CLAYTON, N.Y., (August 30, 1999) Michael Huminik of Dale City, Virginia, took first place, $3274, plus 50 CITGO Challenge Points for winning the Red Man Northeast Division qualifier held Sunday at 1000 Islands. Huminik brought in five bass weighing 15 pounds, 7 ounces to top a field of 215 anglers competing for $12,182.
Huminik fished Chameaut Bay main lake area using plastic baits. He used 17-pound Stren line and fished in 10 feet of water around rocks with scattered grass. Second place and $1637 went to Kevin Kartesz of Ludlow, Pennsylvania, for five bass weighing 15 pounds, 3 ounces. Kartesz fished the main lake area using Smoke Tube worms. He fished around steep banks around with rock and grass mixed using 10-pound Stren line.
Rounding out the top positions were: (3) Ernie Freeman, Waldore, MD, five bass, 14-11, $961; (4) David Legg, Scranton, PA, five bass, 14-7, $616; (5) Doug Amos, Canada, five, bass, 13-15, $584.
Steven Kozemko of Meshoppen, PA, won the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $1,000 for a 5 pound, 13 ounce bass. Peter Longo of Holmdel, NJ, is leading the Northeast Division’s Ranger Millennium big bass race for the year with a bass weighing 6 pounds, 3 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.
Peter Longo won the Berkley Powerbait award “a package of baits valued at $325” for the highest weight caught on Powerbait or Frenzy lures with 13 pounds, 5 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.
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.