LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz.(September 13,1999) Larry bond of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, took first place, $1434, plus 50 CITGO Challenge Points for winning the Red Man Colorado River Division qualifier held Sunday on Lake Havasu. Bond brought in four bass weighing 11 pounds, 11 ounces to top a field of 59 anglers competing for $4097.
Bond fished up river using a Berkley Power tube and Power Craw, flipping and pitching. Second place and $717 went to Ricky Shehan of Brawley, California, for five bass weighing 11-4. Shehan fished the Bill Williams area using spinnerbaits near breaks.
Rounding out the top positions were: (3) Jack Gadlage, Logandale, NV, five bass, 11-1, $421; (4) Craig Mccoy, Lake Havasu City, AZ, five bass, 10-6, $270; (5) Clint Goodwin, Lake Havasu City, AZ, five bass, 10-6, $255.50.
Bond also won the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $1,000 for a 4 pound, 7 ounce bass. Gabe Bolivar of Ramona, CA, is leading the Colorado River Division’s Ranger Millennium big bass race for the year with a bass weighing 7 pounds, 8 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.
Larry bond also 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 poundsÏand 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 aÏfully-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.