Huff Capitalized up Shallow
Goss wins co-angler title in Mountain Division event
Rod Huff of Monterey, Tennessee, brought five bass to the scale Saturday weighing 18 pounds, 6 ounces, to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mountain Division tournament on the Barren River. Huff earned $7,552 for his win.
Huff says he mainly fished rock and wood and caught his fish shallow, in less than 5 feet of water. His day was split between four areas, spanning from up the main river, to both Peter and Beaver creeks.
“Early on in the morning I caught my biggest using a (green-pumpkin) ChatterBait with a (Zoom) Z-Craw of the same color up the main river, around the wood and rock,” says Huff, who earned his second career win in BFL competition. “I ran the bait over a small laydown and put it in the boat.”
Huff’s fish – a 5-pound, 8-ouncer – was the heaviest of the event. He also weighed in two on a Texas-rigged green-pumpkin Zoom Z-Craw and the rest on a white 3/8-ounce custom buzzbait.
“My other big bite came between 12 and 1 o’clock flipping the Z-Craw in Peter Creek,” says Huff. “I basically covered water with the ChatterBait and buzzbait, and if I came to a treetop or something like that I’d flip it.”
Huff ended up catching around seven keepers over the course of his day.
“The key for me was hitting the areas at the right time. There wasn’t a lot of pressure up shallow. I actually thought the tournament would be won offshore. That, along with my two big bites, was what sealed the deal for me.”
The top 10 boaters:
1st: Rod Huff, Monterey, Tenn., five bass, 18-6, $5,552 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Tom Hill, Lexington, Ky., five bass, 16-15, $1,921
3rd: Joe Rucker, Nicholasville, Ky., five bass, 15-8, $1,382
4th: Tony Eckler, Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 14-15, $896
5th: Mark Morgan, Somerset, Ky., five bass, 14-13, $768
6th: Ryan Coleman, Utica, Ky., five bass, 14-4, $704
7th: Brian Wilson, Somerset, Ky., five bass, 13-10, $940
8th: Tim Saylor, Johnson City, Tenn., five bass, 13-1, $576
9th: Robert Reagan, Byrdstown, Tenn., five bass, 12-11, $512
10th: Michael Emberton, Bowling Green, Ky., five bass, 12-9, $448
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Huff’s 5-pound, 8-ounce bass earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $510.
Goss wins co-angler title
Larry Goss of Hartsville, Tennessee, won the Co-angler Division and $2,048 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 16 pounds, 14 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: Larry Goss, Hartsville, Tenn., five bass, 16-14, $2,048
2nd: Chris Rushing, Gamaliel, Ky., four bass, 11-5, $1,160
3rd: Donnie Durbin, Somerset, Ky., five bass, 10-14, $641
4th: Tommy Glass, Verona, Ky., four bass, 10-7, $448
5th: David Mouser, Elizabethtown, Ky., four bass, 9-13, $384
6th: James Wathen, Royal Oak, Mich., five bass, 9-1, $402
7th: Brent Clark, Bowling Green, Ky., four bass, 7-12, $320
8th: Glen Alan Ruth, Frankfort, Ky., four bass, 7-11, $288
9th: Billy Gardner, Livingston, Tenn., three bass, 7-10, $256
10th: Timothy Ernst, Mount Eden, Ky., three bass, 7-6, $224
Robbie Welsh of Berea, Kentucky, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 4 pounds, 15 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $127.
The T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Mountain Division tournament on the Barren River was hosted by the Glasgow-Barren County Tourist & Convention Commission.
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.