BREWERTON, N.Y. (Aug. 25, 2025) – Boater Liam Blake of Fairport, New York, caught a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 7 ounces, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Oneida Lake. The tournament was the fourth event of the season for the BFL Northeast Division. Blake earned $3,632 for his victory.
“I fished history on the lake and just went back to the basics with a jig and a dropshot around grass and rocks,” Blake said. “It was nothing too crazy – just 13 to 20 feet of water. The perfect mix of grass and rock was what you needed to be around to get bit.”
Blake said he fished west-central Oneida on the south shore and used forward-facing sonar to see fish through the grass. He cited being able to see the fish on his electronics as being the key to his victory.
“I just put the bait in front of as many fish as I could to get bites. It was tough,” Blake said. “I caught 20 keepers all day. Ten of those were shallow and came on a drop-shot with a 4-inch Yamamoto Senko and a ¼-ounce drop-shot weight. I also threw a ½-ounce homemade football jig.”
Blake said Oneida has been fishing so well lately he estimated it would take, “22 and some change to win”, and figured he was one bite short of a win at weigh-in.
“Apparently, it was pretty tough out there,” Blake said. “I didn’t think I had enough until I put my boat on the trailer and a couple of people came over and commented about how tough it was, and 20 pounds was leading. That’s when I realized I might have a chance.
“This win is amazing,” Blake added. “I’ve had a bunch of second places in tournaments out there, so to win one feels really good.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Liam Blake, Fairport, N.Y., five bass, 21-7, $3,632
2nd: Jason Putman, Cicero, N.Y., five bass, 20-2, $2,281
3rd: Ricky Brodeur, Chaumont, N.Y., five bass, 20-0, $1,210
4th: Casey Smith, Victor, N.Y., five bass, 19-14, $947
5th: Jordan Sypeck, Weston, Pa., five bass, 19-11, $726
6th: Jared Adamski, Dallas, Pa., five bass, 19-9, $666
7th: Henry Fristik, Blandford, Mass., five bass, 19-5, $605
8th: Dylan Fogerty, Mechanicsburg, Pa., five bass, 19-4, $545
9th: Ken Golub, Pittsford, N.Y., five bass, 19-2, $484
10th: Dean Diviesti, Walden, N.Y., five bass, 19-1, $424
Jason Putman of Cicero, New York, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 5 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $465.
Randall Given of Laurel, Delaware, won the co-angler division and $1,816 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 12 pounds, 14 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Randall Given, Laurel, Del., three bass, 12-14, $1,816
2nd: Kade Wesner, Lancaster, Pa., three bass, 12-8, $958
3rd: Andrew Hostler, Tyrone, Pa., three bass, 10-14, $706
4th: Jared Burrows, Butler, Pa., three bass, 10-13, $424
5th: Cole Bernier, Saylorsburg, Pa., three bass, 10-12, $363
6th: Timothy Rougier, Watertown, N.Y., three bass, 10-9, $333
7th: Wes Woolridge, Phoenix, N.Y., three bass, 10-8, $303
8th: Sudhir Nath, Buffalo, N.Y., three bass, 10-6, $272
9th: Thomas Tennity, Newark, N.Y., three bass, 10-1, $242
10th: Wes Vyverberg, Rochester, N.Y., three bass, 9-15, $201
10th: Matthew Belmore, Indian Lake, N.Y., three bass, 9-15, $201
Gerald Dam of Pine Plains, New York, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $232, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 14 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
After four events, Tom Balachvili of Scarsdale, New York, leads the Fishing Clash Northeast Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 935 points, while Kade Wesner of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, leads the Fishing Clash Northeast Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 956 points.
The next event for BFL Northeast Division anglers will be the two-day Super Tournament held Sept. 20-21, at the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-oneida-82525.html
BFL News Archive