BRISTOL, Tenn. (April 9, 2018) – Boater Chip Chambers of Elizabethton, Tennessee, won the FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Volunteer Division tournament on South Holston Reservoir Saturday after catching five bass weighing 18 pounds, 4 ounces. Chambers earned $6,718 for his win.
“I started out cranking some secondary points for prespawn bass on the lower end of the lake,” said Chambers, who notched his first career win in FLW competition. “They were sitting out in 8 to 12 feet of water just waiting for the conditions to be right to head up and spawn.”
Chambers said he used a Rapala DT6 crankbait, custom painted by Norris Lake Baits, and a CP Custom Baits Series 3 crankbait to catch his fish. Around 10 a.m., a change in the weather made Chambers switch patterns and target fish in deeper water.
“I picked up a Sexy Lavender-colored (Major League Lures) Boom Shad swimbait with a ½-ounce head and moved out to more main-channel points,” said Chambers. “The points had some mud and a mix of clay and chunk rock and I ended up catching two 5-pound smallmouth.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Chip Chambers, Elizabethton, Tenn., five bass, 18-4, $4,718 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Todd Nidiffer, LaFollette, Tenn., five bass, 17-4, $1,859
3rd: Kevin Powers, Unicoi, Tenn., five bass, 17-3, $1,238
4th: Wes Crager, Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 16-5, $867
5th: Steve Coleman, Clayton, Ga., five bass, 16-3, $744
6th: Eddie Ball, Newport, Tenn., five bass, 15-13, $651
6th: Craig Powers, Rockwood, Tenn., five bass, 15-13, $1,136
8th: Steven Brady, Woodlawn, Va., five bass, 15-6, $558
9th: Brian Bogart, Jonesborough, Tenn., five bass, 15-2, $496
10th: Jessie Hall, Sweetwater, Tenn., five bass, 14-14, $634
Craig Powers brought a 6-pound, 4-ounce bass to the scale – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $485. David Blakely of Kingsport, Tennessee, won the Co-angler Division and $1,959 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 13 pounds, 8 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: David Blakely, Kingsport, Tenn., five bass, 13-8, $1,959
2nd: Colton Bryan, Sevierville, Tenn., four bass, 11-8, $929
3rd: Jose Ramirez, Barbourville, Ky., three bass, 11-2, $526
3rd: Shawn Hudson, Bristol, Va., four bass, 11-2, $526
5th: Chad Ball, Abingdon, Va., four bass, 10-11, $372
6th: Richard Pugh, Knoxville, Tenn., three bass, 10-1, $341
7th: Austin Compton, Raven, Va., four bass, 9-15, $310
8th: Ryan Godsey, Chickamauga, Ga., three bass, 9-6, $279
9th: Cody Hammons, Bluff City, Tenn., four bass, 8-14, $232
9th: Joshua Jernigan, Rocky Top, Tenn., three bass, 8-14, $232
Scott Pittman of Powell, Tennessee, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 6 pounds, 13 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $242.