Bryan’s Vetter Wins Co-angler Title
Boater Steve Hatfield of Ashland, Ohio, brought a five-bass limit to the scale weighing 16 pounds, 15 ounces Saturday to win the 2018 T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Buckeye Division event at Mosquito Lake. Hatfield earned $3,426 for his victory.
According to post-tournament reports, Hatfield caught his fish near the dam, targeting grass lines in 4 to 8 feet of water with a green-pumpkin-colored Rat-L-Trap.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Steve Hatfield, Ashland, Ohio, five bass, 16-15, $3,426
2nd: Sean Wieda, Florence, Ky., five bass, 15-10, $1,713
3rd: Mark Dove, North Vernon, Ind., five bass, 15-4, $1,141
4th: Craig Burwell, North Baltimore, Ohio, five bass, 14-13, $799
5th: Brock Spencer, Waynesfield, Ohio, five bass, 14-7, $685
6th: Mervin Miller, Sugarcreek, Ohio, five bass, 14-2, $1,258
7th: Butch Dobransky, Canton, Ohio, five bass, 13-8, $671
8th: Mike Lockhart, Belpre, Ohio, five bass, 12-13, $514
9th: Kyle Weisenburger, Ottawa, Ohio, five bass, 12-10, $428
9th: Art Bailey, Twinsburg, Ohio, five bass, 12-10, $428
Miller caught a bass weighing 4 pounds, 12 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – to earn the Boater’s Big Bass award of $430.
Hans Vetter of Bryan, Ohio, won the Co-angler Division Saturday after catching a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 10 ounces. Vetter earned $1,713 for his victory.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Hans Vetter, Bryan, Ohio, five bass, 14-10, $1,713
2nd: Brian Short, Oxford, Ohio, five bass, 11-13, $1,056
3rd: Frank Aldridge, Wheelersburg, Ohio, five bass, 11-10, $621
4th: Brett Warrick, Westerville, Ohio, five bass, 11-9, $400
5th: Jordan Scales, Russells Point, Ohio, five bass, 10-13, $343
6th: Ryan Sykes, Hamilton, Ohio, five bass, 10-9, $314
7th: John Garrett, Orient, Ohio, five bass, 10-6, $271
7th: Darrell Carroll, Independence, Ky., five bass, 10-6, $271
9th: Hunter Fillmore, Waynesville, Ohio, five bass, 10-2, $228
10th: Bill Langille, Kent, Ohio, five bass, 9-14, $200
Billy French of Hamilton, Ohio, earned the Co-Angler Big Bass Award of $107 after bringing a bass weighing 3 pounds, 12 ounces to the scale.
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. 11-13 BFL Regional Championship on the Chesapeake Bay in North East, Maryland. 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 2018 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 complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com.
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 2018 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct 286 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa and Spain. 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: Joe Opager, Director of Public Relations
