Loyall’s James Earns Co-Angler Title

GLASGOW, Ky. (June 24, 2019) – Boater Jeffrey Wilson of Lancaster, Kentucky, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mountain Division tournament on the Barren River Saturday after catching five bass weighing 16 pounds, 6 ounces. For his day on the water, Wilson pocketed $3,753.

“I mainly stayed up around mid-lake and got in the back of the creeks where the bushes were flooded. There was some standing and floating timber and I threw a shaky-head in there,” said Wilson, who logged his first win in FLW competition. “Everything I caught came anywhere from 1 to 5 feet of water.”

Wilson said he ran his pattern in a main creek, located across from the Narrows Marina Boat Ramp, until 11 a.m. He then worked a little pocket off of a corner of Coon Creek before hitting some small main-lake pockets on the way back to the boat ramp. He added that he caught five keepers and several short fish.

“I was looking for shade on the banks once the sun got up. I believe they were trying to keep cool in it,” said Wilson. “I worked the bait slow. I would drag it instead of popping it like normal.”

Wilson said his setup included a green-pumpkin-colored Zoom Trick Worm with a 5/16-ounce, green-pumpkin BC Lures Round Shaky Head and a 7-foot 4-inch Phenom Titanium Gen2 Series Enigma Casting rod.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Jeffrey Wilson, Lancaster, Ky., five bass, 16-6, $3,753

2^nd:         William Merrick, Mount Juliet, Tenn., five bass, 15-14, $1,877

3^rd:          John Rediess, Smiths Grove, Ky., five bass, 15-5, $1,185

4^th:          Aaron Singleton, La Grange, Ky., five bass, 14-6, $829

5^th:          Brian Wilson, Somerset, Ky., five bass, 14-2, $1,011

6^th:          Clay Reece, Lexington, Ky., five bass, 13-8, $651

7^th:          Pat Eichmann, Nancy, Ky., five bass, 13-6, $842

8^th:          Jeramiah Sifers, New Albany, Ind., four bass, 12-15, $958

8^th:          Allen Boyd, Salem, Ind., five bass, 12-15, $503

10^th:        Mike Lemons, Huntington, W. Va., five bass, 12-10, $415

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Sifers caught a bass weighing 4 pounds, 12 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $455.

Ernest James of Loyall, Kentucky, won the Co-angler Division and $1,777 Saturday after catching four bass weighing 11 pounds, 4 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Ernest James, Loyall, Ky., four bass, 11-4, $1,777

2^nd:         Kenny Botts, Alvaton, Ky., three bass, 10-10, $888

3^rd:          Jason Barr, Woodlawn, Tenn., five bass, 10-8, $742

4^th:          Jarrod Conn, Burgin, Ky., five bass, 9-15, $415

5^th:          Joey Von Hoene, Erlanger, Ky., three bass, 8-2, $555

6^th:          Timothy Vaughan, Bowling Green, Ky., two bass, 7-5, $553

7^th:          Tracy Helton, London, Ky., four bass, 7-4, $296

8^th:          Shane Vickers, Tyner, Ky., three bass, 7-1, $317

9^th:          Lucas Reagan, Byrdstown, Tenn., two bass, 6-4, $210

9^th:          Paul Singleton, La Grange, Ky., four bass, 6-4, $210

9^th:          Danell McKinney, West Liberty, Ky., three bass, 6-4, $210

Vaughan caught the heaviest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 4 pounds, 9 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $227.

The tournament was hosted by the Glasgow-Barren County Tourist & Convention Commission.

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. 17-19 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama, presented by Mercury. 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.