Morris Wins FLW Series Tournament on Kentucky/Barkley Lakes

April 6, 2019
FLW Tour News Archive

Image
GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (April 6, 2019) – Pro Jake Morris of McKee, Kentucky, brought just two bass weighing 5 pounds, 12 ounces, to the scale Saturday, but as it turned out he could have took the day off. Morris’ big 24-pound, 10-ounce Day One limit on Thursday was enough to propel him into the early lead and go wire-to wire to win the FLW Series tournament at Kentucky Lake. Morris’ three-day total of 10 bass weighing 44 pounds, 2 ounces gave him the win by a 6-pound, 14-ounce margin over second-place pro Steve Floyd of Leesburg, Ohio, and earned him $39,608 in the three-day event that kicked off the 2019 FLW Series Central Division season.

  

“I’m just as proud of the two that I caught today as the 24 (pounds) that I had on Thursday,” said Morris, who also won a T-H Marine Bass Fishing League (BFL) Regional Championship tournament on Lake Barkley in 2010. “It was tough out there today. My nerves are shot. It was a half-hour boat ride back and I thought for sure I had blown it. It hasn’t even sunk in that I won yet – maybe it will tomorrow.”

  

Morris said that he fished the same 75-yard stretch all three days of competition – a big flat that had a ditch against the bank, near the mouth of the Little River in Lake Barkley. He said that his key bait for the week was a 3/8-ounce Stan Sloan spinnerbait with a chartreuse skirt, Colorado and willow-leaf blade and a white Zoom Fat Albert Grubl trailer.

  

“I was making the same cast and getting tired of looking at it,” Morris joked. “I think the key was two main things – the water color was dirtier back in my area and the temperature was 3 to 4 degrees warmer.

  

“I worried myself sick all day long, so to get the win today is crazy,” Morris went on to say. “I won a BFL regional event here and that was special, but this one feels a little better because the competition was so tough. I had a great week and it’s a tournament I will remember for a long time.”

  

The top 10 pros on Kentucky and Barkley lakes finished:

              1st:          Jake Morris, McKee, Ky., 10 bass, 44-2, $39,608

              2nd:         Steve Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 12 bass, 37-4, $15,548

              3rd:         Shawn Kowal, Linn Creek, Mo., 12 bass, 36-9, $11,982

              4th:         Jimmy Washam, Covington, Tenn., nine bass, 35-11, $9,902

              5th:         Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 11 bass, 35-6, $8,912

              6th:         Dan Morehead, Paducah, Ky., eight bass, 30-5, $7,922

              7th:         Brad Cook, Afton, Okla., nine bass, 30-3, $7,131

              8th:         Christopher Jones, Bokoshe, Okla., eight bass, 28-15, $5,941

              9th:         William Campbell, Middlesboro, Ky., nine bass, 28-8, $4,951

              10th:       Travis Wilson, La Harpe, Ill., seven bass, 23-6, $3,961

https://www.bassresource.com 

Steven Hatala of Harrison Township, Michigan, weighed an 8-pound, 11-ounce, largemouth Thursday – the biggest of the tournament in the Pro Division. For his catch, Hatala earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $294. Troy Bickers of Carrollton, Kentucky, won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger Z175 with a 115-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor with a three-day total of five bass weighing 20 pounds, 14 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers on Kentucky and Barkley lakes finished:

              1st:          Troy Bickers, Carrollton, Ky., five bass, 20-14, Ranger Z175 w/ 115-horsepower outboard

              2nd:         Chad Allison, Carl Junction, Mo., seven bass, 20-7, $5,069

              3rd:         Kit Lueg, Olathe, Kan., six bass, 19-10, $4,125

              4th:         Christopher Stites Sr., Lebanon, Tenn., six bass, 19-5, $3,478

              5th:         Bill Fussell, Thibodaux, La., four bass, 17-8, $2,981

              6th:         Craig Hulsey, Park Hills, Mo., five bass, 17-3, $2,484

              7th:         Kennith George, Edmond, Okla., five bass, 14-15, $2,038

              8th:         Kevin Mahlke, Wentzville, Mo., four bass, 14-14, $1,739

              9th:         Steve Madar, Starkville, Miss., four bass, 14-11, $1,491

              10th:       Howard Poitevint, Bainbridge, Ga., three bass, 14-2, $1,492

Bickers caught a fish weighing 8 pounds, 3 ounces, out of the back of the boat Friday – the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – to win the Co-angler Big Bass award of $196.