BATON ROUGE, La., (July 26,1999) Shane Badeaux of Baker, Louisiana, took first place, $2274, plus 50 CITGO Challenge Points for winning the Red Man Cowboy Division qualifier held Sunday on the Atchafalaya Basin. Badeaux brought in a five bass limit weighing 12 pounds, 4 ounces to top a field of 127 anglers competing for $7615.
Badeaux fished the Pidgeon area, fishing in a shallow, muddy water canel with wood. He used a red shad Culprit worm and Culprit crankbait to catch his fish. Second place and $1137 went to Shane Gibson of Berclair, Texas, for a five bass limit weighing 11 pounds, 3 ounces. He fished 15 miles south on the basin using an Oldham 1 ounce jig in a camouflage color with a red shad lure.
Rounding out the top positions were: (3) Craig Walker, Patterson, LA, five bass, 10-15, $667; (4) Larry Coleman, Jasper, TX, five bass, 10-14, $428; (5) Sean Hoernke, college Station, TX, five bass, 10-8, $405.
Ivy St. Romaine of Morgan City, LA, won the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $1,000 for a 5 pound, 12 ounce bass. Larry Coleman of Jasper, TX, Jimmy Mize of Ben Lomond, AR, is leading the Cowboy Arkie Division’s Ranger Millennium big bass race for the year with a bass weighing pounds, ounces. The Ranger boat owner who catches the largest bass in each Red Man division over the course of the season, will qualify to enter the Ranger M1 Millennium tournament.
Gene Bledsoe of Grady, AR, won the Berkley Powerbait award a package of baits valued at $325 for the highest weight caught on Powerbait or Frenzy lures with 9 pounds, 8 ounces.
At the completion of the six Red Man qualifying events, the top 30 anglers, determined on a basis of pounds and points, will move onto Regional Championship competition. There they will compete against the top 30 fishermen from three other divisions for a Dream Rig consisting of a Chevy truck and a full-rigged Ranger bass boat powered by an Evinrude or Johnson outboard (only two divisions compete in the Western Regional for a fully-rigged Ranger bass boat) and a spot in the Red Man All-American in Hot Springs, Arkansas, May 8-13, 2000, where the winner will receive $100,000.
All Red Man tournaments are catch and release events. Operation Bass historically maintains a 98 percent live release rate throughout the tournament season.
Sponsors of the 1999 Red Man Tournament Trail include: Evinrude Outboards, Evinrude Electrics, CITGO Petroleum, Ranger Boats, Humminbird Fishfinders, Stren Fishing Lines, Abu Garcia Rods and Reels, Chevy Trucks, ENERGIZER Marine Batteries, Old Milwaukee NA, Black & Decker, David Seeds, Coleman Products, Land O Lakes, BC Powder, Eveready, Wheaties, Chex Mix, Hamburger Helper, Wrangler, US Bank-VISA, Powerbait, and Frenzy.