Hackemack Smashes 29-8 on Kentucky
Henry takes co-angler honors with just three
Kane Hackemack of Georgetown, Indiana, caught a five-bass limit Saturday weighing 29 pounds, 8 ounces, to take top honors at the 2018 T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) LBL Division opener on Kentucky and Barkley lakes. Hackemack earned $4,915 for his win.
Hackemack says he focused on deep points with current breaks, and caught his first two keepers within 20 minutes at his first area, on the north end of Kentucky Lake.
“The current breaks had a lot of shad and bass were feeding on them,” says Hackemack, who notched his first career win in FLW competition. “I hooked my first two on a ¾-ounce Strike King Red Eye Shad and stuck with the lure the rest of the day.”
Hackemack says he caught nine keepers from the area, averaging one every 20 to 30 minutes. He says his last good fish – a 7½-pounder – came at 11:30 a.m. From there, the bite slowed down.
“I’ve caught many 20- to 25-pound limits on Kentucky Lake, but to get almost 30 is awesome,” says Hackemack. “It truly is one of the best fisheries in the country.”
Top 10 boaters
1st: Kane Hackemack, Georgetown, Ind., five bass, 29-8, $4,915
2nd: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, five bass, 27-1, $3,408
3rd: Rick Shannon, Woodlawn, Tenn., five bass, 18-3, $1,640
4th: Matt Robertson, Kuttawa, Ky., three bass, 16-3, $1,147
5th: Tommy Williams, Shepherdsville, Ky., five bass, 16-12, $983
6th: Stuart Eversole, Middletown, Ohio, five bass, 16-1, $901
7th: Drew Boggs, Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 15-11, $819
8th: Austin Brown, Benton, Ky., four bass, 15-9, $837
9th: Ray Barga, Benton, Ky., four bass, 14-14, $955
10th: Chris Beaudrie, Princeton, Ky., four bass, 14-7, $573
Floyd weighed a 9-pound, 9-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $750.
Henry takes co-angler honors with just three
Greg Henry of Hixson, Tennessee, won the Co-angler Division and $2,458 Saturday after catching three bass weighing 12 pounds, 8 ounces.
Top 10 co-anglers
1st: Greg Henry, Hixson, Tenn., three bass, 12-8, $2,458
2nd: Ryan Kirkpatrick, Benton, Ky., three bass, 12-4, $1,329
3rd: Roger Kirby, Owensboro, Ky., three bass, 10-7, $817
4th: John Lovin, Fayetteville, Ohio, two bass, 10-5, $573
5th: Craig Middleton, Harrodsburg, Ky., two bass, 9-10, $492
6th: Chuck Rounds, Benton, Ky., two bass, 9-6, $826
7th: Kevin Webb, Clayton, Ohio, two bass, 8-15, $410
8th: Claude Cobb, Lexington, Ky., two bass, 8-13, $369
9th: Roger Richardson, Saint Louis, Mo., three bass, 8-12, $328
10th: Luke Lamb, Nicholasville, Ky., two bass, 8-8, $287
Rounds caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 6 pounds, 13 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $375.
The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) LBL Division event on Kentucky and Barkley lakes 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. 25-27 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tennessee. 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 2018 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 2018 BFL All-American will be held May 31-June 2 at Cross Lake in Shreveport, Louisiana, and is hosted by the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.