Tennessee’s Gettys Wins T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League LBL Division Opener on Kentucky/Barkley Lakes Presented by Navionics

Richmond’s Fornash tops Co-angler field

GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. – Edward Gettys of Paris, Tennessee, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 25 pounds, 14 ounces, Saturday to win the first T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) LBL Division event of 2017 on Kentucky and Barkley lakes presented by Navionics. For his efforts, Gettys pocketed $7,851.

Gettys said he spent the tournament fishing ditches and bars on the main lake. He said he had four areas that were especially productive.

“My first stop was a ditch that was 6-feet-deep, just north of Paris,” said Gettys, who notched his ninth career-win in FLW competition. “The bass I focused on were hovering in the 3-foot range, and I caught four – including a 5-pounder. After that, I moved to another shallow ditch and caught some more keepers.”

Gettys said his most productive bait throughout his day was a Rayburn Red-colored Booyah One Knocker lipless crankbait.

“Later on I hit a couple of shallow bars in 3 to 5 feet of water and caught two in the 5-pound range,” said Gettys. “They both came on the One Knocker. I would reel in my retrieve at a medium-slow speed.”

Gettys said he finished out the tournament by working through his most productive bars.

“I didn’t have a kicker in my limit – they were all similar in size – but I caught a lot of fish,” said Gettys. “I probably caught 25 or 30 keepers after all was said and done.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

               1^st:          Edward Gettys, Paris, Tenn., five bass, 25-14, $5,851 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus

               2^nd:         Matt Robertson, Central City, Ky., five bass, 25-12, $3,665

               3^rd:          Kevin Tidwell, Bon Aqua, Tenn., five bass, 24-3, $1,846

               4^th:          Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, five bass, 22-5, $1,295

               5^th:          David Young, Mayfield, Ky., five bass, 21-9, $1,310

               6^th:          Richie Head, Clarksville, Tenn., five bass, 21-4, $1,018

               7^th:          Brent Anderson, Kingston Springs, Tenn., five bass, 21-1, $1,025

               8^th:          Eric Snow, Clarksville, Ind., five bass, 20-9, $833

               9^th:          Chuck Callahan, Cincinnati, Ohio, five bass, 19-10, $740

               10^th:        Josh Malone, Alma, Ill., five bass, 18-2, $648

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.  

Robertson caught a bass weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces – the largest of the event – which earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $890.

Chris Fornash of Richmond, Kentucky, weighed in five bass totaling 15 pounds, 5 ounces Saturday to win the Co-angler Division and the top prize of $2,737.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

               1^st:          Chris Fornash, Richmond, Ky., five bass, 15-5, $2,737

               2^nd:         Donald Shaffer, Odin, Ill., five bass, 14-8, $1,369

               3^rd:          Kristin Knuteson, Mount Washington, Ky., four bass, 13-13, $913

               4^th:          Jonathan Blattel, Cape Girardeau, Mo., five bass, 13-1, $839

               5^th:          Marion Yahn, Bell City, Mo., five bass, 12-11, $547

               6^th:          Craig Middleton, Harrodsburg, Ky., three bass, 11-11, $937

               7^th:          Kane Hackemack, Georgetown, Ind., four bass, 10-7, $456

               8^th:          Jeff Maxwell, Flora, Ind., three bass, 10-0, $411

               9^th:          Gary Gustafson, Gilbertsville, Ky., two bass, 9-14, $365

               10^th:        Kerry Malone, Mount Pulaski, Ill., three bass, 9-8, $369

Middleton caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing 7 pounds, 1 ounce, and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $435.

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. 12-14 BFL Regional Championship on the Barren River in Scottsville, Kentucky. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.

The 2017 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. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the 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 2017 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 274 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa 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 Snapchat.

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