Co-angler Title Goes To Tennyson’s Schmitt

FALLS OF ROUGH, Ky. (Oct. 1, 2018) – Boater Aaron Sisk of Evansville, Indiana, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Hoosier Division tournament on Rough River Lake Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of eight bass weighing 22 pounds, 7 ounces. Sisk took home $4,457 for his catch.

Sisk said he mainly fished in the North Fork area of Rough River Lake, focusing on docks.

“I mainly fished docks on the inside of pockets – close to the main lake – and mixed it up between a ChatterBait and a buzzbait,” said Sisk, who notched his first win BFL competition. “The only areas I focused on were ones that had shade. If I pulled up and it was sunny, I wouldn’t even fish it. I had to plan my day around the sun.

“I probably fished 60 docks a day. I didn’t really sit in one area – I was running and gunning,” Sisk continued. “The biggest key was timing out my day to work with the sun. When the sun was out, I’m sure the fish were suspended out deeper, and once the bank got shady, the fish would move up to feed.”

Sisk said he caught six keepers total Saturday, following it up with another three on Sunday. He used a Green Shad-colored Z-Man/Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait with a White Ice- or Smoking Shad-colored Zoom Super Fluke Jr. For the buzzbait, he preferred a black ½-ounce R&S Baits/Bass Alarm Chatterbuzz with a trailer hook.

“First I’d throw the buzzbait for fish that were likely right near the docks, and then then I’d turn and come back with the ChatterBait for the fish that were suspended 3 or 4 feet down.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:           Aaron Sisk, Evansville, Ind., eight bass, 22-7, $4,457

2^nd:         Sean Gillenwater, Bloomington, Ind., nine bass, 18-14, $2,228

3^rd:          Luke Foli, Fishers, Ind., eight bass, 15-9, $1,420

4^th:          Chris Martinkovic, Hamilton, Ohio, 10 bass, 14-5, $993

5^th:          Michael Bays, Bellevue, Ky., seven bass, 13-7, $851

6^th:          Joshua Brown, Corydon, Ind., six bass, 12-10, $780

7^th:          Thomas Foster, Terre Haute, Ind., five bass, 12-9, $709

8^th:          Jimmy Shepherd, Indianapolis, Ind., six bass, 12-7, $639

9^th:          Jay Ellis, Celina, Ohio, seven bass, 10-9, $568

10^th:        Trevor Windgassen, Alexandria, Ky., five bass, 10-0, $969

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Windgassen caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 6 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $472.

Robert Schmitt of Tennyson, Indiana, caught a two-day total of eight bass weighing 13 pounds, 5 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $2,329.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:           Robert Schmitt, Tennyson, Ind., eight bass, 13-5, $2,329

2^nd:         Jeff Hale, New Castle, Ind., nine bass, 11-7, $1,064

3^rd:          Dustin Burk, Brookville, Ind., six bass, 9-13, $709

4^th:          Chad Ellis, Brownsburg, Ind., four bass, 8-2, $783

5^th:          Derek Buchanan, Madison, Ind., six bass, 7-14, $426

6^th:          Jeff Turner, Plainfield, Ill., five bass, 7-12, $390

7^th:          Tim Knight, Bargersville, Ind., four bass, 5-14, $355

8^th:          Nicole Foor, Greens Fork, Ind., four bass, 5-12, $319

9^th:          James Rockhill, Anderson, Ind., three bass, 5-1, $284

10^th:        Chad Sims, Brownsburg, Ind., four bass, 4-15, $248

Ellis caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 3 pounds, 12 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $236.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 18-20 BFL Regional Championship on Kentucky Lake in Gilbertsville, Kentucky. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.

The 2018 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they 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. The 2019 BFL All-American will take place May 30-June 1 on the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.