Phillips perseveres, wins Kentucky Lake co-angler title
BENTON, Ky. – Tyrone Phillips of Little Rock, Ark., posted the heaviest of three limits caught in the Co-angler Division finals of Wal-Mart FLW Tour competition at Kentucky Lake and won his first tournament with a weight of 12 pounds, 15 ounces.
Fishing behind pro Gary Yamamoto, Phillips caught the bulk of his five fish on a leadhead jig with paddle-tail worm while fishing a shallow bank out of the wind.
“We worked a 300-yard stretch of bank, and there was a hundred-yard area that was holding fish,” Phillips said. “We just kept going up and down that bank, and that’s where I caught my first three fish. Once he caught his limit, we went to another area, and I caught my fourth fish on a crankbait.”
With little time left and just four fish in his livewell, Phillips ran out of the paddle-tail worms he was throwing. He borrowed one of Yamamoto’s prototype cut-tail worms, which resembled the ones he was already using, and caught his fifth bass near Kentucky Dam Marina just prior to checking in.
“The rest is history,” said Phillips, who earned the biggest check of his career with $20,000. “I caught that last fish with about 10 minutes left in the tournament.”
Montgomery runner-up
Second place and $10,000 went to Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C., who caught four bass weighing 11 pounds, 10 ounces.
“I caught them on a jig, but I’m disappointed because I was around fish, and I just didn’t get the job done,” he said. “This is my third (FLW Tour) top-10 of the year, and now I want to win one.”
High five
Fishing his first FLW Tour event, Brian Hickey of Cadiz, Ky., caught five bass weighing 10 pounds, 1 ounce and finished third. He earned $9,000.
George Polosky of Alliance, Ohio, caught a limit weighing 9 pounds, 1 ounce and earned $8,000 for fourth place.
Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., rounded out the top five co-anglers with a two-bass weight of 4 pounds, 8 ounces. He collected $7,000.
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 co-angler finishers at the Kentucky Lake FLW Tour:
6th: Todd Lowe of Greensboro, Ga., one bass, 3-9, $6,000 (opening-round leader)
7th: Eric Foltin of Lebanon, Pa., two bass, 3-8, $4,000
8th: Brandon Sheeler of Lake Park, Iowa, one bass, 3-3, $3,000
9th: Sondra Rankin of Paducah, Ky., one bass, 2-5, $2,500
10th: William “Pete” Bridges of Tallapoosa, Ga., one bass, 2-1, $2,000
Final round Saturday
Day four of Wal-Mart FLW Tour competition at Kentucky Lake begins as the final-round field of 10 boats takes off from Kentucky Dam Marina in Gilbertsville, Ky., at 6:30 a.m. Central time Saturday. Friday’s weights carry over to Saturday, and the $100,000 Pro Division winner will be determined by two-day combined weight.