Co-Angler Title Goes to West Frankfort’s Campbell

WHITTINGTON, Ill. (July 1, 2019) – Boater Derek Jenkel of Pinckneyville, Illinois, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Illini Division tournament on Rend Lake Saturday after catching a five-bass limit weighing 15 pounds, 8 ounces. Jenkel earned $4,384 for his victory.

“I was flipping bushes in the mid-lake region,” said Jenkel, who earned his third career win in BFL competition. “I didn’t have a specific bay or creek or anything like that, but I figured out a pattern flipping buck brush and I was able to replicate it in multiple areas.

“Traditionally, the bass on Rend Lake love to be shallow – like fins sticking out of the water ridiculously shallow,” Jenkel continued. “However, they just weren’t there. I figured out that the fish were holding on deeper bushes, which really was odd to me. They were not supposed to be there. But they were, and once I figured that out I was able to apply that in multiple different areas.”

Jenkel said that the fishing was a little slow, as he and his co-angler only had about 13 keeper bites throughout the day. He said he fished six different areas, mainly flipping a watermelon-red-colored Zoom Brush Hog, but also adding one keeper on a Strike King Rage Bug.

“The key, honestly, was figuring out the depth,” Jenkel went on to say. “It had to be bushes in three feet of water.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Derek Jenkel, Pinckneyville, Ill., five bass, 15-8, $4,384

2^nd:         Jerry Walker, Zeigler, Ill., five bass, 14-1, $1,767

3^rd:         Terry Holsapple, Greenup, Ill., five bass, 13-8, $1,077

4^th:         James Powell, Murphysboro, Ill., five bass, 13-6, $684

5^th:         Mike Barnes, Mackinaw, Ill., five bass, 12-7, $587

6^th:         Brad Porter, Bluford, Ill., five bass, 11-15, $538

7^th:         Ray Cortivo, Troy, Ill., four bass, 11-13, $824

8^th:         Toby Corn, Calvert City, Ky., five bass, 11-3, $590

9^th:         James Williams, Neoga, Ill., five bass, 11-1, $366

9^th:         Brennon McCord, West Frankfort, Ill., five bass, 11-1, $366

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Cortivo caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 10 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $335.

Gabe Campbell of West Frankfort, Illinois, won the Co-angler Division and $1,602 Saturday after catching four bass weighing 11 pounds, 3 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Gabe Campbell, West Frankfort, Ill., four bass, 11-3, $1,602

2^nd:         Dave Dobill, Royalton, Ill., four bass, 10-12, $721

3^rd:         Amanda Black, Greenup, Ill., four bass, 9-2, $633

4^th:         Jacob Greco, Edwardsville, Ill., five bass, 8-12, $336

5^th:         Aaron Arning, Walnut Hill, Ill., three bass, 8-8, $488

6^th:         Tad Cain, La Place, Ill., three bass, 7-4, $264

7^th:         James Lang, Benton, Ill., three bass, 6-14, $240

8^th:         Drew Cress, Highland, Ill., two bass, 5-13, $216

9^th:         Eugene Kim, Lindenhurst, Ill., three bass, 5-9, $230

9^th:         Jamie Ebbert, Canton, Ill., two bass, 5-9, $230

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. 24-26 BFL Regional Championship on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518L with a 200-horsepower outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518L with a 200-horsepower outboard.

The 2019 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 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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, and YouTube.