FALLS OF ROUGH, Ky. (July 1, 2019) – Boater Brody Campbell of Oxford, Ohio, won the rescheduled Bass Fishing League (BFL) Hoosier Division tournament on Rough River Lake Sunday after catching four bass weighing 7 pounds, 13 ounces. Campbell earned $5,703 for his win.
“I should have won the BFL tournament on Saturday as well, but I had a few dead fish penalties – it was very hot – and I finished second,” said Campbell, who earned his third BFL victory of the season on Sunday. “I went back out on a mission.
“I started the day targeting early-morning schooling fish by the dam for an hour or so, then I ran up to the North Fork area and flipped flooded willow bushes,” Campbell said. “I caught around 20 fish in that first hour, but there were a lot of little ones. North Fork was a lot tougher, and I only had three or four bites there.”
Campbell said he threw a Heddon Zara Spook and a fluke while targeting the schooling fish, then flipped a green-pumpkin-colored Strike King Rodent and a ½-ounce peanut butter and jelly-colored jig with a green-pumpkin Strike King Rage Craw trailer to the willow bushes.
“I think the key to my victory was just capitalizing on the bites that I did get,” Campbell went on to say. “I was around fish, but I only had four or five keeper bites all day. It was tough, it was hot. And it was important that I landed every keeper fish that bit.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Brody Campbell, Oxford, Ohio, four bass, 7-13, $3,703 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Bob Drake, Noblesville, Ind., four bass, 7-4, $1,602
3rd: Bryce Kalen, Greenwood, Ind., two bass, 6-10, $1,401
4th: Matt McCoy, Indianapolis, Ind., three bass, 6-7, $931
5th: Doug Ruster, New Palestine, Ind., three bass, 6-4, $641
6th: Chris Gable, Hopkinsville, Ky., three bass, 5-14, $646
7th: Jake Morris, McKee, Ky., three bass, 5-7, $451
8th: Marty Sisk, Evansville, Ind., three bass, 5-6, $405
9th: Jimmy Shepherd, Indianapolis, Ind., four bass, 5-4, $360
10th: Todd Hensley, New Albany, Ind., three bass, 5-3, $315
Kalen caught a bass weighing 4 pounds, 12 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $300. Ryan Sykes of Hamilton, Ohio, won the Co-angler Division and $1,547 Sunday after catching four bass weighing 7 pounds, 14 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Ryan Sykes, Hamilton, Ohio, four bass, 7-14, $1,547
2nd: Mark Dehart, Brownstown, Ind., four bass, 6-8, $674
3rd: Jordan Loveless, Indianapolis, Ind., three bass, 5-0, $381
3rd: Gary Critser, Covington, Ind., two bass, 5-0, $526
5th: John Young, Franklin, Ind., three bass, 4-15, $269
6th: Leroy Miller, Napoleon, Ohio, two bass, 4-4, $247
7th: Mark Redman, Pendleton, Ky., two bass, 3-15, $213
7th: Bo Bivins, Evansville, Ind., two bass, 3-15, $213
9th: Michael Dehart, Franklin, Ind., two bass, 3-11, $180
10th: Brant Gish, Evansville, Ind., two bass, 3-10, $157