Singleton Works Laydowns for Title
Parrott takes co-angler title on Dale Hollow
Aaron Singleton of La Grange, Kentucky, brought five bass to the scale Saturday weighing 19 pounds, 5 ounces, to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mountain Division tournament on Dale Hollow Lake. For his catch, Singleton took home $6,319.
“I worked through three or four mid-lake pockets and primarily fished laydowns. I caught fish in 15 to 20 feet of water and ended up with eight keepers,” says Singleton, who earned his first career victory as a boater on Dale Hollow Lake. “At the start of the morning I used a white custom spinnerbait with a white trailer that I’d done well with in practice, but after 9 [a.m.] or so, the sun got up and that bite died off. I switched over to a shaky-head rig and immediately started catching fish. I pretty much upgraded throughout the day.”
Singleton’s shaky-head consisted of a green-pumpkin-colored Zoom Trick Worm on a 3/8-ounce Buckeye Lures Spot Remover jig head. He ended up weighing four largemouth and one smallmouth – two from the spinnerbait and three from the shaky-head rig. His day was capped off with a 5½-pound smallmouth, which he caught on the shaky-head with 20 minutes left to fish.
“This was an awesome win for me. I got my first win here as a co-angler back in 2007, and now I have my first win as a boater here,” says Singleton.
The top 10 boaters:
1st: Aaron Singleton, La Grange, Ky., five bass, 19-5, $4,319 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Dathan Jones, Harrodsburg, Ky., five bass, 18-11, $2,059
3rd: Blake Townsend, Irvine, Ky., five bass, 15-7, $1,374
4th: Robert Reagan, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 14-6, $961
5th: Michael Kennedy, Monroe, Tenn., five bass, 14-2, $924
6th: Pat Eichmann, Nancy, Ky., five bass, 14-0, $1,005
7th: Bryan Drury, Lexington, Ky., five bass, 13-14, $686
8th: Tim Smiley, White Pine, Tenn., five bass, 13-13, $918
9th: Aaron Bidarian, Lexington, Ky., five bass, 13-10, $549
10th: J.B. King, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 13-8, $480
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Bennie Mutter of Glasgow, Kentucky, caught a 5-pound, 8-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $565.
Parrott wins co-angler title
Travis Parrott of Byrdstown, Tennessee, won the Co-angler Division and $2,259 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 14 pounds, 9 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: Travis Parrott, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 14-9, $2,259
2nd: Charles Bennington, Scottsville, Ky., three bass, 11-2, $1,030
3rd: Jeremiah Williams, Livingston, Tenn., three bass, 10-7, $1,019
4th: Matt Smith, Bowling Green, Ky., three bass, 10-0, $480
5th: Justin Davis, Cookeville, Tenn., three bass, 9-9, $412
6th: Glen Ruth, Frankfort, Ky., four bass, 8-5, $378
7th: Darren Kelly, Wartburg, Tenn., four bass, 8-2, $493
8th: Taylor Wisniewski, Lexington, Ky., four bass, 8-0, $309
9th: Shane Vickers, Tyner, Ky., three bass, 7-13, $275
10th: Casey Shearer, Nicholasville, Ky., three bass, 7-9, $240
Williams caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 5 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $282.
The tournament was hosted by Star Point Resort in Byrdstown, Tennessee.
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 2019 BFL All-American will be held May 30-June 1 at the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland, and is hosted by the Charles County Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism and the Commissioners of Charles County. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.