Milan’s Polenz Takes Co-angler Title

TRENTON, Mich. (Sept. 18, 2017) – Joshua Barr of Stow, Ohio, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Michigan Division tournament on the Detroit River presented by Navionics Sunday with a two-day cumulative catch of 10 bass weighing 49 pounds, 1 ounce. Barr pocketed $7,397 for his win.

“It was really satisfying to come out on top of such a competitive field,” said Barr, who earned his first career win after three prior top-10 finishes on the Detroit River in FLW competition. “I knew that I was on a couple of good schools in practice, but I didn’t realize how big they were. It was a pleasant surprise come tournament time.”

Barr committed each day to making a run south to Lake Erie.

“I live in the Cleveland area, so I was spending a lot of time around the Ohio and Pelee Islands,” said Barr. “I was fishing the typical off-shore Lake Erie isolated rock piles. I caught most of my fish on Day One with a drop-shot rig. On Day Two, all of my quality fish came on a tube.”

Barr said that he fished a perch-colored fluke-style bait on his drop-shot rig Saturday, but opted for a standard 3½-inch green pumpkin tube on Sunday.

“I don’t think the color really mattered,” Barr said. “My co-angler and I both caught 6-pounders on a tube and he had a different color.”

Barr estimated that he caught 10 to 15 smallmouth on Day One and around 20 on Day Two.

“Finding the right schools meant everything,” Barr went on to say. “When I would idle over the rocks, I couldn’t see them very well on my electronics. I’m not sure if my motor was spooking them, but when I would turn it off and drift over them my graphs would light up.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Joshua Barr, Stow, Ohio, 10 bass, 49-1, $5,397 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus

2^nd:         Jared Rhode, Port Clinton, Ohio, 10 bass, 47-3, $2,598

3^rd:          Michael Sitko, Pinckney, Mich., 10 bass, 46-4, $1,833

4^th:          Scott Dobson, Clarkston, Mich., 10 bass, 45-12, $1,513

5^th:          Jamie Jacobus, Johnstown, Ohio, 10 bass, 44-2, $1,039

6^th:          Kyle Greene, Ortonville, Mich., 10 bass, 43-15, $953

7^th:          Pat Upthagrove, Monroe, Mich., 10 bass, 41-5, $866

8^th:          Aaron Stumpf, Johnstown, Ohio, 10 bass, 40-7, $780

9^th:          Mike Cunningham, Fenton, Mich., 10 bass, 40-4, $693

10^th:        Eric Cook, Marblehead, Ohio, 10 bass, 40-1, $606

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Charles Mackintosh of Brighton, Michigan, caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 1 ounce – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division. The catch earned him the Boater Big Bass award of $652.

Gary Polenz of Milan, Michigan, caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 43 pounds, 7 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $2,669.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Gary Polenz, Milan, Mich., 10 bass, 43-7, $2,669

2^nd:         Tony Mitchell, Plainwell, Mich., 10 bass, 42-2, $1,284

3^rd:          Cody Bertrand, Dyer, Ind., 10 bass, 41-12, $858

4^th:          Aaron Stahley, Batavia, Ohio, 10 bass, 39-3, $649

5^th:          Christopher Slone, Shelby Township, Mich., 10 bass, 39-1, $514

6^th:          Steve Pinkerton, Anderson, Ind., 10 bass, 38-9, $471

7^th:          Justin Sawyer, Dearborn Heights, Mich., 10 bass, 38-3, $750

8^th:          Erik Jacques. Harrison Township, Mich., 10 bass, 38-0, $385

9^th:          Mike Eldridge, Blacklick, Pa., 10 bass, 36-7, $342

10^th:        Kenneth Johnson, Canton, Mich., 10 bass, 35-2, $300

Sawyer caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 5 pounds, 15 ounces – and earned the Co-angler Big Bass award of $322.

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. 12-14 BFL Regional Championship on the Barren River in Scottsville, 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 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. 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.