SANDUSKY, Ohio, (Oct. 4, 1999) – David Hayward of Sylvania, Ohio, took first place, $2,770 and 50 CITGO Challenge Points for winning the Red Man Buckeye Division qualifier held Sunday on Lake Erie’s Sandusky Bay. He brought in five bass weighing 22 pounds, 5 ounces to top a field of 167 anglers competing for $9,767.
Hayward fished drop-offs along King George Reef using Berkley Powerbaits. His choice of lures also earned him the Berkley Powerbait award – a package of baits valued at $325 – for the highest weight caught on Powerbait or Frenzy lures. Additionally, Hayward landed a 5 pound, 7 ounce bass to win the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $1,000.
Second place and $1,385 went to James Bensch of Toledo, Ohio, for five bass weighing 19 pounds, 8 ounces. Bensch fished rocks using a green tube jig.
Rounding out the top positions were: (3) Larry Bailey, Vermillion, Ohio, five bass, 19-4, $813; and (4) Joe Balog, Brecksville, Ohio, five bass, 18-9, $507; and James Vitaro, Wooster, Ohio, five bass, 18-9, $507.
James Bensch of Toledo, Ohio, is leading the Buckeye Division Ranger Millennium big bass race for the year with a bass weighing 5 pounds, 13 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.