Leonard Adapts to Tough Bite

Holder grabs co-angler title on Douglas Lake

Bryan Leonard of Blountville, Tennessee, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds, 10 ounces Sunday to win the Walmart Bass Fishing League Volunteer Division Super Tournament on Douglas Lake with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 27 pounds, 9 ounces. For his victory, Leonard earned $6,732.

“The fishing was tough in this tournament,” said Leonard of his first win in FLW competition “The lake was being drawn down 8 inches a day and it affected my strategy.

“On Saturday morning I focused on an area down south near the Douglas Dam,” continued Leonard. “I threw a bone-colored Heddon Zara Spook topwater and caught my biggest fish around noon at the end of a bluff point. After that my co-angler and I did a lot of junk-fishing. I caught approximately 12 keepers.

“On day two I started out with the Zara Spook but decided to put it down after an hour,” said Leonard. “I headed up the French Broad River to the headwaters and found an area with clear water.”

Leonard said he used a spinnerbait and a green-pumpkin jig rigged with a green-pumpkin Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw to catch 10 keepers on Sunday.

The top 10 boaters:

1^st:          Bryan Leonard, Blountville, Tenn., 10 bass, 27-9, $4,732 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus

2^nd:         Tim Smiley, White Pine, Tenn., 10 bass, 23-11, $2,366

3^rd:          Dale Pelfrey, Rockwood, Tenn., seven bass, 22-12, $1,577

4^th:          Michael Cantrell, Philadelphia, Tenn., 10 bass, 21-11, $1,104

5^th:          Tim Saylor, Johnson City, Tenn., 10 bass, 20-1, $946

6^th:          Eddie Ball, Newport, Tenn., 10 bass, 19-8, $868

7^th:          Tee Watkins, East Point, Ky., 10 bass, 17-8, $789

8^th:          Bill Freeman, Knoxville, Tenn., six bass, 17-4, $710

9^th:          Steve Redmond, Waynesville, N.C., eight bass, 16-5, $631

10^th:        Shane Sloan, Knoxville, Tenn., six bass, 15-7, $552              

Complete results can be found here. 

Ball caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division Friday. The fish weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $555.

Holder wins co-angler division

Donnie Holder of Mooresburg, Tennessee, won the co-angler division and $2,238 with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 16 pounds, 13 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers:

1^st:          Donnie Holder, Mooresburg, Tenn., 10 bass, 16-13, $2,238

2^nd:         Travis Carpenter, Rogersville, Tenn., seven bass, 15-9, $1,119

3^rd:          Stacey Newberry, Maryville, Tenn., eight bass, 14-10, $748

4^th:          Chris Seese, Lenoir City, Tenn., seven bass, 14-4, $522

5^th:          Kyle Warden, Bluff City, Tenn., eight bass, 12-10, $448

6^th:          Jimmy Crum, Afton, Tenn., five bass, 11-9, $410

7^th:          Justin McGaha, Knoxville, Tenn., eight bass, 10-14, $373

8^th:          Marty Estep, Piney Flats, Tenn., five bass, 10-9, $336

9^th:          John Gillespie, Princeton, W. Va., seven bass, 9-11, $298

10^th:        Matt Brown, Harriman, Tenn., six bass, 8-4, $261

Wes Ratcliff of Knoxville, Tennessee, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division and earned the day’s Big Bass award of $262.

The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings now qualify for the Oct. 15-17 Regional Championship on Lake Wateree in Camden, South Carolina. 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.