Brandenburg’s Dowell Grabs Co-angler Title
Freddy Adkins of East Bernstadt, Kentucky, brought a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 12 ounces to the scale Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) LBL Division tournament on Kentucky and Barkley lakes. For his efforts, Adkins took home $6,559.

“I used a 1-ounce chartreuse and white-colored Booyah spinnerbait to catch my fish,” said Adkins, who logged his first career win as a boater in BFL competition. “The water was up 2 to 4 feet and the fish were at the original shoreline, so I stayed out a little a deeper. I threw to shore and worked it back slow.
“The ticket was bumping it on the bottom,” continued Adkins. “Sometimes shad would hit the blade and that’s a good sign. If you’re around shad, you’re around the fish. I kept doing the same thing all day and it worked out.”
Adkins said he worked back and forth along a 200-yard stretch in Little River, and was able to put 10 keepers in the boat throughout the event.
“I think the No. 6 willow blade matched the shad, while the No. 3 provided a little extra flash,” said Adkins. “Also, the water was the perfect color and I had just the right amount of wind – it was the right combination.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Freddy Adkins, East Bernstadt, Ky., five bass, 22-12, $4,559 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Andrew Suggs, Cunningham, Tenn., five bass, 20-10, $2,804
3rd: Eric Snow, Clarksville, Ind., five bass, 19-6, $1,552
4th: Robert Linton, Cadiz, Ky., five bass, 19-0, $1,017
5th: Daniel Fink, Benton, Ky., five bass, 18-5, $872
6th: Randy Stone, Dexter, Ky., five bass, 17-11, $799
7th: Leon Stone, Dexter, Mo., five bass, 16-13, $726
8th: Tom Hill, Lexington, Ky., five bass, 16-12, $654
9th: David Carroll, Manitou, Ky., five bass, 16-6, $581
10th: Keith Monson, Burgin, Ky., five bass, 16-0, $509
Suggs caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 7 ounces – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – which earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $625.
Ryan Dowell of Brandenburg, Kentucky, won the Co-angler Division and $2,179 Saturday after bringing four bass totaling 15 pounds, 8 ounces to the scale.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Ryan Dowell, Brandenburg, Ky., four bass, 15-8, $2,179
2nd: Jesse Gustafson, Gilbertsville, Ky., five bass, 15-2, $1,090
3rd: James Wathen, Louisville, Ky., five bass, 14-9, $925
4th: Mark Johnson, Lebanon, Tenn., four bass, 14-7, $509
5th: David Dieling, Eddyville, Ky., five bass, 12-8, $436
6th: Nathaniel Wasson, Clarksville, Tenn., three bass, 12-0, $400
7th: Austin Schrecker, Owensboro, Ky., four bass, 11-15, $363
8th: Stevie Guffey, Tompkinsville, Ky., four bass, 11-11, $327
9th: Taylor Genz, Indian Mound, Tenn., three bass, 11-8, $291
10th: Kevin Lamb, Gallatin, Tenn., four bass, 11-3, $254
Daniel Pope Jr. of Cincinnati, Ohio, caught the biggest bass among Co-angler Division anglers, a fish weighing 6 pounds, 5 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $312.
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.
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.
By: Brian Johnson, FLW
