Bozarth comes from 150th to win by an ounce on co-angler side of Toyota Series Championship
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The Toyota Series Championship Presented by Bass Boat Technologies was a great opportunity for all the Strike King co-anglers who qualified for it, but Wheeler Lake didn’t make it easy on them. Only one co-angler weighed 15 bass, and it took less than 30 pounds to win – not ideal.
Still, David Bozarth got it done, beating Keith Honeycutt by an ounce for the title. Weighing four for 10 pounds, 9 ounces was what he needed on the final day to get up to 29-4, but the really key day was Friday. After catching only one bass on Day 1, Bozarth blasted 17-3 on Day 2, a big Wheeler limit by any standards, and rocketed from 150th to fifth – laying the foundation for a first-place finish on Day 3. For his efforts, he walks away with the trophy and a Phoenix boat package worth $33,500, plus the ability to say “never give up!” with a straight face in any situation.
Bait change and the flats key to Bozarth
Bozarth struggled for much of Day 1 – pro Russ Seward wasn’t on much, and the two together stayed off the fish. On Day 2, Bozarth drew out with Mickey Beck, an old hand on the Tennessee River and a man on plenty of fish.
Fishing the flats, Beck concentrated on target fishing, while Bozarth fired a topwater around. With only one fish in the boat late in the morning, he made an adjustment to a swimbait, and then an adjustment to the adjustment. Going to an Owner Flashy Swimmer with a 3.75-inch Strike King Rage Swimmer, he started out with a 1/4-ounce model, before upsizing to a 3/8-ounce hook, which made all the difference.
“I made it a little bit heavier so I could keep it bouncing off bottom more,” Bozarth said. “Like, the third cast, I caught the first one. And then after that, it didn’t take long. I had one fish at 10:30 or 11, and I caught four the rest of the afternoon.”
On Day 3, Bozarth fished behind Dillon Falardeau and got off to a good start.
“He was about around a whole bunch of fish, but his fish didn’t bite good today,” he said. “In fact, they didn’t bite much at all. I caught three early, real early, and then they just quit altogether.
“He ended up catching a few real late in the day, and I caught one with about 3 minutes to come in that was 13 inches long. That was the difference.”
A retired lineman, Bozarth and his wife Tina fish a lot together, and he already has a boat. So, the win isn’t life-changing, but it’s come at a good time – Bozarth retired this year and had time to fish the entire Southwestern Division, which obviously paid off well.
It would have paid off well even without that final 13-incher, but that last-minute line-burner gave him just enough to edge Honeycutt by a hair.
“I really didn’t think I had enough,” Bozarth said. “When (Chris Jones) took his hand off the scale, it went up, and then it went down, and it settled on 7-12. It’s amazing. This is awesome.”
Top 10 Strike King co-anglers
1. David Bozarth – 29 – 4 (10) – $33,500
2. Keith Honeycutt – 29 – 3 (15) – $12,500
3. Tyler Nekolny – 26 – 15 (14) – $10,150
4. Jeffrey Hamm – 24 – 13 (13) – $7,500
5. Brock Blazier – 24 – 2 (14) – $5,000
6. Casey Dunn – 22 – 8 (12) – $4,000
7. Pop Catalin – 22 – 8 (12) – $3,500
8. Justin Parchman – 22 – 3 (14) – $3,000
9. Rich Frey – 20 – 3 (12) – $2,500
10. Joe Lee – 19 – 15 (10) – $2,000