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June 24, 2013 07:40:34
Posted By Hawgsrus
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LA CROSSE, Wis. — Tommy Biffle was watching the clock. With 45
minutes left in the final round, Biffle knew it was time to give
up on the special smallmouth spot he’d been milking during the
entire four-day Diet Mountain Dew Mississippi River Rumble
presented by Power-Pole.
Thirty years of pro bass fishing tells you to when to make a
move.
“If you sit there and hope they come, and they don’t come, you
have do something,” said Biffle, 55, of Wagoner, Okla.
Going into Sunday’s final round, Biffle was 7 ounces behind
leader Aaron Martens of Leeds, Ala. Biffle wanted the win, and
especially the Bassmaster Classic berth that comes with a
Bassmaster Elite Series trophy.
He abandoned the spot that had kept him in contention all week
and ran to a similar place he knew of nearby, with hard current
between two islands. It hadn’t produced much before, but Sunday
it paid off quickly.
“First throw, I caught a big one, second throw I caught a big
one,” Biffle said. He built his weight to 16 pounds, 13 ounces.
It was enough to get the better of Martens by 2 pounds, 7
ounces. Biffle won with a four-day total of 64-2. The win was
the seventh in his Bassmaster career and his fourth in the Elite
Series. He also hit the $2 million mark in B.A.S.S. earnings.
Biffle’s prize was $100,000 and an instant-in for the 2014
Classic.
“Now I’ve got the Classic made. That’s the best feeling,” said
Biffle, who was facing an uphill battle to qualify based on
Toyota Angler of the Year points.
Martens took second place with 61-11. Third was John Crews of
Salem, Va., with 59-4. Taking fourth place with 56-8 was Fred
Roumbanis of Bixby, Okla. Brandon Card of Caryville, Tenn.,
rounded out the Top 5 at 56-2. The 2012 Rumble winner, Todd
Faircloth of Jasper, Texas, finished sixth at 55-15.
Like the other 99 Elite pros, Biffle had to overcome wind,
muddy water, shifting currents and thunderstorms over four days
on the Upper Mississippi River, the fishery that’s lately become
so productive that it earned the No. 17 spot on Bassmaster
Magazine’s “100 Best Bass Lakes” list of 2013.
The move he made to his last spot was critical for his win, but
the majority of Biffle’s Rumble bass actually came from what he
called his “special smallmouth” place.
“It was the end of an island where the current was coming around
the island. Over the years, it made a little ditch. The bass
were holding in the ditch,” he said.
The ditch was actually a small depression, just a foot or two
deeper than the surrounding water. It ran about 100 yards, but
the bass were holding in a 20- to 30-yard stretch. The island
lies only about 10 miles from the takeoff location, which gave
Biffle time enough to run to other spots and catch the
largemouth he weighed Sunday with four smallmouth.
Biffle’s winning rig was a 7/16-ounce Biffle HardHead jig made
by Larew, which has a swivel hook to give the trailer more
action. He rigged the jig with a green pumpkin Larew Biffle Bug.
“It’s always been great in rocks, but this is the first time
I’ve ever fished it in pure sand. Smallmouth love it,” he said.
For Martens, it was déjà vu. He had the same near-miss almost
exactly a year ago on the same fishery in an Elite event. He was
just 7 ounces behind leader Faircloth going into the final day
of that 2012 event, but the bass chose to wrap their lips around
a huge hatch of mayflies, ignoring the lures he was throwing. In
2012, Martens finished 4-3 out of first for a fifth-place finish.
“Second place isn’t bad,” said Martens, who knows how it feels.
Sunday’s finish was his 12th at second place on the Bassmaster
circuit.
Martens relied on a drop shot rig for three days, making long
casts and giving the lure subtle shakes. His lures were 4 1/2-
and 6-inch thick-bodied Fat Roboworms and a 6-inch original
Roboworm, all in the color Aaron’s Magic. When the bite got
tougher, he rigged the soft plastics wacky-style.
Courtesy of BASS Communications.
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June 15, 2013 08:49:31
Posted By Hawgsrus
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Ralls wins co-angler title
HARDIN, Ky. (June 15, 2013) – Curt McGuire of Paris, Tenn.,
weighed a five-bass limit totaling 22 pounds, 11 ounces Saturday
to win the EverStart Series Central Division event on Kentucky
Lake presented by Evinrude after leading wire-to-wire with a
three-day total of 15 bass weighing 70 pounds, 3 ounces. For his
victory, McGuire earned $40,000 and a new Ranger Z518 with a 200-
horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor.
“This one was a little bit more special than my first
win,” said McGuire, who had a previous EverStart victory on
Kentucky Lake in 2010. “I feel like the competition here on
Kentucky Lake is much stiffer now than it used to be. There are
no better local fisherman than here at Kentucky Lake.”
McGuire said that he made a long run each day from north
of Paris down to New Johnsonville, hitting 50 to 60 different
schools of fish along the way.
“I really had a fantastic week,” McGuire said. “I must
have caught at least 40 to 50 4-pound fish. Some of my schools
that I had located, I never even touched. I really just tried to
concentrate on the schools that I knew held bigger fish.”
McGuire said that he caught fish this week throwing a
variety of baits, including a Bomber Fat Free Shad crankbait, a
BOOYAH football-head jig and a YUM Money Minnow swimbait. He
also caught a few keepers fishing a spoon and a Carolina rig. He
said that he varied his colors based on his location. McGuire
said that when he fished in the north he would throw more
natural looking colors and switch to brighter colors as he moved
south.
“I was really embarrassed after the previous EverStart
event on Lake Pickwick,” McGuire went on to say. “I did not
catch them nearly as good as I thought I could. The key for me
in this event was putting my time in. I worked on finding areas
that other guys might not be looking for and figuring out how to
catch them differently on the more popular ledges. I saved one
hole just for today, and it feels good knowing that my hard work
paid off for me.”
McGuire caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro
division on Thursday, a 6-pound, 14-ounce bass that earned him
the day’s EverStart Series Big Bass award of $300. S
Steve Ralls of Buncombe, Ill., won the co-angler division and
a Ranger Z117 with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard
motor with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 54 pounds, 10
ounces.
Chuck Sabia of Ottawa, Ill., caught the biggest bass of the
tournament in the co-angler division Friday – a 6-pound, 7-ounce
bass – that earned him the day’s EverStart Series Big Bass award
of $200.
The EverStart Series consists of five divisions – Central,
Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Each division consists
of four tournaments and competitors will be vying for valuable
points in each division that could earn them the Strike King
Angler of the Year title, which allows them to fish the 2014
Forrest Wood Cup.
The final EverStart Series Central Division tournament will
be July 25-27 on the Detroit River in Trenton, Mich., and will
be presented by Mercury.
Courtesy of FLW Outdoors.
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June 10, 2013 07:37:39
Posted By Hawgsrus
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ZAVALLA, Texas — The frog bite was on at Sam Rayburn Reservoir
but Texan Albert Collins avoided that temptation and won the
B.A.S.S. Nation Central Divisional.
While runner-up Brandon Pedigo and other contestants turned in
double-digit sacks today by fishing plastic frogs in the shallow
grass, Collins stuck with an offshore summertime pattern of
targeting channel swings near points. He brought a 17-pound, 4-
ounce limit of five bass to the scales to clinch the victory. He
noted the fish were caught at various depths.
“I was fishing different areas of the lake,” said Collins, who
finished with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 53-4. “In
some areas they were in 6 to 8 feet and in some areas they were
in 18 to 20 feet.
“My primary lure, the one I caught the most fish on, was a
Missile Baits Tomahawk worm [in the Love Bug hue].” The 48-year-
old plumber from Nacogdoches, Texas, said he rigged the worm
Texas style with a 5/16-ounce lead weight and a 5/0 Gamakatsu
worm hook.
On the first day, he tried to fish as many different areas and
types of habitat as he could to accumulate a decent weight,
which he accomplished with a 16-12 limit to move into the runner-
up spot behind Pedigo.
The second day started slowly for Collins, but he finished
strong with the heaviest bag of the tournament (19-4) and
leapfrogged over Pedigo to take over the lead. Collins won the
Livingston Lures award of $250 because he led the tournament on
Day 2.
The fishing got tougher for Collins during Friday’s final
round, because he exhausted several of his best spots in order
to build such a heavy stringer of bass on the second day.
“It worked out well though,” said the Nacogdoches Bass Club
member. “I planned everything out, and it worked.”
Collins credits his partner in the draw tournament, Kevin
Johnston of Missouri, for letting him call the shots in the
final round. “He let me position the boat to the point to where
I had a good advantage to throw at everything without getting
interfered with,” he said.
By winning the divisional and finishing as the top angler on
his state team, Collins earned a berth in the B.A.S.S. Nation
Championship to be held on Lake Dardanelle in Arkansas, Oct. 24-
26.
Other state winners who qualified for the National Championship
were Doug Thompson of Arkansas; Beau Branine, Kansas; Ryan
Lavigne, Louisiana; Randy Ladner, Mississippi; Brian Wilson,
Missouri; Nick Ash, Nebraska; and Pedigo of Oklahoma.
Louisiana won the team championship for the second straight
year with 301 pounds, 12 ounces, while the host Texas squad
finished second with 280-15.
The Carhartt Big Bass Award of $500 was presented to Destre
Dedeaux of Mississippi for his 8-6 largemouth caught on Day 1.
For more details, visit Bassmaster.com.
2013 B.A.S.S. Nation Official Sponsors: Toyota, Bass Pro Shops,
Berkley, Evan Williams Bourbon, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota,
Nitro, Skeeter Boats, Triton Boats, Yamaha
2013 B.A.S.S. Nation Supporting Sponsors: Boat US, Carhartt,
Diet Mountain Dew, Livingston Lures, Lowrance, Luck-E-Strike,
Power-Pole, Shimano
About B.A.S.S.
For more than 45 years, B.A.S.S. has served as the authority on
bass fishing. The organization advances the sport through
advocacy, outreach and an expansive tournament structure while
connecting directly with the passionate community of bass
anglers through its Bassmaster media vehicles.
The Bassmaster brand and its multimedia platforms are guided by
a mission to serve all fishing fans. Through its industry-
leading publications — Bassmaster Magazine and B.A.S.S. Times —
comprehensive website Bassmaster.com and ESPN2 and Outdoor
Channel television programming, Bassmaster provides rich,
leading-edge content true to the lifestyle.
Courtesy of BASS Communications.
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