Colasessano Wins Bass Fishing League Tournament at Lake Patoka

BIRDSEYE, Ind. (May 12, 2025) – Boater Gary Colasessano of Indianapolis, Indiana, caught a five-bass limit weighing 12 pounds, 15 ounces, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Lake Patoka. The tournament was the first event of the season for the BFL Hoosier Division. Colasessano earned $4,415 for his victory.

“It was a lot of trial and error,” Colasessano said about his day. “I didn’t end up fishing the way I thought I was going to fish. The water was about 8 feet high. There was so much stuff in the water – trees, bushes, you name it. 

“I tend to like to power fish, and I wasn’t getting any bites when I was fishing that shallow stuff. Because I ultimately was fishing too fast.” 

After starting his day tossing a jerkbait on main-lake rocky points, Colasessano got a helpful clue from his co-angler, Gary Higgins. Both anglers were throwing Yamamoto Senkos. Colasessano was fishing his on a Texas rig. Higgins was throwing a wacky rig. Higgins caught a couple short fish, which showed his boater partner that slowing down could get him more bites. Colasessano made the switch, and the day turned around.

“For the next four hours in this one cove, I just did a circle two times around,” Colasessano said. “We’d get one bite every 45 minutes basically.

“Literally, you just soaked that worm or you weren’t going to get bit,” he added. “You just let that thing sink slowly to the bottom and they’d pick it up. The same areas I threw creature baits with a weight in them are the same areas we caught them on Senkos. It just took forever.”

Prior to the tournament, there was some buzz that this event might take a big limit to win. Colasessano was so sure he hadn’t won that he didn’t stick around for the whole weigh-in. After weighing in among the first six or so anglers, Colasessano loaded his boat on the trailer and headed for home, happy to have a decent showing.

“I was probably 30, 45 minutes from home and Leroy (Hensley, the tournament director) called me and said, ‘Where are you?’ I said, ‘I’m going home.’ He said, ‘Well, you won.’ You could’ve knocked me over with a feather.

“The funny thing is in those huge smashmouth tournaments where there are a lot of big weights, I don’t do very well,” he added. “The ones I tend to do well in are like this – really tough. I’m pleased. I was very surprised and happy.”

As for the drive back to get his trophy, Colasessano was cool with that, too. 

“I would’ve driven 10 hours to go back and get my trophy,” he joked.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Gary Colasessano, Indianapolis, Ind., five bass, 12-15, $4,415
2nd:      Jamil Abdullah, Indianapolis, Ind., five bass, 12-10, $2,157
3rd:       Chris Martinkovic, Hamilton, Ohio, five bass, 12-6, $2,064
4th:        Rob Flowers, West Harrison, Ind., five bass, 11-6, $1,007
5th:        Thomas Foster, Terre Haute, Ind., four bass, 11-5, $863
6th:        Mark Dunn, Trafalgar, Ind., three bass, 10-13, $1,255 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
6th:        Braxton Munson, Anderson, Ind., four bass, 10-13, $755
8th:        Blake Albertson, Bloomington, Ind., five bass, 10-8, $647
9th:        Nick Uebelhor, Jasper, Ind., three bass, 10-0, $575
10th:     Dayton Land, Coatesville, Ind., three bass, 9-8, $503

Kevin Spivey of Hamilton, Ohio, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $610. Jeremy Stoute of Bedford, Indiana, won the co-angler division and $2,157 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 6 pounds, 5 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Jeremy Stoute, Bedford, Ind., three bass, 6-5, $2,157
2nd:      Akshay Verma, Franklin, Ind., two bass, 5-3, $1,079
3rd:       Austin Herbst, Hamilton, Ohio, two bass, 5-2, $717
4th:        Rob Campbell, Martinsville, Ind., one bass, 5-1, $808
5th:        Bryan Wampler, Georgetown, Ky., two bass, 4-14, $431
6th:        Darrell Duke, Hawesville, Ky., two bass, 4-12, $396
7th:        Mark Bouchie, Evansville, Ind., one bass, 4-8, $342
7th:        Derek Jackson, New Albany, Ind., two bass, 4-8, $342
9th:        Mark Sollman, Haubstadt, Ind., one bass, 4-6, $288
10th:     Martin Bryant, North Vernon, Ind., one bass, 4-4, $252

Rob Campbell of Martinsville, Indiana, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $305, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 1 ounce – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

In addition to earning the win, Gary Colasessano of Indianapolis, Indiana, has the early lead in the Fishing Clash Hoosier Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 250 points, while Jeremy Stoute of Bedford, Indiana, leads the Fishing Clash Hoosier Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 250 points.

The next event for BFL Hoosier Division anglers will be held June 7, at Ohio River-Rocky Point out of Cannelton, Indiana.