SEVIERVILLE, Tenn., (August 16, 1999) Arlie Napier of Middlesboro, Kentucky, took first place, $2362, plus 50 CITGO Challenge Points for winning the Red Man Choo Choo Division qualifier held Sunday on Lake Douglas. Napier brought in five bass weighing 21 pounds, 2 ounces to top a field of 134 anglers competing for $8035. Napier fished in the Dandridge midsection area of the lake using crank bait and Grey Ghost lure in chartreuse color around ledges to catch his fish.
Second place and $1181 went to Tom Evans, of Spring City, Tennessee, for five bass weighing 14 pounds, 9 ounces. Evans also fished up river using crank baits and spinner baits. He fished in shallow water.
Rounding out the top positions were: (3) Carter Gasque, Kingston, TN, five bass, 13-12, $693; (4) Jim Bryant, Lancaster, KY, five bass, 12-14, $444; (5) Paul Redwine, Crab Orchard, TN, five bass, 11-11, $421.
Carter Gasque won the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $1,000 for a 5 pound, 15 ounce bass. Arlie Napier is leading the Choo Choo Division’s Ranger Millennium big bass race for the year with a bass weighing 5 pounds, 10 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.
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.
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.