Marty Sisk of Evansville, Indiana, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 17 pounds, 13 ounces, Saturday to win the third FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Illini Division tournament of 2016 on the Ohio River. For his victory, Sisk took home $7,456.
“I worked my way up the Cumberland River hitting offshore bars and small ledges,” said Sisk, who earned his third win in FLW competition. “I focused on chunk rock and pea gravel in 10 to 15 feet of water.
“I caught the biggest bass of the tournament around 10:30 a.m. on a 1-ounce Blue Glimmer-colored Accent spinnerbait,” said Sisk. “Throughout the day I rotated in a ¾-ounce green-pumpkin Hawgback Lures football-head jig with a green-pumpkin craw trailer, and a Carolina-rigged green-pumpkin Zoom Brush Hog. My goal was to keep the fish going. I didn’t want them to look at the same bait for a long period of time.”
Sisk said that he split his day between five different areas and caught nearly 50 fish.
“I hit a flurry between 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. which really helped me,” said Sisk. “Also, the Strike Force scent on my jig was a huge factor out there. It may have won the tournament for me.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Marty Sisk, Evansville, Ind., five bass, 17-13, $5,456 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Ray Cortivo, Troy, Ill., five bass, 17-7, $1,963
3rd: Chad Hess, Scheller, Ill., five bass, 16-11, $1,309
4th: Jerry Walker, Zeigler, Ill., five bass, 16-4, $1,216
5th: Dan Shoraga, West Frankfort, Ill., five bass, 16-2, $785
6th: Hilton Jones, Westfield, Ill., five bass, 15-10, $720
7th: Jake Hurst, New Athens, Ill., five bass, 15-3, $654
8th: Joey Morris, Galatia, Ill., five bass, 14-9, $589
9th: Michael McAtee, Waverly, Ky., five bass, 13-8, $523
10th: Melvin Jeffords, Grantsburg, Ill., five bass, 13-3, $458
Sisk’s biggest bass, which weighed 5 pounds, 4 ounces, earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $530.
Jeffrey Lee of Olney, Illinois, weighed in five bass totaling 12 pounds, 14 ounces, Saturday to win the co-angler division and earn $1,958.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Jeffrey Lee, Olney, Ill., five bass, 12-14, $1,958
2nd: Joey Jeffery, Ledbetter, Ky., five bass, 12-4, $979
3rd: Mike Youngblood, St. Louis, Mo., five bass, 11-12, $653
4th: Chris Gable, Eddyville, Ky., five bass, 11-9, $457
5th: Cole Hansens, Dongola, Ill., five bass, 10-11, $392
6th: Eugene Kim, Lindenhurst, Ill., four bass, 10-9, $619
7th: Charles Dammerman, Owaneco, Ill., five bass, 10-7, $326
8th: Steve Bowcock, Lawrenceville, Ill., five bass, 10-5, $294
9th: Yong Yeun, Elgin, Ill., five bass, 9-7, $261
10th: David Hutson, Palmersville, Tenn., five bass, 9-2, $228
Kim caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division, a fish weighing 4 pounds, 13 ounces, and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $260.
The top 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 13-15 Regional Championship on Kentucky Lake in Gilbertsville, Kentucky. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.
The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 50 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and 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 winners in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.
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 2016 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 235 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico 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.
By: Brian Johnson, FLW
