BIRMINGHAM, Ala., (August 9,1999) Rodney Brakefield of Warrior, Alabama, took first place, $3,803, plus 50 CITGO Challenge Points for winning the Red Man Bama Division qualifier held Sunday on Logan Martin. Brakefield brought in four bass weighing 12 pounds, 7 ounces to top a field of 259 anglers competing for $13,597.50. Brakefield fished the main lake area using a Carolina rig on deep ledges. Sam Roy of Bessemer, Alabama, finished second with $1,901 catching five bass weighing 11 pounds, 12 ounces. Roy also fished in the main lake area Carolina rigging ledges.
Rounding out the top positions were: (3) Jason Mason, Cottondale, Alabama, five bass 11-1, $1,116,; (4) Tommy Johnson, Dothan, Alabama, four bass, 10-14, $715; (5) Don Hogue, Columbiana, Alabama, five bass, 10-12, $678.
Rodney Brakefield was also the winner of the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $1,000 for a 5 pound, 8 ounce bass. Kim Carver of Milledgeville, Georgia, is leading the Bama Division’s Ranger Millennium big bass race for the year with a bass weighing 6 pounds, 13 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 30Ïfishermen 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.
The rookie advancing farthest along the Red Man Trail will win the Old Milwaukee NA Rookie-of-the-Year Award.
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.