LAKEVIEW, Ohio – Michael Murphy of Troy, Ohio, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Buckeye Division tournament on Indian Lake Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 11 pounds, 2 ounces. For his win, Murphy took home $4,610.
“When I found out I won, it was unbelievable,” said Murphy, who earned his first career-victory in FLW competition. “I’ve wanted that trophy for a long time. I never expected it in a million years.”
To craft his limit, Murphy said he sat in 3 feet of water and threw a shad-colored Luck-E-Strike RC2 crankbait along small rock patches between seawalls.
“I hit a 150-yard stretch around Wolf Island,” said Murphy. “I caught my limit within the first 40 minutes of the event, culled one in the next hour and caught my biggest fish at 9:15 (a.m.). The wind was blowing into the bank, and I think it was pushing baitfish into the rock patches. It was one of those magical mornings.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Michael Murphy, Troy, Ohio, five bass, 11-2, $4,610
2nd: Daniel Sepeck, West Union, Ohio, five bass, 10-10, $2,505
3rd: Chris Bulaw, Wheaton, Ill., five bass, 10-1, $1,536
4th: Dan Moran, London, Ohio, five bass, 9-10, $1,176
5th: James Mayle, Newark, Ohio, five bass, 9-6, $845
5th: John Roth, Lawrenceburg, Ind., four bass, 9-6, $845
5th: James Hailstones, Cincinnati, Ohio, five bass, 9-6, $845
8th: Kyle Weisenburger, Ottawa, Ohio, five bass, 9-4, $614
8th: Tony Newland, Belle Center, Ohio, five bass, 9-4, $614
8th: Brandon Good, Fort Jennings, Ohio, four bass, 9-4, $614
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Dave Perry of Trenton, Ohio, caught a bass weighing 4 pounds, 7 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $670.
Brent Wilkens of Hamilton, Ohio, won the Co-angler Division and $2,505 Saturday after weighing five bass totaling 10 pounds, 5 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Brent Wilkens, Hamilton, Ohio, five bass, 10-5, $2,505
2nd: Adam Coleman, Canal Winchester, Ohio, five bass, 8-7, $1,152
3rd: Ryan McCusker, Beaver Falls, Pa., five bass, 7-3, $768
4th: Alexander Datz, Thornville, Ohio, three bass, 6-15, $923
5th: Jon Angstmann, Saint Marys, Ohio, five bass, 6-13, $461
6th: Dennis Blakely, Norwalk, Ohio, four bass, 6-6, $423
7th: Bradley Fulton, Ray, Ohio, four bass, 6-3, $384
8th: Roy Lester, Hamilton, Ohio, three bass, 5-15, $346
9th: Alfie Bricker, West Portsmouth, Ohio, three bass, 5-8, $307
10th: Jeffrey Lewis, Greenup, Ky., three bass, 5-5, $269
Datz weighed the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a 4-pound, 12-ouncer. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $335.
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. 12-14 BFL Regional Championship on the Barren River in Scottsville, Kentucky. 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.
The 2017 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the BFL on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.
About FLW
FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2017 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 274 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.
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