CANNELTON, Ind. (Aug. 18, 2025) – After back-to-back Ohio River BFL wins in 2018 and 2019, boater Chris Leclere of Cannelton, Indiana, had to wait a few years, but Saturday he made his return to the winner’s circle. Leclere caught a five-bass limit weighing 9 pounds, 15 ounces to win his third career BFL title at the Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on the Ohio River at Rocky Point. The tournament was the third event of the season for the BFL Hoosier Division. Leclere earned $3,679 for his victory.
“It was really a pretty slow day for me,” Leclere said. “I only got like six keeper bites all day. I only had one keeper at 9 o’clock. It was just typical Ohio River creek fishing. I just kept grinding, pitching and flipping stumps and laydowns, and I ended up coming up with the right bites.”
Leclere said he focused his efforts during the tournament in a creek upriver from takeoff at Rocky Point Marina. A couple of bass fell for a topwater bait, but the majority came pitching a soft-plastic craw.
“It feels pretty good to win this one,” Leclere said. “It’s my third one (on the Ohio River) I had a good day, a good practice this week. I felt great going into this tournament and my confidence was high.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Chris Leclere, Cannelton, Ind., five bass, 9-15, $3,679
2nd: Frank McClain, Scottsburg, Ind, five bass, 9-8, $1,840
3rd: Allen Boyd, Salem, Ind., five bass, 9-7, $1,725 (includes $500 Phoenix Bonus)
4th: Brian Funkhouser, Bloomington, Ind., five bass, 9-4, $859
5th: Ryan Deal, Evansville, Ind., five bass, 9-0, $986
6th: Jeremy Knepp, Montgomery, Ind., four bass, 8-14, $1,155
7th: Scott Bateman, Jasper, Ind., five bass, 8-12, $613
8th: Adrian Urso, Union, Ky., five bass, 8-9, $552
9th: Justin Berger, Murray, Ky., five bass, 7-12, $491
10th: Jeramiah Sifers, Sellersburg, Ind., five bass, 7-8, $429
Jeremy Knepp of Montgomery, Indiana, caught a bass that weighed 4 pounds, 5 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $480. Garrett Deal of Evansville, Indiana, won the co-angler division and $1,840 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 8 pounds, 6 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Garrett Deal, Evansville, Ind., three bass, 8-6, $1,840
2nd: Brant Gish, Evansville, Ind., three bass, 6-10, $1,040
3rd: Dan Pardue, Morgantown, Ind., three bass, 5-15, $662
4th: Jarrod Pickel, Indianapolis, Ind., three bass, 5-14, $429
5th: Paul Dehart, Franklin, Ind., three bass, 5-5, $368
6th: Scottie Davis, Martinsville, Ind., two bass, 4-14, $457
7th: Derek Jackson, New Albany, Ind., three bass, 4-10, $307
8th: David Rector, Brazil, Ind., three bass, 4-7, $276
9th: Don Bessler Jr, Coatesville, Ind., two bass, 4-5, $245
10th: Kade Oliver, Muncie, Ind., three bass, 4-0, $215
Brant Gish of Evansville, Indiana, and Scottie Davis of Martinsville, Indiana, each caught a bass that weighed 3 pounds, 5 ounces, to split the Berkley Big Bass Co-boater award of $240.
The next event for BFL Hoosier Division anglers will be the two-day Super Tournament, held Sept. 20-21, at Ohio River-Tanners Creek in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-ohio-rocky-point-81825.html
BFL News Archive