INDIANA™S SISK WINS FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE ILLINI DIVISION EVENT ON OHIO RIVER

Lee wins co-angler title

GOLCONDA, Ill. (July 18, 2016) – Marty Sisk of Evansville, Indiana, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 17 pounds, 13 ounces, Saturday to win the third FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Illini Division tournament of 2016 on the Ohio River. For his victory, Sisk took home $7,456.

“I worked my way up the Cumberland River hitting offshore bars and small ledges,” said Sisk, who earned his third win in FLW competition. “I focused on chunk rock and pea gravel in 10 to 15 feet of water.

“I caught the biggest bass of the tournament around 10:30 a.m. on a 1-ounce Blue Glimmer-colored Accent spinnerbait,” said Sisk. “Throughout the day I rotated in a ¾-ounce green-pumpkin Hawgback Lures football-head jig with a green-pumpkin craw trailer, and a Carolina-rigged green-pumpkin Zoom Brush Hog. My goal was to keep the fish going. I didn’t want them to look at the same bait for a long period of time.”

Sisk said that he split his day between five different areas and caught nearly 50 fish.

“I hit a flurry between 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. which really helped me,” said Sisk. “Also, the Strike Force scent on my jig was a huge factor out there. It may have won the tournament for me.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1st:          Marty Sisk, Evansville, Ind., five bass, 17-13, $5,456 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus

2nd:         Ray Cortivo, Troy, Ill., five bass, 17-7, $1,963

3rd:          Chad Hess, Scheller, Ill., five bass, 16-11, $1,309

4th:          Jerry Walker, Zeigler, Ill., five bass, 16-4, $1,216

5th:          Dan Shoraga, West Frankfort, Ill., five bass, 16-2, $785

6th:          Hilton Jones, Westfield, Ill., five bass, 15-10, $720

7th:          Jake Hurst, New Athens, Ill., five bass, 15-3, $654

8th:          Joey Morris, Galatia, Ill., five bass, 14-9, $589

9th:          Michael McAtee, Waverly, Ky., five bass, 13-8, $523

10th:        Melvin Jeffords, Grantsburg, Ill., five bass, 13-3, $458

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Sisk’s biggest bass, which weighed 5 pounds, 4 ounces, earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $530.

Jeffrey Lee of Olney, Illinois, weighed in five bass totaling 12 pounds, 14 ounces, Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $1,958.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1st:          Jeffrey Lee, Olney, Ill., five bass, 12-14, $1,958

2nd:         Joey Jeffery, Ledbetter, Ky., five bass, 12-4, $979

3rd:          Mike Youngblood, St. Louis, Mo., five bass, 11-12, $653

4th:          Chris Gable, Eddyville, Ky., five bass, 11-9, $457

5th:          Cole Hansens, Dongola, Ill., five bass, 10-11, $392

6th:          Eugene Kim, Lindenhurst, Ill., four bass, 10-9, $619

7th:          Charles Dammerman, Owaneco, Ill., five bass, 10-7, $326

8th:          Steve Bowcock, Lawrenceville, Ill., five bass, 10-5, $294

9th:          Yong Yeun, Elgin, Ill., five bass, 9-7, $261

10th:        David Hutson, Palmersville, Tenn., five bass, 9-2, $228

Kim caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 4 pounds, 13 ounces, and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $260.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 13-15 Regional Championship on Kentucky Lake in Gilbertsville, Kentucky. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.

The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 50 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the BFL on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.