Benton’s Vannerson Wins T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League Tournament on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes
Co-Angler Title Goes to Madisonville’s Son
GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. – Boater Rob Vannerson of Benton, Kentucky, brought a five-bass limit to the scale weighing 21 pounds, 5 ounces, Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) LBL Division tournament on Kentucky and Barkley lakes. For his win, Vannerson was awarded $3,466.
Vannerson said he worked along the west side of Kentucky Lake from Kentucky Dam Marina to the Highway 68 bridge. He said he was able to put 14 or 15 keepers in the boat.
“I was throwing a [3/8-ounce, white] Z-Man ChatterBait with a [white smoke-colored 3.5-inch] boot tail swimbait on secondary flats –looking for run-off ditches that were in the spawning pockets,” said Vannerson, who logged his first career win in FLW competition. “I’d throw up into the ditches and work it back to where I was, working both banks of the ditches.
“The fish sat on the sides where the break line is –where the water runs down through the ditch,” Vannerson said. “The baitfish used the break to run up and down the edges of the ditches. There were both bucks and female bass in there.”
Vannerson said he used a 7-foot, medium-heavy Fitzgerald Stunner casting rod spooled with 15-pound-test Fitzgerald Vursa fluorocarbon line.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Rob Vannerson, Benton, Ky., five bass, 21-5, $3,466
2nd: David Carroll, Manitou, Ky., five bass, 17-7, $1,733
3rd: Stuart Eversole, Middletown, Ohio, four bass, 17-4, $1,590
4th: Pat Hatcliff, Murfreesboro, Tenn., four bass, 15-14, $1,309
5th: Shawn Penn, Benton, Ky., three bass, 13-5, $693
6th: Stu Moyer, Indianapolis, Ind., three bass, 12-15, $735
7th: Hunter Louden, Springville, Tenn., three bass, 12-11, $578
8th: Griff Estes, Murray, Ky., three bass, 12-7, $520
9th: Daniel Sepeck, West Union, Ohio, four bass, 12-4, $462
10th: Adam Craig, Buchanan, Tenn., four bass, 12-2, $404
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Eversole caught a 6-pound, 12-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $435.
William Son of Madisonville, Kentucky, won the Co-angler Division and $1,693 Saturday after catching four bass weighing 14 pounds, 8 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: William Son, Madisonville, Ky., four bass, 14-8, $1,693
2nd: Jordan Dunning, Madisonville, Ky., four bass, 12-0, $846
3rd: Timothy Nanzer, Bourbonnais, Ill., two bass, 9-8, $564
4th: Fred Combs, Portland, Tenn., two bass, 9-1, $395
5th: Eric Bobbett, Salem, Ill., two bass, 7-10, $339
6th: Jamie Wise, Fort Campbell, Ky., two bass, 7-4, $296
6th: Jake Steinkuhl, Evansville, Ind., two bass, 7-4, $396
8th: Randall Argo, Murray, Ky., two bass, 7-1, $254
9th: Art McCray, Groveport, Ohio, one bass, 6-11, $438
10th: Joseph Gulash, Edwardsville, Ill., two bass, 5-12, $198
McCray caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 6 pounds, 11 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $212.
The tournament was hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau.
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.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
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 2019 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct more than 290 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa and Spain. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show 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, and YouTube.
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