5-0, $294
9th: Ryan Helbling, Martinsville, Ind., one bass, 4-5, $244
9th: Roman Perun, O’Fallon, Ill., one bass, 4-5, $244
Knight also caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 5 pounds, 2 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $260.