Crowder king of co-anglers at Gaston

Virginia angler takes co-angler title at Gaston

BRACEY, Va. – Kermit Crowder of Matoaca, Va., won the Co-angler Division of the Stren Series event on Lake Gaston with a four-day total of 36 pounds, 1 ounce.

“It has not had time to sink in yet,” Crowder said after collecting $5,000 for his win. “All I can say is that I’m a lucky man. When you look at the pro partners I drew this week and the class individuals I fished with – I’m real lucky.”

There is little doubt that Crowder’s pro partner roster read like a Lake Gaston all-star team. Over the four days of competition, he fished with pros Joel Richardson, Bill Chapman, Terry Baksay and David Wright, respectively.

Each day he had to fish differently to catch weights of 9-7, 12-14, 7-13 and 5-15.

“With Joel, we fished for schoolers with topwaters,” Crowder recounted. “When I fished with Bill, we flipped jigs. Then it was back to topwaters with Terry, and of course it was crankbaits with David today.”

Crowder weighed in three bass today, and he caught the last one at 2:34 p.m., just nine minutes before check-in. His winning margin was just 11 ounces.

“When stuff like that happens, it’s just meant to be,” Crowder added.

Guilliams second

Gary Guilliams of Troutville, Va., finished second with a four-day total of 35 pounds, 6 ounces, worth $2,776.

Guilliams’ key bait for the week was a “cheeseburger” jig made by Steve Roberts in Lynchburg, Va., trimmed with a Zoom Ultravibe speed craw.

He fished the jig on 14-pound-test fluorocarbon.

Richardson takes third

James Richardson Sr. of Harrison, Ohio, finished third with a four-day total of 30 pounds, 12 ounces for $2,255.

Richardson fished crankbaits, jigs, a mojo rig and a ChatterBait to catch his fish during the week.

Rest of the best

Edward Piwonski of Granby, Conn., finished fourth with a four-day total of 29 pounds, 2 ounces and collected $1,734.

Jason Sherwood of Damascus, Md., finished fifth with a three-day total of 26 pounds, 9 ounces, worth $1,388.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers in the Stren Series Northern Division event on Lake Gaston:

6th: Paul Mueller of Southbury, Conn., four-day total of 26-3, $1,317

7th: Renee Hensley of Edwardsburg, Mich., four-day total of 25-5, $1,248

8th: Jerry Hayden of Charlotte, N.C., four-day total of 24-5, $1,181

9th: Lynn Baciuska of Afton, N.Y., four-day total of 23-3, $1,109

10th: Glenn Stephenson of Willow Springs, N.C., four-day total of 23-1, $1,041

Northern Division co-angler AOY

Congratulations to Renee Hensley, seventh at Lake Gaston, who won the Stren Series Northern Division Co-angler of the Year with 720 points.