MONROE CITY, Mo. – Dennis Berhorst, 36, of Holt Summit, Mo., out-fished 74 competitors Saturday to earn $3,069 and 50 CITGO Challenge Points on the boater side of the Red Man Tournament Trail’s Plains Division event on Mark Twain Lake.
Berhorst caught five largemouth bass weighing 16 pounds, 14 ounces during the one-day event to top Jason McKinney of Cairo, Mo., who finished with a five-bass catch of 14-6 worth $1,535. Berhorst caught his limit, including a 4-pound, 5-ounce bass, flipping a green tubebait to trees in creek channels.
Douglas Johnson of Belle Plaine, Kan., took third place and collected $767 with five bass weighing 13-5. Bret Bell of O’Fallon, Mo., placed fourth and earned $665 with five bass weighing 13-0, while John Kramer of Labadie, Mo., placed fifth and earned $614 with four bass weighing 11-10.
Dewayne Fitzpatrick of Jefferson City, Mo., won the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award in the Boater Division and collected $370 with a 5-pound bass that he caught on a Carolina-rigged centipede.
First place in the Co-Angler Division and $1,452 went to David Pospisil, 44, of Lisbon, Iowa, who topped 70 competitors with two bass weighing 7-14. Second place in the Co-Angler Division and $726 went to Jerry Avis of Council Bluffs, Iowa, for two bass weighing 5-9, while Barbara Bennett of Florissant, Mo., took third place and $363 with two bass weighing 5-3.
James Kochanowski, 56, of Lansing, Kan., won the co-angler Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $175 with a 4-pound, 15-ounce bass that he caught while flipping a jig to wood in the lake’s north fork.
Nelson Scherrer, 50, of Festus, Mo., won the Berkley Power Bait award, a package of baits valued at $200, for the heaviest overall catch on Power Bait or Frenzy lures. He caught four bass weighing 11-2.
On Sept. 9, the Red Man Tournament Trail will visit Lake Truman for the final Plains Division event of the season. The boater with the most CITGO Challenge points after the finale, a two-day Super Tournament, 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.
Operation Bass was founded in 1979 on the principle that working anglers should be able to fish competitively without interfering with jobs and family. The trail’s championship event, the Red Man All-American, awards $100,000 to the winning boater and $50,000 to the winning co-angler. The highest placing CITGO Divisional Points Champion at the All-American receives $10,000 in the Boater Division and $2,500 in the Co-Angler Division. Overall, more than $5.7 million could be awarded in 2000 based on full fields in each of the series’ 119 events nationwide.
Red Man became the trail’s title sponsor in 1983.