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Bassmaster Elite Series Heads to Smallmouth
Country, Deep Waters of Lake Erie and Niagara River
July 21, 2008 - The Bassmaster Elite Series
will bring its 10th tournament of the season the Empire
Chase presented by Farmer's Insurance to Lake Erie and
the Niagara River out of Buffalo as the season winds down to
the critical final two events.
While angling for the 2008 Empire Chase's first-place
prize of $100,000, the Elite pros also are down to the wire now
in the Trail to the Trophy with only the season finale, the Champion's
Choice on Oneida Lake out of Syracuse , N.Y. , remaining after
this event. After the Tennessee Triumph on Old Hickory Lake out
of Hendersonville , Tenn. , Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo , Mich.
, leads the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points
race. His top threat for the title and the $250,000 top prize
is Todd Faircloth of Jasper, Texas , just 12 points back, while
Mike McClelland of Bella Vista , Ark. , (third place, 120 points
back) and reigning AOY Skeet Reese (fourth, 142 points back)
aren't too far behind.
In the race to qualify for the 2009 Bassmaster
Classic, set for Feb. 20-22 on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier
City, La., Davy Hite of Ninety Six, S.C., is on the bubble in
36th place with 1,649 points in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster
Angler of the Year standings. Virginia 's Rick Morris (1,644
points) and South Carolina 's Britt Myers (1,639) are lurking
in 37th and 38th, respectively. The top 36 in the AOY standings
qualify for the Classic.
With more than 10,000 square miles of water touching
Ohio , New York , Pennsylvania and Canada , Lake Erie has enjoyed
a lofty standing as a top fishery for several years. Lake Erie
is the eleventh largest lake in the world and the fourth largest
of the Great Lakes in surface area. It also is the shallowest
of the Great Lakes .
In 2007, Bassmaster Elite Series pro Edwin Evers
of Talala , Okla. , joined the BASS Millionaires' Club with his
victory in the Empire Chase, holding off Kotaro Kiriyama of Moody,
Ala., by exactly 4 pounds. Evers weighed in 65 pounds, 7 ounces
of Lake Erie smallmouth bass in the three-day event, which was
shortened from four days because of unsafe weather conditions,
using a drop-shot with a green pumpkin Yum Houdini worm in 36
to 42 feet of water.
Lake Erie is home to such a tremendous smallmouth
fishery, its largemouth population isn't often a factor in national
tournaments. Elite pro Matthew Sphar, of Pavilion, N.Y., who
considers Erie his home waters, thinks the pros will use a lot
of tubes and drop-shots on the big lake and the Niagara River.
"The fishery is in excellent shape,"
said Sphar, who tied Faircloth for 14th place in the 2007 Empire
Chase with 37 pounds, 9 ounces.
He expects an average of 15 pounds caught per day
in the four-day tournament, with the top bags needing to be 20
pounds or better, and he thinks weather will play a significant
role.
"It's rare to have four days in a row where
you don't have some kind of weather here," Sphar said. "It
doesn't take much wind to get the lake cranking. If the wind
comes out of the north, sometimes it's not that bad. But if it's
out of the west or the southwest, then it gets pretty nasty.
We'll be pounding through 4-footers at least one day; I'd expect
that."
The smallmouth are post-spawn and in their summer
pattern on Lake Erie, and Sphar said fish should be scattered
from 20 feet of water to about 40 feet, with spotted bass and
big fish in different depths, including a few shallow bites.
He added that the wind will determine how much the bass are feeding
from day to day.
If it's flat, there won't be much movement, so
competitors will have to switch to smaller baits and finesse
fishing. If it's windy, Sphar said most anglers will bounce around,
drift shoals and use the wind to their advantage while the fish
are aggressive.
"This is probably the only tournament all
year that anybody will be drifting a whole lot to catch their
fish," he said.
Daily weigh-ins and launches Thursday-Sunday at
the Empire Chase will take place at the NFTA Boat Harbor , 1111
Fuhrman Rd. , Buffalo . Launches begin at 8 a.m. ET and weigh-ins
begin at 5 p.m. through the four days of competition. They are
free and open to the public.
Sponsors of the Bassmaster Elite Series include
Toyota Tundra, Advance Auto Parts, Berkley, Lowrance, Mercury,
Purolator, Skeeter, Yamaha, Evan Williams Bourbon, Longhorn,
OPTIMA Batteries, Triton Boats, Costa Del Mar, MotorGuide and
Ramada Worldwide.
2008 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year
Standings
---------------------------------------------------------------
Place Name Hometown
Points
---------------------------------------------------------------
1 Kevin VanDam Kalamazoo , Mich.
2254
2 Todd Faircloth Jasper, Texas
2238
3 Mike McClelland Bella Vista, Ark.
2139
4 Skeet Reese Auburn , Calif.
2118
5 Dean Rojas Lake Havasu City ,
Ariz. 2020
6 Alton Jones Waco , Texas
2019
7 Edwin Evers Talala, Okla.
1973
8 Terry Scroggins San Mateo , Fla.
1953
9 Scott Rook Little Rock , Ark.
1939
10 Randy Howell Springville, Ala.
1908
11 Steve Kennedy Auburn , Ala.
1895
12 Kenyon Hill Norman , Okla.
1880
13 Mark Davis Mount Ida, Ark.
1840
14 Bobby Lane Lakeland , Fla.
1836
15 Bryan Hudgins Orange Park , Fla.
1834
16 Brian Snowden Reeds Spring, Mo.
1820
17 Bill Lowen North Bend , Ohio
1784
18 Dustin Wilks Rocky Mount , N.C.
1769
19 Byron Velvick Del Rio , Texas
1757
20 Aaron Martens Leeds, Ala.
1739
20 Kelly Jordon Mineola, Texas
1739
22 Brent Chapman Lake Quivira, Kan.
1719
23 Timmy Horton Muscle Shoals, Ala.
1716
24 Kotaro Kiriyama Moody, Ala.
1713
25 Morizo Shimizu Osaka , Japan
1712
26 Michael Iaconelli Runnemede, N.J.
1711
27 Fred Roumbanis Bixby, Okla.
1709
28 Jason Quinn York , S.C.
1694
29 Gary Klein Weatherford, Texas
1691
30 Kevin Wirth Crestwood, Ky.
1688
31 Casey Ashley Donalds, S.C.
1684
32 Peter E Thliveros St Augustine, Fla.
1681
33 Shaw E Grigsby Gainesville , Fla.
1670
34 Denny Brauer Camdenton , Mo.
1666
35 Dave Wolak Wake Forest , N.C.
1652
36 Davy Hite Ninety Six, S.C.
1649
37 Rick Morris Virginia Beach , Va.
1644
38 Britt Myers Lake Wylie, S.C.
1639
39 Bernie Schultz Gainesville , Fla.
1622
40 Ish Monroe Hughson, Calif.
1619
41 Jason Williamson Aiken , S.C.
1615
42 Derek Remitz Grant , Ala.
1609
43 Rick Clunn Ava, Mo.
1607
44 Jared Lintner Arroyo Grande, Calif.
1604
45 Marty Stone Fayetteville , N.C.
1600
46 Chris Lane Lakeland , Fla.
1586
47 Gerald Swindle Warrior, Ala.
1578
48 Mark Menendez Paducah , Ky.
1572
49 Jeff Kriet Ardmore , Okla.
1568
50 Kevin F Short Mayflower, Ark.
1560
51 Boyd Duckett Demopolis, Ala.
1556
52 Ray Sedgwick Cross, S.C.
1550
53 Bradley Hallman Norman , Okla.
1548
54 Greg Hackney Gonzales , La.
1529
55 Scott Campbell Springfield , Mo.
1526
56 Tommy Biffle Wagoner, Okla.
1521
57 Matt Reed Madisonville , Texas
1488
58 Takahiro Omori Emory, Texas
1457
58 Terry Butcher Talala, Okla.
1457
60 Cliff Pace Petal, Miss.
1444
61 Jeff Reynolds Idabel, Okla.
1439
62 Jami Fralick Martin, S.D.
1435
63 Jeff Connella Bentley, La.
1429
64 Wade Grooms Bonneau , S.C.
1427
65 Mike Wurm Hot Springs , Ark.
1414
66 Russ Lane Prattville , Ala.
1413
67 John Murray Phoenix , Ariz.
1411
67 Matthew Sphar Pavilion, N.Y.
1411
69 James Niggemeyer Van, Texas
1398
70 Mark Tucker Saint Louis, Mo.
1397
71 Jeremy Starks Charleston , W.Va.
1394
72 Kevin Langill Terrell, N.C.
1371
73 Jon Bondy Windsor , Canada
1368
74 John Crews Salem , Va.
1365
75 Stephen Browning Hot Springs , Ark.
1356
76 Paul Elias Laurel, Miss.
1352
76 Grant Goldbeck Gaithersburg , Md.
1352
78 Brian Clark Haltom City , Texas
1348
79 Todd Auten Lake Wylie, S.C.
1328
80 Clark Reehm Russellville, Ark.
1320
81 Yusuke Miyazaki Forney, Texas
1291
82 Billy Brewer Bruceville, Texas
1280
83 Jim Murray Arabi, Ga.
1271
84 Preston Clark Palatka, Fla.
1268
85 Corey Waldrop Fort Worth , Texas
1266
86 David Smith Del City , Okla.
1261
87 Jimmy Mize Ben Lomond, Ark.
1258
88 Zell Rowland Montgomery , Texas
1254
89 Pat Golden High Point , N.C.
1244
90 Marty Robinson Lyman, S.C.
1239
91 Mark Tyler Vian, Okla.
1238
92 Ken D Cook Lawton , Okla.
1193
93 Ben Matsubu Hemphill, Texas
1188
94 Kurt Dove Fairfax, Va.
1185
95 Glenn Delong Bellville , Ohio
1173
96 Steve Daniel Clewiston, Fla.
1160
97 Jay Fuller Kingston , Okla.
1154
98 Charlie Hartley Grove City , Ohio
1141
99 Guy Eaker Cherryville, N.C.
1138
100 Elton Luce Brookeland, Texas
1091
100 Pete Ponds Madison , Miss.
1091
102 James Kennedy Lacombe, La.
994
103 David Sherrer Shreveport , La.
993
104 Rick Ash Pottstown, Pa.
977
105 Randy Allen Shreveport , La.
914
105 Greg Gutierrez Red Bluff, Calif.
914
107 Matt Amedeo Clinton , Ohio
875
108 Paul Hirosky Guys Mills, Pa.
845
109 Bobby Myers Broken Arrow , Okla.
438
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