SHREVEPORT, La., (August 23,1999) Chad Cranford of Texarkana, Texas, took first place, $2536, plus 50 CITGO Challenge Points for winning the Red Man Cowboy Division qualifier held Sunday on Toledo Bend Lake. Cranford brought in five bass weighing 13 pounds, 15 ounces to top a field of 149 anglers competing for$8,717.50.
Cranford fished the north end of the lake using a red shad Zoom worm in grass 7-8 feet of water. Second place and $1,268 went to Don Williams of Keithville, Louisiana, for five bass weighing 13 pounds, 5 ounces. He used a 7 inch Zoom plum color worm to catch his fish in grass in 6-7 feet of water.
Rounding out the top positions were: (3) John Hale, Lufkin, TX, four bass, 11-13, $744; (4) Mike Castillo, Nacogdoches, TX, five bass, 11-7, $477; (5) Dick Newberry, Houston, TX, five bass, 11-2, $452.
Harley Wilson won the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $1,000 for a 6 pound, 9 ounce bass. Mark Allen of Lindale, TX, is leading the Cowboy 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 bassÏboat 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.