Ohio’s French Takes Home Co-angler Title

GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (Oct. 9, 2017) – Boater Marty Sisk of Evansville, Indiana, caught a three-day cumulative total of 15 bass weighing 51 pounds, 10 ounces, to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Regional event on Kentucky Lake presented by Evinrude. For his win, Sisk earned $65,200 including a new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and an automatic berth into the 2018 BFL All-American Championship.

Sisk said he primarily fished on the south end of the lake near New Johnsonville, Tenn. He said his bass were all caught in less than 2 feet of water.

“I went to the southern end of the lake because there’s a lot more shallow water than on the northern part of the lake,” said Sisk, who earned his fifth career-win in BFL competition. “I felt it would be a lot easier for me to find fish in shallow water.

“My best spot was a little point right off the main river. I had a little milk run of 10 or 12 spots, but that one spot was better than the others. That’s where I caught most of my big fish.”

Sisk said he used a Bone-colored Heddon Zara Spook to catch all of his fish throughout the week.

“The first day I only caught six fish, but they were all over 4 pounds. The second day the fish did a lot better,” said Sisk. “On Sunday I fished new water in Richland Creek because the wind was so bad. I only caught five small keepers, but they were enough to hold the lead.”

The top six boaters that qualified for the 2018 BFL All-American were:

1^st:          Marty Sisk, Evansville, Ind., 15 bass, 51-10, $65,200

2^nd:         Brent Anderson, Kingston Springs, Tenn., 15 bass, 46-3, $10,100

3^rd:          Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., 15 bass, 40-1, $5,000

4^th:          Edward Gettys, Paris, Tenn., 12 bass, 38-6, $3,000

5^th:          John Devries, Fishers, Ind., 12 bass, 36-5, $2,000

6^th:          Justin Berger, Murray, Ky., 13 bass,  36-1, $1,800

Rounding out the top-10 boaters were:

7^th:          Robert Reagan, Byrdstown, Tenn., 10 bass, 35-7, $1,600

8^th:          Doug Ruster, New Palestine, Ind., 12 bass, 35-5, $1,400

9^th:          Casey O’Donnell, Langston, Ala., 12 bass, 35-0, $1,200

10^th:        Leroy McDuffie, McLeansboro, Ill., 13 bass, 33-7, $2,000

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Billy French of Hamilton, Ohio, won the Co-angler Division and a new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard with a three-day cumulative catch of 12 bass weighing 41 pounds, 15 ounces.

The top six boaters that qualified for the 2018 BFL All-American were:

1^st:          Billy French, Hamilton, Ohio, 12 bass, 41-15, $45,200

2^nd:         James McWhorter, Hamilton, Ohio, 10 bass, 26-6, $5,000

3^rd:          Brian Huber, Saint Charles, Mo., nine bass, 23-6, $2,500

4^th:          Jason Papek, De Soto, Mo., six bass, 21-5, $1,500

5^th:          Josh Ford, Connersville, Ind., 10 bass, 20-9, $1,000

6^th:          Bobby Revalee, Connersville, Ind., six bass, 20-8, $900

Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers were:

7^th:          Billy Gardner, Livingston, Tenn., six bass, 19-2, $800

8^th:          Lawrence Spicher, Boonville, Ind., six bass, 17-15, $700

9^th:          Ronnie Gill, Indianapolis, Ind., five bass, 16-9, $600

10^th:        Matt Knox, Metamora, Ill., three bass, 13-13, $500

The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Regional Tournament on Kentucky Lake was hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The 2017 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 2018 All-American will be held on Cross Lake in Shreveport, Louisiana, May 31-June 2 and is hosted by the Shreveport-Bossier City Sports Commission and the Red River Waterway Commission. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the 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.