Kyle Smith of Elizabethton, Tennessee, caught five bass Saturday weighing 17 pounds, 11 ounces, to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Volunteer Division tournament on Douglas Lake. For his victory, Smith was awarded $4,384.
Smith started the tournament fishing around the Interstate 40 Bridge and worked his way to the Dandridge Bridge as the day progressed. He initially threw a wacky-rigged green pumpkin-colored V&M Chopstick on a Dobyns Champion XP704SF rod, targeting spawning fish on flats and in pockets around laydowns.
“I caught the heaviest fish of my day early – a 4-pound, 11-ouncer – so the day started out really well,” says Smith, who earned his first win in FLW competition. “I caught a couple more on the Chopstick then switched over to a spinnerbait around 10 [a.m.] and targeted deeper bushes and points with rock.”
Smith used a ½-ounce chartreuse and white-colored Dobyns D-Blade Beast spinnerbait with a glimmer blue-colored FoolinBass Custom Baits twin-tailed grub trailer on a Dobyns Champion XP733C rod. He notes that his Lowrance electronics were also crucial to his success, helping him stay in the right depth range on the points.
“I probably boated 25 keepers throughout the day,” says Smith. “In the late afternoon I ended up culling two fish in the last hour with the spinnerbait. It was a great day of fishing.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Kyle Smith, Elizabethton, Tenn., five bass, 17-11, $4,384
2nd: Chris Ferguson, Wittensville, Ky., five bass, 17-8, $1,322
2nd: Brant Grimm, Church Hill, Tenn., five bass, 17-8, $1,322
4th: Matt Linton, Kingston, Tenn., five bass, 15-9, $970
4th: Steven Bean, Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 15-9, $635
6th: Todd Goade, Suwanee, Ga., five bass, 15-2, $988
7th: Tee Watkins, East Point, Ky., five bass, 15-0, $489
8th: Nathan Hipps, Canton, N.C., five bass, 14-10, $415
8th: Bryan Leonard, Blountville, Tenn., five bass, 14-10, $415
10th: Chip Chambers, Elizabethton, Tenn., five bass, 14-7, $342
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Linton caught a 6-pound, 14-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $335.
Johnson wins co-angler title
Dustin Johnson of Elizabethton, Tennessee, won the Co-angler Division and $1,467 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 13 pounds, 6 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: Dustin Johnson, Elizabethton, Tenn., five bass, 13-6, $1,467
2nd: Jason Ridenour, Loudon, Tenn., five bass, 13-0, $733
3rd: Eric Moore, Union, Ky., five bass, 12-4, $690
4th: Curtis Hall II, Battle Creek, Mich., five bass, 12-1, $392
5th: Joshua Jernigan, Rocky Top, Tenn., five bass, 12-0, $443
6th: Ryan Bush, Big Stone Gap, Va., five bass, 11-12, $269
7th: David Blakely, Kingsport, Tenn., five bass, 11-2, $244
8th: Cody Melton, Greeneville, Tenn., five bass, 11-0, $220
9th: Larry Brumett Jr., Bristol, Va., five bass, 10-15, $296
10th: Mike Byrd, McDermott, Ohio, three bass, 10-9, $171
Alex McGee of Knoxville, Tennessee, caught the heaviest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 13 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $167.
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. 10-12 BFL Regional Championship on Lake Hartwell in Seneca, South Carolina, presented by Navionics. 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.