McClure Works Barkley for Win
Pillow takes co-angler title in LBL Division event
Brad McClure of Brentwood, Tennessee, brought five bass to the scale Saturday weighing 23 pounds, 14 ounces, to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) LBL Division tournament on Kentucky and Barkley lakes. For his efforts, McClure took home $4,963.
“I caught them on deep brush piles, 12 to 17 feet down,” says McClure, who earned his first career win in FLW competition. “I was on Lake Barkley, and used a plum-colored Zoom Ol’ Monster Worm.”
McClure says he caught 11 of his 12 keepers from a mid-lake area that contained several brush piles. One pile ended up producing three of his largest fish, and that he caught everything he weighed in between 8:30 and 9:10 a.m.
“I think finding the fish in that one spot with my Lowrance unit was key for me,” says McClure. “They were stacked because of the brush piles, stumps and baitfish. I put waypoints down for the individual brush piles and then used my MinnKota Ultrex Spot Lock feature to keep me stationary so I could make the same casts over and over to the piles.”
McClure says his worm was Texas-rigged with a 3/8-ounce Strike King Tour Grade Tungsten weight on a 4/0 Bass Pro Shops XPS Round Bend Offset Hook and 15-pound-test Berkley Big Game line. He threw it on a 7-foot, 6-inch Abu Garcia Vendetta medium-heavy casting rod and Pflueger Supreme baitcasting reel.
The top 10 boaters:
1st: Brad McClure, Brentwood, Tenn., five bass, 23-14, $4,963
2nd: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, five bass, 19-15, $2,181
3rd: Chris Beaudrie, Princeton, Ky., five bass, 18-6, $1,422
4th: Jordan Hartman, Murray, Ky., five bass, 17-8, $925
5th: Larry Bailey, Paducah, Ky., five bass, 17-1, $793
6th: Jim Eakin, Clarksville, Tenn., four bass, 16-13, $1,027
7th: Nick Uebelhor, Jasper, Ind., five bass, 16-11, $660
8th: Josh Malone, Alma, Ill., five bass, 15-10, $594
9th: Stephen Barga, Benton, Ky., five bass, 15-6, $528
10th: Tim Collier, Paducah, Ky., five bass, 15-3, $462
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Arby Tevault of Elberfield, Indiana, brought a 6-pound, 5-ounce bass to the scale – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $535.
Pillow wins co-angler title
Robert Pillow of Campbellsville, Kentucky, won the Co-angler Division and $1,981 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 15 pounds, 2 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: Robert Pillow, Campbellsville, Ky., five bass, 15-2, $1,981
2nd: Greg Henry, Hixson, Tenn., five bass, 14-6, $991
3rd: Spencer Childers, Jasper, Ga., four bass, 13-12, $662
4th: Jake Steinkuhl, Evansville, Ind., four bass, 12-0, $562
5th: Roger Richardson, Belleville, Ill., two bass, 11-6, $663
6th: Wendy Kmucha, Harrisburg, Ill., four bass, 10-13, $363
7th: Luke Lamb, Nicholasville, Ky., four bass, 10-0, $330
8th: Thomas White, Iron City, Tenn., three bass, 9-15, $347
9th: Danny Robinson, Fairland, Ind., three bass, 9-2, $264
10th: Chuck Rounds, Benton, Ky., two bass, 8-2, $231
Richardson caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 6 pounds, 7 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $267.
The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) LBL Division tournament on Kentucky and Barkley lakes was hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention and 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.