ROGERS, Ark. – In a nail-bitingly tight competition, Rick Turner of Tyler, Texas, won the Co-angler Division of the Wal-Mart Open with a five-bass weight of 7 pounds, 13 ounces. He edged out second-place Clayton Reitz of Morton, Ill., by 3 ounces and took home $40,000 for victory.
“Wow, that was too close,” Turner said. “I thought he had me.”
Turner, who fished with pro Tim Klinger Friday, caught all of his bass using a Spot Remover jig and a 4-inch green-pumpkin finesse worm in 5 to 17 feet of water. He said the key to catching them Friday was dragging it slow.
“It’s great. There isn’t a feeling like it in the world, especially when I really didn’t think I had it,” the winner said. “I lost a big fish today.”
For Turner, a 57-year-old telephone technician, it was his second big tournament victory. He also won the co-angler title at the 2003 Texas Tournament Trail Championship.
Reitz, the day-one leader, also used a Spot Remover, but with a variety of Zoom worms. He caught five bass weighing 7 pounds, 10 ounces and collected $20,000 for second place.
“The water was really clear,” he said. “I was basically just dragging it as slow as possible.”
Finishing in third place for the co-anglers was Mike Jones of Lebanon, Mo., with five bass weighing 5 pounds, 10 ounces. He earned $10,000.
Fourth place and $9,000 went to Mike Hawks of Woodlawn, Va., for two bass weighing 2 pounds, 15 ounces.
Jason Knapp of Uniontown, Pa., finished fifth and collected $8,000 for two bass weighin 2 pounds, 4 ounces.
Rounding out the top 10 Co-angler Division finishers at the Wal-Mart Open are Ralph Myhlhousen of Grove, Okla., with one bass weighing 2 pounds, 1 ounce (6th place, $7,000); Michael Brown of Rocky Face, Ga., with two bass weighing 1 pound, 6 ounces (7th, $6,000); Keith Pace of Monticello, Ark., with one bass weighing 0-14 (8th, $5,000); Richard Lowitzki of St. Charles, Ill., with no bass (9th, $4,000); and Hiroshi Uchida of Murfreesboro, Tenn., with no bass (10th, $3,000).
The final day of Wal-Mart Open competition at Beaver Lake begins Saturday at 7 a.m. CST as the 10 pro finalists take off from Prairie Creek Marina in Rogers. The heaviest two-day weight from Friday and Saturday combined will determine the tournament’s $200,000 winner.