Ohio’s Martinkovic Wins FLW Bass Fishing League Hoosier Division Event on Patoka Lake Presented by Power-Pole

Read wins co-angler title

BIRDSEYE, Ind. – Chris Martinkovic of Hamilton, Ohio, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 18 pounds, 14 ounces, Saturday to win the FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Hoosier Division tournament on Patoka Lake presented by Power-Pole. For his victory, Martinkovic received $5,879.

“I started the morning mid-lake throwing a bone-colored Heddon Zara Spook to bass up shallow,” said Martinkovic, who earned the fourth win of his FLW career. “I ran a 100-yard stretch of bluegill beds and pulled the Spook fairly quickly. The water was clear so you didn’t want them to have a chance to look at it. I caught two of my better ones, and ended up with three in the boat by 8:30 a.m.

“After that I fished points for the rest of the day,” Martinkovic continued. “The ones I hit were long and protruding from the spawning pockets. I probably ran through 30 of them. I used a green-pumpkin football-head jig with a green-pumpkin Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw trailer.”

Martinkovic said he went three hours without a bite, but managed to wrangle in two more fish by 1 p.m. to complete his limit. He said he finished the day with just six keeper bites.

“The boat traffic made it tough out there,” said Martinkovic. “I also spent a lot of my time going for those big postspawn fish. I’m just thankful I had enough to win.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

               1^st:          Chris Martinkovic, Hamilton, Ohio, five bass, 18-14, $3,879 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus

               2^nd:         Jeremy Knepp, Montgomery, Ind., four bass, 15-2, $1,940

               3^rd:          John Schroering, Dubois, Ind., four bass, 15-1, $1,293

               4^th:          Charlie Hentrup, New Albany, Ind., five bass, 14-9, $905

               5^th:          Scott Spayd, Ferdinand, Ind., four bass, 14-5, $776

               6^th:          Mike Quinlin, Mooresville, Ind., five bass, 13-10, $711

               7^th:          Nick Uebelhor, Jasper, Ind., three bass, 12-15, $647

               8^th:          John Melton, Corydon, Ind., four bass, 12-13, $582

               9^th:          Ted Scheeter, Jasper, Ind., four bass, 11-13, $517

               10^th:        Chris Wilkinson, Farmersburg, Ind., five bass, 11-8, $453

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com. 

Tim Barkley of Indianapolis, Indiana, caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 6 ounces – the biggest of the tournament in the pro division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $515.

Darron Read of Elizabethtown, Indiana, weighed in three bass totaling 8 pounds, 4 ounces, Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $1,940.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

               1^st:          Darron Read, Elizabethtown, Ind., three bass, 8-4, $1,940

               2^nd:         Chad Jackson, Indianapolis, Ind., two bass, 7-8, $970

               3^rd:          Shane Oxford, Saint Meinrad, Ind., two bass, 5-15, $646

               4^th:          Jim Betts, Fort Wayne, Ind., two bass, 5-12, $453

               5^th:          Rod Yoder, West Lafayette, Ind., two bass, 5-11, $388

               6^th:          Billy French, Hamilton, Ohio, two bass, 5-9, $356

               7^th:          Jim Krider, North Vernon, Ind., one bass, 5-5, $580

               8^th:          Brian Liming, Dilsboro, Ind., two bass, 5-4, $275

               8^th:          Robert Revalee, Connersville, Ind., one bass, 5-4, $275

               10^th:        Kenny Mitchell, Franklin, Ohio, one bass, 4-5, $226

Krider caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 5 ounces and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $257.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Sept. 29 – Oct. 1 Regional Championship on Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tennessee. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.

The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 50 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and 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 winners in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the Walmart 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.

About FLW

FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2016 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 235 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico and South Korea. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Periscope: @FLWFishing.

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