GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. – Dan Bowman entered Day 3 of the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Plains Division event on Kentucky Lake with a pair of runner-up finishes on his ledger, but no wins with MLF. Though he only managed four keepers on the last day, losing the fifth on the jump, his four for 12 pounds, 8 ounces was plenty to get the job done and finally earn him the big trophy. Weighing a 42-12 total on 14 bass, Bowman locked in his qualification for the Toyota Series Championship and won the Phoenix boat and motor package.
In second, Noah Dickneite tallied 36-3 on the week, and Jeremy Duke finished third with 36-2.
Bowman weighed a limit for 13 pounds on Day 1, then caught 17 pounds on Day 2, which gave him a good cushion going into the final day. Both of the first days, he masterfully played off what his pros were doing.
“I had a terrible practice,” Bowman said. “I fished two days and caught one keeper each day. So, I didn’t really, you know, get a lot of info from that. My first day partner was catching fish pitching a jig – and the water we were on, I decided I didn’t like that, so I threw a spinnerbait and I caught five behind him on a spinnerbait that day.”
Day 2 necessitated another adjustment.
“My guy the second day told me he’d been catching some smallmouth on a point, and he caught some good ones in practice,” he said. “He was Texas-rigging a worm or something. So, I decided to try something different. I had some baits made by Bojangle Baits, and I Carolina-rigged them, and I caught four keepers behind him in no time. I ended up culling twice, so I had a really good day.”
The smallmouth turned out to be a tournament highlight for Bowman.
“The first day when I caught them on a spinnerbait, I had four largemouth, one smallmouth,” he said. “The second day, which really charged me up, I ended up culling out to where I had all five smallmouth. I’d never done that before. Today, I had one largemouth and three smallmouth.”
Bowman first fished a Toyota Series event as a co-angler on his home lake, Lake of the Ozarks, in 2021, and he’s kept it rolling since.
“I end up taking second by 1 ounce, so I won some money,” he said. “I said, ‘Well, I’ll just finish out the year with this.’ I qualified for the championship, which I then did the next year and the next year. So far, I’ve qualified for the championship all five years I’ve fished.”
Surprisingly, though Bowman is no stranger to Kentucky Lake, this was one of the first times he’d ever had a successful trip there.
“We’ve probably been there 20 times, and this is the first trip I can ever say I had a good trip to Kentucky Lake out of all the years,” Bowman said. “I keep feeling more and more comfortable every time I go down here now. Used to, I just dreaded it and hated it, I didn’t do any good. Now at least, I’m semi-looking forward to it, catching the smallmouth is what I really like because we don’t have them at home.”
Top 10 co-anglers
1. Dan Bowman – 42 – 12 (14) – $33,500
2. Noah Dickneite – 36 – 03 (13) – $4,836
3. Jeremy Duke – 36 – 02 (12) – $3,868
4. Alan Bernicky – 32 – 05 (12) – $3,485
5. Chase Johnson – 31 – 04 (12) – $2,901
6. Douglas Guidorzi – 30 – 08 (11) – $2,418
7. Jeff Moss – 28 – 00 (11) – $1,934
8. Dustin Selck – 25 – 12 (9) – $1,692
9. Josiah Ennes – 24 – 11 (8) – $1,451
10. Dennis Young – 24 – 11 (9) – $1,209