RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Going into Day 3 of the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Plains Division event on Lake Dardanelle, Randy Allen was nearly 6 pounds ahead of second place on the co-angler side. He was more than 11 pounds ahead of Dennis Young, who started Championship Saturday in seventh. By the time it was over, Allen had weighed one bass, and Young put down 14 pounds, 14 ounces on the scale for a 35-12 total for the win. The wild comeback earned him his first MLF win and a new Phoenix Boats package valued at $33,500.
The win was totally unexpected
Starting the final day in the Top 10, but not really anywhere near the lead, Young was just in it for a good time.
“My thought was, ‘Let’s just go out and make some money,’ because I was so far behind,” he said. “The guy who was leading it was a local guy, so we thought he would take his guy to spots, and he was going to win. We thought we were all fishing for second place. It was crazy, as it unfolded, throughout the day, it wasn’t even a consideration in my brain that I had a chance to win.”
Catching a good bag made for a relaxing day, until he got back to weigh-in.
“I’ve been in second place going into Day 3 like three different times, and two of the times I blanked, and once I caught like one fish. It was very stressful,” Young said. “So, when I caught the first fish on Day 3, I was like ‘Sweet, I got one.’ By the fifth one, I didn’t even need to fish anymore; I was all good.”
Now, the owner of LifeTime Pet is sitting on a certificate for a new Phoenix, and he’s a champion.
“I have a boat, and I just paid it off before I left town,” he said. “I wrote a check on Tuesday and stuck it in the mail, and now I have a certificate for a boat. I’m still in shock, I haven’t processed what is happening next.”
Porto’s school powers Young
Every ounce mattered in this one, but, Young didn’t get off to a wildly successful start fishing with Richie Skiff on Day 1.
“He was punching, I had never done that before,” Young said. “So, he showed me how, and I ended up catching two fish and learning something new.”
Drawing Drew Porto on Day 2 and Day 3, Young tallied up nearly 15 pounds two days in a row, all from the same school that Porto was leaning on.
“These fish were just there waiting for him to drop a lure in,” Young said. “He had like nine rods on deck, and he would pick up a rod, catch a few fish, then pick up another rod and catch a few fish. It was a muck bottom, so you couldn’t drag anything. I had a 1/4-ounce Texas rig, and I started hopping it through that.”
Catching one fish on a Z-Man ChatterBait MiniMax, Young did the rest of his damage on a 7-inch Strike King Cut-R-Worm in junebug.
“Every fifth cast or so, there would be a fish,” he said. “I actually pulled them out of my garage just before I left, and it ended up working out.”
Top 10 co-anglers
1. Dennis Young – 35 – 12 (12) – $33,500
2. Randy Allen – 34 – 5 (11) – $3,910
3. Robert Jacuzzi – 33 – 10 (14) – $3,008
4. James Edmonds – 31 – 0 (13) – $2,732
5. Mason Chambers – 29 – 14 (13) – $2,256
6. Lawson Lewis – 29 – 6 (12) – $1,880
7. Alan Bernicky – 28 – 15 (11) – $1,604
8. Blake Defoor – 26 – 0 (11) – $1,316
9. Dakota Ball – 25 – 7 (13) – $1,128
10. Freeland Peterson – 24 – 10 (10) – $940