Bain Leads Championship

Making her customary Day 2 charge, Kim Bain rallied Friday on Arkansas’ Lake Hamilton boating a limit weighing 10 pounds, 14 ounces to move into top position with a two-day total of 16 pounds, 0 ounces, at the Women’s Bassmaster Tour Championship presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors. Bain of Alabaster, Ala., now is looking to double dip at the season-ending event as she continues her pursuit of the Toyota Tundra Women’s Bassmaster Tour Angler of the Year award and the coveted Bassmaster Classic berth that comes with it.

Buoyed by a 5-pound bass she caught at 7:30 a.m., the cool and collected Bain jumped up from Thursday’s seventh-place showing. The event concludes Saturday with the winner taking home a boat package valued at $55,000 in addition to $5,000. But Bain’s ultimate goal is the Angler of the Year title. With it, she will make history as the first female angler to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic in its 39-year history.

Bain, 28, entered the Championship event with a scant margin in the season-long points race over Tennessee’s Cindy Hill and Texan Juanita Robinson. While Robinson has performed, she is in fourth; Hill, who was closer to Bain before the event started, is in seventh.

“When I caught that 5 pounder, I screamed so loud that I woke up the neighborhood,” said Bain. “That fish set up my whole day. It gave me the confidence that I needed and I really got into a groove after that.”

Bain felt that another day on the lake led to a better understanding of picturesque Hamilton. She continued to fish a finesse worm around different types of structure and visited a number of spots throughout the day.

The win would be Bain’s second on the WBT this year. She won on Alabama’s Lake Neely Henry in May and had posted finishes of no less than sixth in the four regular-season events. Though Bain, who left Australia nine years ago to pursue a career in professional bass fishing in the U.S., has a firm grasp on the AOY title, she refused to acknowledge that the race was all but over.

“There is one more day and anyone of these anglers could catch a five pounder,” said Bain. “I’m just going to go out Saturday and approach it just like any other day.”

Also moving up the leaderboard was Audrey McQueen of Eagar, Ariz. McQueen stormed from 19th position to second with a two-day total of 13-15. She caught two three-plus pounders on her first three casts of the morning and was able to build from there.

Four months pregnant, McQueen had little time to prepare for the tournament, missing out on the pre-fish period time. She was able to fish Hamilton on the official practice day Wednesday and though she missed valuable time on a fishery she never visited, she believes the unfamiliarity with Hamilton might have helped her.

“I came in with no preconceived notions and I have just basically went fishing,” said McQueen, a renowned elk hunting guide. “I think I have them figured out now. I am feeling really confident right now.”

Her 12-5 limit Friday is the biggest of the tournament thus far.

Rounding out the top five were Day 2 leader Debra Petrowski of Arlington, Texas, who slipped to third with 12-1; Juanita Robinson of Highlands, Texas, in fourth with 11-15 and Angie Douthit of Clewiston, Fla., with 11-12.

Leading in the co-anger division was Debra Cook of Gardendale, Ala., with 6-14. Co-anglers are competing for a $37,500 Skeeter-Yamaha boat and $3,250. Trailing Cook was Day 1 leader Debbie Pegoli of Loveland, Ohio, with 6-8 and Barbara Gaskins of Suffolk, Va., with 6-3.

Texoma to Determine Qualifiers

The pros in the Oct. 30-Nov. 1 Bassmaster Central Open season finale on Lake Texoma out of Denison, Texas, will be fishing for points as well as for pounds.

The top prize of $45,000 is the goal of every pro in next week’s tournament. But several of the pros are within range of another big prize — one of three 2009 Bassmaster Classic berths up for grabs through the Central Open — and they’ll need points earned at Texoma to make that happen.

The top three finishers in the Central Open points standings, fashioned after the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points, after the Texoma event will qualify for the Classic, Feb. 20-22 out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La. The Central Open pros will join 48 other anglers for the competition on the Red River.

To secure a ticket to the Classic, the current top three in the Central points race will have to fend off all comers. Points leader Jerry Williams of Conway, Ark., has a 65-point margin to ride on, thanks to a strong showing in the season’s first two Open events.

In second place is Aaron Johnson of Bossier City, who won the Kentucky Lake event in September. Johnson is only six points in front of Billy McCaghren Jr. of Mayflower, Ark., winner of the season-opener on the Red River.

“The Classic’s my goal,” said McCaghren. “I’m going to do the best I can to stay up there in points. I’ll just have to wait and see when I get to Texoma. I’ve been there once, so I have seen the lake. I’ve thought a lot about the Elite Series, but I’ll have to wait and see how this ends up.”

McCaghren’s thoughts on the Bassmaster Elite Series have to do with the fact that the 10 pros with the highest point totals from the Central Open season will get a coveted invitation to join the 2009 Elite circuit, which will kick off March 12-15 on another Texas fishery, Lake Amistad.

But no one has the points race in the bag. One of the anglers making a run at a Classic berth is Michael Burns of Plano, Texas, a 39-year-old financial manager competing in his second Open season. He sits sixth in the standings, just 10 points below McCaghren.

“Making it to the Classic was definitely a goal when I entered the Opens,” Burns said. “Fishing the Classic would be a once-in-a lifetime event.”

Perhaps in Burns’ favor is that he considers Texoma to be home water.

“It’s a time of the year I like to fish up there,” he said. “The question will be who can find the bigger fish. I think limits will be easy to find, but it will be harder to catch the big fish.

“It’s an interesting time of year. Usually the shad are into their normal fall migration and become shallower, and the bass will definitely follow them. The strong patterns that time of the year will depend on the weather — the bass will either be on the points, the rocks, or back in coves chasing shad. Brushpiles sometimes can become a factor, but that’s really dependent upon the weather. If we get clear and sunny conditions, the fish will pull back on any brushpiles, otherwise they’ll be out roaming, chasing the shad.”

Fans are invited to the Open’s Thursday-Saturday takeoffs and weigh-ins at Highport Resort and Marina, 120 Texoma Harbor Drive in Pottsboro, Texas. The pros will launch at 7:30 a.m. CT, and the weigh-ins are scheduled to begin at 3:45 p.m. CT. All events are free and open to the public.

Bassmaster.com will provide coverage that includes live, streaming video of the daily weigh-ins and real-time leaderboards beginning at 4:45 p.m. ET each day. Photo galleries and daily results also will be available at Bassmaster.com.

Competing from the back of the pros’ boats will be co-anglers vying for their division’s top award, a $32,000 Triton/Mercury rig.

The Lake Texoma event is hosted by the Denison Chamber of Commerce. Information about the city — known as the birthplace of 34th U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower — is at http://www.denisontexas.us. The host hotels are Comfort Inn & Suites and Holiday Inn Express in Denison.

Bassmaster Open sponsors include Toyota Tundra, Advance Auto Parts, Berkley, Lowrance, Mercury, Purolator, Skeeter, Yamaha, Optima Batteries and Triton Boats.

Southern Open Qualifiers

Matt Herren of Trussville, Ala., Greg Pugh of Cullman, Ala., and Bassmaster Elite Series pro Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla., qualified Saturday for the 2009 Bassmaster Classic through the Bassmaster Southern Open circuit.

The three pros also led the list of 10 anglers who earned this season’s Southern Open invitations to compete in the 2009 Bassmaster Elite Series.

Herren, Pugh and Lane punched their tickets for the Classic after scoring the top three places in the 2008 Bassmaster Southern Open points race, which reached the finish line Saturday on Alabama’s Lake Guntersville.

Herren had come into the Guntersville event sitting fourth in points — strong enough to be a realistic Elite hopeful but shaky enough to view a Classic slot as slightly out of reach. Now he’s set to compete in his first Classic.

“I came here with a specific goal, to make the Elites. That was priority one, but now the Classic is right here in my hands too,” said Herren, an experienced pro who has competed in various circuits for about 20 years.

Herren said he will join the 2009 Elite Series.

Pugh is also a first-time Classic qualifier.

“Making the Classic this season was my top goal,” said Pugh. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for several years, but I hadn’t been able to fish the Opens like I wanted to. Everybody always dreams of going to the Bassmaster Classic, and I finally made it. I’m very excited.”

Lane’s 2009 Classic berth will be his second; his first was last year, also obtained through the Southern Open circuit.

Lane, the 2008 Advance Auto Parts Bassmaster Rookie of the Year, had already secured a 2009 Classic spot by finishing 15th in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year race, which is the Bassmaster Elite Series points competition. Lane, however, now takes his Classic qualification through the Southern Open.

The double-qualifier situation opens the Classic door to Elite pro Rick Clunn of Ava., Mo., who is now in after being the first man out in the Elite’s points race to the Classic. Clunn will be competing in his 32nd Classic, more than any other angler in Classic history.

Clunn might not end up taking the back-door entry. He’s said he’d “rather make it on my own.” He has a good shot at that through the Bassmaster Central Open division, which wraps up Nov. 1.

A total of 51 anglers will compete Feb. 20-22 on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La., for the Classic’s top prize of $500,000 and the prestigious title.

The three Southern Open pros are the most recent additions to the Classic field. They join 37 previous qualifiers: the defending champion — Alton Jones of Waco, Texas — and 36 other Elite pros.

Another Classic berth will be filled Oct. 25, when the Toyota Women’s Bassmaster Tour Angler of the Year winner will be named in Hot Springs, Ark., at the Women’s Bassmaster Tour Championship presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors. She will make history as the first woman to qualify for a Classic.

Three more berths will be filled Nov. 1 through the Bassmaster Central Open, and six more Nov. 7 through the BASS Federation Nation National Championship.

The final 2009 Classic competitor will be known Nov. 15. That person will be the winner of the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Weekend Series Championship operated by American Bass Anglers.

While a Classic entry can fire-up a new fishing career or validate an established one, first-time Elite Series qualification means stepping up into the sport’s most prestigious fishing circuit. Besides Herren and Pugh, Greg Vinson of Wetumpka, Ala., and Luke Gritter of Kalamazoo, Mich., became first-time Elite Series qualifiers Saturday.

Vinson, 31, was 18th in the points standings before the Oct. 16-18 Lake Guntersville event. His second-place finish in Alabama on Saturday ran up his points tally to land fifth place in the points race, easily making the top 10.

He began his trek to the Elite level in 2004, when he competed as a co-angler in Elite events.

“Fishing beside the best of the best gave me the inspiration to try to achieve that level,” Vinson said. “I’m tickled to death. My goal coming into the Guntersville tournament was to qualify for the Elite Series.”

Six pros who earned Elite spots Saturday had already qualified through the 2008 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points race: Lane; Preston Clark of Palatka., Fla.; Terry Scroggins of San Mateo, Fla., Peter Thliveros of St. Augustine, Fla.; Aaron Martens of Leeds, Ala., and Casey Ashley of Donalds, S.C.

As with dual-tour Classic qualifiers, the six must take their 2009 Elite spots through the Southern Open. BASS will work down the AOY points standings to award the six spots to pros who competed on the Elite level in the 2008 season, but who did not requalify.

The 2009 Bassmaster Elite Series season will kick off March 12-15 on Lake Amistad out of Del Rio, Texas.

Allen & Ackerman Win Boats

The Mid States Tournament Association (MSTA) held their championship Sunday October 12, 2008 out of Camp Branch Marina at Smithville Lake.  The top 35 boaters and non-boaters from the regular season made it to the no-entry fee championship where anglers fished for cash and prizes worth over $58,000.

There is not another circuit around where anglers can fish for such prizes with such a low entry fee for anglers during the regular season.  Special thanks go out to Smithville Marine, Stratos Boats and Evinrude Motors who are the title sponsors of the tournament, without all of their hard work and support none of this would be available.  Entry fees into the 2009 season are now being taken; call Smithville Marine at 816-532-4000 for more information.

Winners of the tournament were boater David Allen from Platte City, MO and his non-boater partner David Ackerman from Claycomo, MO.  This team brought 4 fish to the scales that weighed 10.52 lbs. on an extremely tough day of fishing.  With MSTA’s unique format where both the boater and the non-boater combine their fish to make up the teams weight for the day, today was one of those days when the format paid of big time.

David Allen got on stage and gave all the credit to his non-boater partner David Ackerman, Mr. Allen said “All I did was drive the boat today”, and in a personal interview called David Ackerman “A fishing machine.”

This team hit several places on the lake that David Allen had in mind with no luck, but as is the case with the unique format that the MSTA offers the boater and the non-boater, they worked as a team and Mr. Allen asked Mr. Ackerman for his input, who suggested they go to the milfoil beds, David Allen listened and the rest is history so to say.

David Allen walked away from this tournament with a Stratos 285 ProXL rigged with an Evinrude E-tec 150 outboard professionally rigged by Smithville Marine; his package prize was worth $30,000.  David Ackerman won a Stratos 176XT with an Evinrude 50 E-tec professionally rigged by Smithville Marine; his package was worth $15,000.

Second place went to the team of Eddie Yocum from Smithville, MO and his non-boater partner Bill Horvath from Leavenworth, KS.  This team brought in two fish to the scales that weighed 9.32 lbs.

Again, the non-boater played a key role in the teams high finish, with Bill Horvath’s 6.02 lb. toad sealing the team’s high finish.  Bill’s big fish ended up being big fish of the tournament on both the boater and non-boater side.  Eddie took home $2,500.00 for second place on the boater side and since he was running a Stratos boat that he won from Smithville Marine in a drawing a few years ago, he took home an additional $1,000.00 thanks to the Smithville Marine bonus bucks program, where anglers are rewarded for their loyalty.  Bill took home $1,000.00 in cash for second place.

Third place went to the team of Jim Sloan from Kansas City, KS and Jed Hawkins from Lansing, KS this team brought 3 fish to the scales that weighed 7.04 lbs.   Jim took home $1,000.00 for third place and Jed took home $500.00.

Layton Strong was the highest finisher to run a Non-Stratos boat from Smithville Marine and in doing so won $500.00 for running a boat purchased from Smithville Marine thanks to the Smithville Marine bonus bucks program.

« Previous Page — Next Page »