Bateman Flips, Cranks Wood for Win
Liming wins co-angler title in Hoosier Division Super Tournament
Scott Bateman of Jasper, Indiana, brought a two-day total of 10 bass to the scale weighing 12 pounds, 13 ounces, to win the two-day T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Hoosier Division super-tournament on the Ohio River at Tanners Creek Sunday. Bateman earned $4,718 for the victory.
“The first day I ran 30-some miles, fishing inside creeks,” says Bateman, who earned his second career victory in BFL competition. “I was mainly pitching soft-plastics and throwing crankbaits around wood.
“On the second day, I stayed in Tanners Creek – near the launch site – and did the exact same thing, throwing a crankbait and pitching plastics. I caught 11 fish over the two days – six on the first day, five on the second – and I lost several more.”
Bateman was the only angler to weigh in a five-bass limit on both days of competition. His crankbait of choice was a Strike King KVD 1.5 (sexy shad) and he pitched green-pumpkin-colored tubes and creature baits.
“I caught six on the crankbait and five on the plastics,” Bateman went on to say. “I think the key was that I was covering more water and fishing very fast.”
The top 10 boaters:
1st: Scott Bateman, Jasper, Ind., 10 bass, 12-13, $4,718
2nd: Bryce Kalen, Greenwood, Ind., eight bass, 12-0, $2,234
3rd: Thomas Foster, Terre Haute, Ind., seven bass, 11-13, $1,423
4th: Chris Wilkinson, Farmersburg, Ind., nine bass, 11-12, $996
5th: Brandon Houston, Burlington, Ky., eight bass, 10-6, $854
6th: Kyle Weisenburger, Columbus Grove, Ohio, six bass, 9-8, $783
7th: Ken Garbe, Wyoming, Ohio, seven bass, 8-7, $711
8th: John Melton, Corydon, Ind., six bass, 8-6, $640
9th: Pete Justice, Sharonville, Ohio, four bass, 8-0, $569
10th: Mark Bouchie, Evansville, Ind., four bass, 7-5, $985
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Bouchie caught a 3-pound, 11-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the event’s Boater Big Bass award of $487.
Liming wins co-angler title
Dillsboro, Indiana’s Brian Liming won the Co-angler Division and $2,134 Sunday after catching a two-day total of seven bass weighing 11 pounds, 14 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: Brian Liming, Dillsboro, Ind., seven bass, 11-14, $2,134
2nd: Jim Krider, North Vernon, Ind., five bass, 7-7, $1,067
3rd: Brant Gish, Evansville, Ind., four bass, 5-8, $712
4th: Adam Boyce, Glenview, Ill., two bass, 5-5, $742
5th: Collin Hillen, Evansville, Ind., four bass, 4-14, $427
6th: John Young, Franklin, Ind., three bass, 4-13, $391
7th: Austin Thome, Oxford, Ohio, four bass, 4-5, $706
8th: Jeffery Johnson, Austin, Ind., four bass, 4-5, $470
9th: Roy Lester, Hamilton, Ohio, three bass, 4-3, $285
10th: Billy French, Hamilton, Ohio, three bass, 3-8, $249
Boyce caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 3 pounds, 5 ounces. The catch earned him the event’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $244.
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 Kentucky Lake presented by Evinrude in Buchanan, Tennessee. 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.