MUSKOGEE, Okla. – At least two anglers caught impressive sacks of bass today, but we’ll never know just how big. Both were zeroed after they failed to return in time for the final weigh-in of The Bass Federation Central Divisional Championship, allowing Donnie Cobb of Russellville, Ark., to take first place with a three-day total of 26 pounds, 4 ounces. He edged out Greg Cooper, yesterday’s third-place angler, by 1 ounce. Along with a trip to the TBF Championship, Cobb won the Castrol Maximum Performer Award, a $500 Wal Mart gift card.
According to TBF President Robert Cartlidge, at least five boats, including Cartlidge’s, were caught in the Arkansas River’s unpredictable lock system for as long as an hour. There’s no telling how that might have affected the final outcome, but those 10 anglers weren’t the only ones who were dealt a bad hand. The Arkansas just didn’t give up any secrets today. No one weighed a limit, and of the 73 anglers participating in the tournament, 25 failed to weigh a fish (including the 10 who didn’t make it back in time), and 26 only brought a single bass to the scales.
“It cost me a spot in the Federation Championship, and from what I heard, there were two limits that supposedly weighed 17 or 18 pounds. They would have had the biggest bags of the day, but 
their weights and mine were zeroed,” lamented Cartlidge. “That’s the risk you take on a system like this. I bet I’ve gone through 200 locks, and I’ve never been caught in one, but in this tournament, they got me twice.”
Both Cobb and Cooper never faced the risk of getting stuck behind a barge because both fished in the Muskogee pool all three days. Cobb worked main-river ledges with a firetiger-red Bandit 200 crankbait. He weighed three fish for a total of 8 pounds, 3 ounces.
“I didn’t get anything until they started releasing water, and the current got good at about 9:30. It was like someone kicked on a light switch. My partner and I caught about 15 bass total,” recalled Cobb. “I just cranked and cranked and cranked some more. We fished from one dam to the next, and all we did was throw crankbaits.”
Cooper, who will represent Missouri as a boater in the TBF Championship, returned to the same 300-yard stretch of grass that carried him through the first two days. He flipped a smoke and red flake Strike King Flipping Tube to shoreline vegetation and came away with four bass that weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces for a three-day total of 26 pounds, 3 ounces.
“I broke two off and lost four others that all would have weighed more than the four I boated. That’s just part of it,” he said.
Alan Melder, who led the first day but slipped to sixth yesterday, fought his way back to third place with a four-fish bag that weighed 9 pounds, 6 ounces for a final weight of 24 pounds, 13 ounces. He will represent Arkansas in the nonboater division. Mississippi angler Tommy Chism fell from first yesterday to fourth overall with 21 pounds, 11 ounces, and Matt Wolf of Overland Park, Kans., came in fifth with 21 pounds, 2 ounces.
The 12-man Oklahoma Bass Federation team stayed on top to win the team competition with 131 pounds, 12 ounces, followed by Kansas, which weighed 124 pounds, 15 ounces. Missouri, which roared back from last place on the first day to second place yesterday, came in third overall, just 1 ounce behind Kansas. Louisiana placed fourth; Arkansas came in fifth; and sixth place went to Mississippi.
Anglers representing their state at the Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship are as follows: (Boaters are listed first.) Oklahoma: Brian Fuksa and Terry Kleeman; Kansas: Matt Wolf and Russ Pino; Missouri: Greg Cooper and James Mitchell; Louisiana: Randall Williford and Steve Cagle; Arkansas: Donnie Cobb and Alan Melder; Mississippi: Tommy Chism and Rob Yarbrough.
The Bass Federation Central Divisional Championship is presented by The National Guard and is hosted by the Oklahoma Bass Federation and the Muskogee Chamber of Commerce.