Ohio’s Stahley Earns Co-angler Title

TRENTON, Mich. (Aug. 27, 2018) – Boater Brett Haake of Shorewood, Illinois, caught five bass Sunday weighing 23 pounds, 11 ounces, to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Michigan Division tournament on the Detroit River. Haake took home $3,956 for his win.

Haake said he fished rocky humps and ridges in 12 to 20 feet of water on the north shore of Lake Erie. He said he wasn’t able to practice for the event due to inclement weather, but was able to use prior knowledge of the fishery to help piece together his day.

“I ran to some areas in the morning that I knew had fish this time of year. At the first stop, I had some suspended fish marked but they wouldn’t bite,” said Haake, who earned his first win in BFL competition. “There were a lot of wind and waves, and the water was pretty stirred up.”

Haake said he made his way farther east, but ended up returning to his initial area between 11:30 a.m. and noon with only two small fish in the livewell. He said the wind and waves were much calmer by that time, and that the bite picked up considerably.

“It was pretty much cast after cast when I got back,” said Haake. “I caught a lot of the bigger ones at first and then they seemed to get smaller. I didn’t mark any more fish because they were tight to the bottom. There were probably around 10 spots in there that they held on. They move around hourly – it’s like I was chasing them.”

Haake said he caught his fish on a drop-shot rig using an Arkansas Shiner-colored Strike King 3X ElazTech Z Too Soft Jerkbait. He also had some hit a medium-diving crankbait, but wasn’t able to keep them hooked. He said he caught around 15 fish throughout the day, with 90-percent of them being keepers.

“The Spot Lock feature on my Minnkota Ultrex trolling motor really helped me out there as well,” said Haake. “Being able to move over in 5-foot increments, especially with the waves, was important.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Brett Haake, Shorewood, Ill., five bass, 23-11, $3,956

2^nd:         Michael Sitko, Pinckney, Mich., five bass, 23-6, $2,278

3^rd:          Mike Trombly, Belleville, Mich., five bass, 22-12, $1,253

4^th:          John Devries, Fishers, Ind., five bass, 22-9, $876

5^th:          Heath Wagner, Angola, Ind., five bass, 22-2, $751

6^th:          Andrew Gaul, Port Huron, Mich., five bass, 22-0, $689

7^th:          Jason Root, Fostoria, Ohio, five bass, 21-12, $626

8^th:          David Reault, Livonia, Mich., five bass, 21-11, $563

9^th:          Mark Peiser, Pittsboro, Ind., five bass, 20-4, $501

10^th:        Scott Dobson, Clarkston, Mich., five bass, 20-2, $438

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Bret Holling of Lansing, Michigan, brought a 5-pound, 15-ounce, bass to the scale – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $490.

Aaron Stahley of Batavia, Ohio, won the Co-angler Division and $1,978 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 22 pounds, 1 ounce.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Aaron Stahley, Batavia, Ohio, five bass, 22-1, $1,978

2^nd:         Andy White, Canton, Mich., five bass, 20-8, $939

3^rd:          Michael Kokoska, Findlay, Ohio, five bass, 20-2, $627

4^th:          Robert Hernandez, Canton, Mich., five bass, 19-13, $457

4^th:          Beau Bickford, Findlay, Ohio, five bass, 19-13, $457

6^th:          Larry Thomas, Lambertville, Mich., five bass, 19-12, $344

7^th:          Eric Polenz, Maybee, Mich., five bass, 19-1, $313

8^th:          Derwin Thomas, Little Rock, Ark., five bass, 19-0, $282

9^th:          Brian Kich, Berea, Ohio, five bass, 18-9, $250

10^th:        Rich Cialone, Dearborn, Mich., five bass, 18-3, $219

Darwin Griva of Hamilton, Indiana, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 5 pounds, 11 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $122.

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. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.

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.