Ellis captures tourney title

Jay Ellis has caught many fish on the waters of Grand Lake and beyond.

Last weekend, the Celina resident finally reeled in something he had long been chasing: a Phoenix Bass Fishing League tournament title.

Ellis brought a five-bass limit to the scale, weighing 11-pounds, 13-ounces to win the 2020 Phoenix BFL tournament presented by T-H Marine on the Ohio River in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

"That was always the goal - I always wanted to win one," Ellis said. "Now, the goal is to win another one."

He collected a purse of $6,972 for the first BFL win of his career. He was also the highest-finishing FLW Phoenix Bonus member and took home an additional $2,500. The tournament was the second of five events in the Buckeye Division presented by A.R.E. Truck Caps.

A full-time fisher, Ellis has been competing in tournaments since he turned 16-years-old. He currently fishes in an estimated 50 events per year, bouncing back and forth between Florida and Ohio. He considers himself "blessed" to be fishing for a living.

Winning, of course, is a nice bonus.

"It makes it easier to have some bread," he joked.

"For me, it was always the desire to do better and compete," Ellis added. "I guess, the main thing is you just don't give up. It's like anything else, I mean, you get to a plateau and you get kind of stuck there and a lot of people back off or don't do as well as they want to, so they don't go on any farther. I think it's just the drive to move up to better yourself."

The 2020 Phoenix BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season and five qualifying events in each division.

The top-45 boaters and co-anglers in the Buckeye Division, along with the five winners of each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 16-18 Phoenix BFL Regional Championships on Cherokee Lake in Jefferson City, Tennessee. Boaters will compete for a $60,000 prize package. It is 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 Phoenix BFL All-American.

"The main goal when you start out is you just want to make it to the regionals," Ellis said. "Then from there, they take the top six and you move onto the All-American. When you're there, you're fishing for like $100,000. For me, the goal is to get there, and then it opens the door to bigger tournaments. Bigger entry fees, but bigger money also.

"If I stay in the top 45 of BFL, then it qualifies me to go into the Toyota FLW Series, which is just the next step up. It's just a stepping process."

Ellis has career earnings of $13,184 in the BFL with seven top-10 finishes in 80 career events. He currently leads the pro Buckeye Division in points (484) and winnings ($7,337). The division includes 174 competitors.

"It's just a wonderful feeling to win at that level," he said. "… It's guys that have that same drive, that same desire, so it's hard to beat them."

A pair of other local anglers, Rockford's Dick Shaffer and Minster's Carter Mox, also rank among Buckeye Division leaders. Shaffer, who finished second at last weekend's tournament, ranks 13th in the pro Buckeye Division with 438 points. Mox, who raked in $2,236 by winning the co-angler tournament last weekend, ranks 12th in the co-angler division.

The Phoenix BFL tour continues Aug. 15 with a tournament at the Ohio River in Maysville, Kentucky. The final two events take place at Lake Erie (Aug. 29) and Indian Lake (Sept. 26).