Vannerson Gets LBL Division Win
Son takes co-angler title
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 says he worked along the west side of Kentucky Lake from Kentucky Dam Marina to the Highway 68 bridge. 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,” says 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 says. “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 used a 7-foot, medium-heavy Fitzgerald Stunner casting rod spooled with 15-pound-test Fitzgerald Vursa fluorocarbon line.
The top 10 boaters:
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.
Son takes co-angler title
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:
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.