WHITTINGTON, Ill. (June 25, 2018) – Boater Travis Wilson of La Harpe, Illinois, weighed a 16-pound, 5-ounce limit of bass Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Illini Division tournament on Rend Lake. For his efforts, Wilson netted $5,705.
Wilson said he caught his fish along a 150-yard stretch of riprap on the south side of Illinois Route 154. He said he fished there the entire day, catching six keepers in the process.
“I found the fish in practice Friday late in the day. I hadn’t caught a keeper all day, but around 4 o’clock I caught three good ones along that stretch,” said Wilson, who logged his first win in FLW competition. “I started there Saturday morning, but it was slow. My co-angler and I only caught one or two per hour, but every time I considered leaving, I’d catch another one. I had three around 10 (a.m.) and I decided I was going to stay there the rest of the day.”
Wilson said he used a 7-inch Junebug-colored Zoom Finesse Worm with a 1/8-ounce head.
“If you used anything heavier it was really hard to keep your bait out of the rocks,” said Wilson. “Some of the fish were in 3 feet of water – close to the bank – but some of my better bites came from 6 or 7 feet down. With the light bait you had to be super patient because it’s hard to keep it down in that depth range. Basically, it was light enough to stay out of the rocks, but heavy enough to keep it down.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Travis Wilson, La Harpe, Ill., five bass, 16-5, $3,705 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Colby Schrumpf, Highland, Ill., five bass, 13-10, $1,853
3rd: Dan Morehead, Paducah, Ky., five bass, 12-15, $1,469
4th: Brennon McCord, West Frankfort, Ill., five bass, 12-11, $818
5th: Brett Chesnek, Woodlawn, Ill., five bass, 12-0, $701
6th: Levi Shaw, Opdyke, Ill., four bass, 11-14, $1,083
7th: Dan Shoraga, West Frankfort, Ill., five bass, 11-3, $584
8th: Chad Diedrich, Nashville, Ill., five bass, 10-7, $526
9th: Jeremy Mull, Chatham, Ill., four bass, 10-6, $467
10th: Lonnie Bowlin, Benton, Ill., four bass, 10-4, $409
Shaw brought a bass weighing 6 pounds even to the scale – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $440. Aaron Arning of Walnut Hill, Illinois, won the Co-angler Division and $1,853 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 13 pounds, 14 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Aaron Arning, Walnut Hill, Ill., five bass, 13-14, $1,853
2nd: Greg McCandless, Normal, Ill., three bass, 11-4, $876
3rd: Spencer Clark, Maryland Heights, Mo., three bass, 8-6, $585
4th: Greg James, Carterville, Ill., four bass, 8-1, $459
5th: Roger Massey, Bloomington, Ill., three bass, 7-6, $321
5th: Timothy Rivest, Champaign, Ill., two bass, 7-6, $321
5th: Wesley Lashmett, Winchester, Ill., three bass, 7-6, $321
8th: Mark Carlock, Hillsboro, Ill., two bass, 6-10, $263
9th: Brandon Depew, Odin, Ill., three bass, 6-8, $234
10th: Jay Champley, Benton, Ill., two bass, 6-4, $204
Drew Coleman of Jackson, Missouri, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 5 pounds, 8 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $220.