HENDERSON, N.C. – David Wright, a 49-year-old teacher from Lexington, N.C., out-fished 120 competitors on Lake Gaston this weekend to win a new Chevy Silverado and an Evinrude-powered Ranger 518 VX boat in the third of six Red Man Tournament Trail Regional Championships.
Wright caught five largemouth bass weighing 15 pounds, 10 ounces on the final day of the three-day tournament to claim top honors and a spot in the 2001 All-American Championship, which will be contested in May on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Ark. Wright says this will be his seventh All-American appearance.
On opening day of the regional, Wright caught five bass weighing 16-1, and on day two, he caught 9 pounds, 12 ounces of bass to qualify for the final round. Wright caught the majority of his bass using a crankbait around secondary points.
Ronnie Tapp, 52, of Boiling Springs, S.C., took second place and collected $5,000 with a final-round catch of five bass weighing 11-7. Greg Lovelace, 39, of Bostic, N.C., took third place and $2,500 with four bass weighing 10-14. Michael Humminik, 35, of Dale City, Va., placed fourth and earned $2,000 with five bass weighing 9-6, while Eric Grigg, 38, of Shelby, N.C., placed fifth and earned $1,500 with two bass weighing 4-15.
First place in the Co-Angler Division and a new Evinrude-powered Ranger R81 boat went to Leonard Rabbit, a 35-year-old home improvement contractor from College Park, Md., who topped 120 competitors with a final-round catch of five largemouth bass weighing 9 pounds. Rabbit, who was competing in his first regional, caught 15 pounds, 6 ounces of bass during the first two days of competition. He was using a shad-colored crankbait in shallow creeks.
Second place in the Co-Angler Division and $2,500 went to Jon Mulligan, 27, of Glens Fork, Ky., with a final-round catch of one bass weighing 1-14, while Melvin Jennings, 52, of Alta Vista, Va., took third place and $1,250 with one bass weighing 1-13. Gary Vanover, 41, of Cincinnati, Ohio, placed fourth and earned $1,000 with one bass weighing 1-9. Despite failing to weigh a bass on the final day, Rob Sierschula, 40, of Huber Heights, Ohio, placed fifth and collected $750 based on a tie breaking day-two catch of five bass weighing 12-4.
The top 30 boaters and top 30 co-anglers from the Red Man Tournament Trail’s Buckeye, Carolina, Mountain and Northeastern divisions competed in the Lake Gaston Regional.
Five regional championships will each advance eight boaters and co-anglers to the All-American. Four boaters and co-anglers will advance from a sixth regional, and the top three boaters and co-anglers in two Chevy Wild Card events will qualify for the All-American, yielding a field of 50 boaters and 50 co-anglers. The winning boater at the All-American will receive $100,000, and the winning co-angler will collect $50,000. Overall, more than $5.7 million could be awarded across 22 divisions nationwide during the 2000 Red Man season.
Red Man became the trail’s title sponsor in 1983. Wal-Mart recently announced that it has assumed title sponsorship of the tournament series for 2001 and will rename it the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League.