NEWBERRY, S.C., (Oct. 4, 1999) – Tony Anderson of Sumter, S.C., took first place, $2,603 and 50 CITGO Challenge Points for winning the Red Man Carolina Division qualifier held Sunday on Lake Murray. Anderson brought in four bass weighing 12 pounds to top a field of 154 anglers competing for $9,085.
Anderson caught his bass fishing top water near the middle of Lake Murray. He also earned the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $1,000 for a 4 pound, 14 ounce bass.
Second place and $1,302 went to Wally Szuba of Cary, N.C., for five bass weighing 10 pounds, 11 ounces. Szuba caught his limit fishing brush and docks with a spinner bait.
Rounding out the top positions were: (3) Davey Thomas, Sumter, S.C., five bass, 7-2, $764; (4) Mark Duggar, Rincon, Ga., four bass, 6-14, $490; and (5) Brent Riley, Ridgeville, S.C., two bass, 6-7, $464.
Robert Walser of Lexington, N.C., won the Berkley Powerbait award – a package of baits valued at $325 – for the highest weight caught on Powerbait or Frenzy lures with 5 pounds, 6 ounces.
Todd Little of Charlotte, N.C., is leading the Carolina Division Ranger Millennium big bass race for the year with a bass weighing 8 pounds, 4 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.