LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. (Sept. 30, 2024) – Boater Dick Shaffer of Rockford, Ohio, caught a two-day total of six bass weighing 16 pounds, 5 ounces, to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) Super Tournament on the Ohio River at Tanners Creek. The tournament, which concluded Sunday, was the fifth and final event of the season for the BFL Hoosier Division. Shaffer earned $5,714 for his victory.
No doubt about it, Shaffer is a BFL legend in the Hoosier and Buckeye divisions. He now has 17 wins in his MLF career, with most of them coming at the BFL level. He’s also made four All-American Championship appearances. If he’s on the roster in a weekend derby in Ohio or Indiana, you can bet he’s going to contend. Shaffer credits his latest win with not putting any pressure on himself.
“I’m not going to the Regional because I’m going duck hunting that week in North Dakota,” he said. “I decided the last day to sign up for it, and when I saw the weather, I cancelled my motel for the night before because I knew what I was going to do. The way the weather was (for practice), I wasn’t going fishing in the rain. I knew the way the weather was supposed to be (in the tournament), it was going to be a main-river bite.
“There was no pressure. I wasn’t fishing for points. I knew if they bit I had a better-than-average chance to win.”
Shaffer had the fish on each day to weigh a limit but couldn’t get five to the boat. He weighed three smallmouth bass for 8-15 on day one and a mixed bag of one largemouth, one spotted bass and one smallmouth for 7-6 on day two.
The biggest factor in Shaffer’s approach was having prime conditions for the smallmouth bass to bite. With the weather turned gloomy and some stain in the water (the water had come up about 3 feet), he knew the smallmouth bass would be positioned on current breaks and ready to bite, and each day he weighed in a good one, including a 5-pound, 9-ounce fish that earned him the Berkley Big Bass award of $637.
“I caught ’em on just a little bit of everything,” Shaffer added. “I caught ’em dragging a craw around some. I caught some on a buzz bait. I caught ’em on a (Yamamoto) Senko. I caught some off rocks, some off wood, some off barges. I was just basically junk-fishing, just fishing what looked good.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Dick Shaffer, Rockford, Ohio, six bass, 16-5, $5,714
2nd: Doug Ruster, New Palestine, Ind., 10 bass, 13-10, $2,839
3rd: Dave Wood, Charlestown, Ind., seven bass, 12-0, $1,694
4th: Tim Adams, Burlington, Ky., eight bass, 11-1, $1,685 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
5th: Aaron Stahley, Batavia, Ohio, six bass, 10-15, $1,015
6th: Jamie Cunnagin, New Lebanon, Ohio, six bass, 10-12, $1,056
7th: Caleb Carnes, Guston, Ky., eight bass, 10-12, $846
8th: Jeffery Johnson, Austin, Ind., seven bass, 10-7, $762
9th: Todd Hensley, New Albany, Ind., six bass, 10-1, $677
10th: Jordan Nauert, Fillmore, Ind., six bass, 9-6, $592
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Shaffer caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 9 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $637. Ken Barker of Middletown, Ohio, won the co-angler division and $2,563 Sunday, after bringing a two-day total of five bass to the scale that weighed 8 pounds, 5 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Ken Barker, Middletown, Ohio, five bass, 8-5, $2,563
2nd: Brian Zelinskas, Beavercreek, Ohio, four bass, 7-12, $1,438
3rd: Dylan Grace, Scottsburg, Ind., six bass, 7-6, $953
4th: Ryan Cannon, Indianapolis, Ind., five bass, 6-13, $598
5th: Brandon Houston, Lakeside Park, Ky., five bass, 6-13, $513
6th: Adler Odle, Willow Springs, Mo., four bass, 6-7, $470
7th: Steven Wells, North Vernon, Ind., three bass, 6-3, $427
8th: Jordan Loveless, Beech Grove, Ind., five bass, 6-3, $384
9th: Kade Oliver, Muncie, Ind., five bass, 5-12, $342
10th: Tyler Sloan, Gas City, Ind., three bass, 5-6, $299
Hagen Conley of Florence, Kentucky, and Brian Zelinskas of Beavercreek, Ohio, tied for the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award, each catching a bass that weighed in at 2 pounds, 11 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the tournament. They each took home $157 for their share of the prize.
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