WHITTINGTON, Ill., – Jim Knapp of Eureka, Mo., out-fished 141 competitors Saturday to earn $4,710 and 50 CITGO Challenge Points on the boater side of the Red Man Tournament Trail’s Illini Division event on Rend Lake.
Knapp caught five largemouth bass weighing 17 pounds, 14 ounces during the one-day event to edge out Charles Clark of Decatur, Ill., who finished with a five-bass catch of 16-9 worth $2,355. Knapp caught his limit on black and green Berkley Power Claws while fishing bushes and laydowns near Muddy Creek.
Louis Koehl of Frankfort, Ill., took third place and collected $1,177 for five bass weighing 15-8. Joe Verbeck of O’Fallon, Ill., placed fourth and earned $1,021 for five bass weighing 15-6, while Greg Mullins of Mount Vernon, Ill., placed fifth and earned $942 for five bass weighing 13-15.
Dan McDowell, 32, of Mattoon, Ill., won the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award in the Boater Division and collected $705 for a 6-pound, 11-ounce largemouth that he caught flipping a baby-blue jig in the south end of the lake.
First place in the Co-Angler Division and $2,086 went to Travis Brouillette of Murphysboro, Ill., who topped 116 competitors with two bass weighing 8-11. Second place in the Co-Angler Division and $1,543 went to Tom Davis of Waterloo, Ill., for two bass weighing 7-15, while Nancy Bailey of Benton, Ill., took third place and $522 with two bass weighing 7-2.
Brouillette won the co-angler Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $290 for a 6-pound, 2-ounce largemouth he caught on a crankbait outside Gun Creek.
Knapp won the Berkley Power Bait award, a package of baits valued at $200, for the heaviest overall catch on Power Bait or Frenzy lures.
On May 20, the Red Man Tournament Trail will visit the Ohio River Smithland Pool for the second of five events in the Illini Division. The boater with the most CITGO Challenge points after the division’s season finale, a two-day Super Tournament Sept. 23-24 on the Mississippi River near Fort Madison, will be declared the Divisional Points Champion and awarded $1,000. The co-angler amassing the most points by the end of the season will receive $500.