Dudley defeats delta, rest of pro field to claim prestigious Ranger M1 title
North Carolina native takes home a world-record payday in the process
MOBILE, Ala. – Heading into the final day of Ranger M1 action with the biggest payday of his life on the line, David Dudley of Manteo, N.C., did something that few anglers would have dreamed of doing – he decided to gamble everything on one remote location that he had never even fished before. Operating under the assumption that his previous fishing holes had dried up, Dudley opted to make a 90-minute, one-way trip, giving him only about 2 1/2 hours of fishing time. With the clock ticking, Dudley rolled the dice.
In the end, however, the gamble paid off as Dudley managed to weigh in a five-fish limit of 15 pounds, 15 ounces to capture the 2002 Ranger M1 title and a whopping $700,000 in prize money – the single largest tournament check ever handed out in the history of professional bass fishing.
Even as Dudley walked onstage to receive his trophy, other anglers were still in awe of the high-risk, high-reward strategy employed by North Carolina native.
“Dudley took a big gamble today,” said third-place finisher and hometown tournament favorite Jason Kilpatrick. “What a gutsy call. He knew he was either going to win it all or do very poorly. And to think he did that with all of that money on the line. My hat’s off to him. Unbelievable.”
Dudley said that the momentous achievement still hadn’t quite sunk in shortly after the nail-biting weigh-in had concluded.
“It feels great. This is one of the best days of my life,” said Dudley. “As a professional angler, you dream about a tournament like this. This is just a great win for me.”
Dudley, who flipped a black and blue jig with a blue sapphire Zoom chunk trailer around bushes and other cover to catch his limit, said that he was never quite sure if he had enough fish to walk away with the title.
“I knew (Randy) Blaukat was the going to be the guy to beat,” he said. “Earlier in the day I lost one fish that was probably over 4 pounds and I thought that was going to be the difference. And because I ran so far, I only had about 2 1/2 hours to fish. So when I got back to the weigh-in, I really didn’t know for sure if I was going to win.”
However, in the early morning hours, Dudley realized that at the very least, he was going to be a contender.
“When I put the boat in this morning, I saw that the water levels were high enough for me to get back into that one spot,” he said. “Right when I saw that, my confidence level went sky high.”
Although a $700,000 check for four days of work is a fantastic accomplishment by anyone’s standards, Dudley’s payday comes on the heels of a $100,000 second-place finish at an FLW Tour event on Lake St. Clair last June. However, despite netting $800,000 in total tournament prize money in the span of eight months, Dudley said he is not going to change a thing about his life or his lifestyle.
“I’m not suddenly going to have this new lifestyle,” he said. “I’m going to continue to do the same thing I’ve been doing all along. And that’s fishing.”
Blaukat absorbs pain of heart-wrenching defeat
When Randy Blaukat watched the scales tip at 14 pounds after weighing in the last of his five-fish limit, the native of Lamar, Mo., thought he was only seconds away from winning the title. And who could blame him? As the most consistent angler throughout the tournament, Blaukat had seen his day-three weight of 14 pounds, 8 ounces dwarf the rest of the field in yesterday’s competition by nearly 5 full pounds. However, Blaukat’s victory party turned into a stunning defeat in a matter of moments as Dudley raised his final fish high into the air.
The loss was bittersweet, to say the least.
“It’s sort of painful because I really thought I caught enough fish today to win the tournament. It’s really frustrating,” said Blaukat, visibly disappointed. “I’m really surprised I got second place. I didn’t lose a fish all week and everything was going so smoothly that I thought it was meant to be. I guess I was wrong.”
Even after he had received his check for $110,000, Blaukat still appeared to be in disbelief.
“The bite was great today. I caught 25 keepers,” he said. “And when I got to my spot, it was beautiful. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. To have an opportunity like this and then to let it slip away, it’s frustrating.
“Winning $110,000 doesn’t take the sting out of losing $700,000,” Blaukat continued. “My only real consolation is that fact that if it was a cumulative weight tournament, I would have won. I guess I just happened to get beat out by a better sack of fish today.”
Blaukat’s lure of choices for the final two days of the tournament consisted of a black Lunker lure rattleback jig with a black Luck-E Strike Clunn trailer. Blaukat targeted shallow areas with stumps, wood and heavy cover.
Crowd favorite Kilpatrick finishes third
Although Jason Kilpatrick of Satsuma, Ala., only managed a third-place finish, he would have clearly won the competition outright if it was scored on the amount of applause received from the standing-room only crowd at the Mobile Convention Center – the site of the final day’s weigh-in. In fact, every time Kilpatrick stood up to weigh a fish, the crowd’s applause became so deafening that it was difficult to hear the anglers onstage.
“The crowd was great today,” said the hometown hero shortly after receiving his check for $62,000 – the largest of his career. “I fished well all week, so I really don’t have any regrets. It was a lot of fun.”
Kilpatrick – who fished a small, weighted finesse jig throughout the week, targeting small creeks upriver – said that the tournament did wonders for his confidence.
“I fish two divisions of the Wal-Mart BFL circuit, but I wanted to see what I could do against this type of competition,” said Kilpatrick, who already has two top-10 finishes in two tournaments on the BFL circuit this year. “I basically entered this tournament to prove to myself that I could go head to head with some of the best anglers in the world. This is really a defining moment for me. I know now that I can compete with the best.”
So where does Kilpatrick, a relative novice on the professional tournament bass-fishing circuit, go from here?
“My dream is to fish on the FLW Tour,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see.”
Mark Rose of Marion, Ark., grabbed fourth place today and a check for $33,000 after landing a 2-pound, 5-ounce catch. Takahirio Omori of Emory, Texas, grabbed the fifth spot and a $32,000 payday after netting a total catch weighing 1 pound, 12 ounces.
Best of the rest
Rounding out the top-10 finalists were Dion Hibon (sixth) of Stover, Mo., with a catch of 1 pound, 3 ounces; Tom Monsoor (seventh) of La Crosse, Wisc., with a catch of 1 pound, 1 ounces; Dale Teaney (eighth) of Williamsburg, Ohio, with a catch of 0 pounds; David Walker (ninth) of Sevierville, Tenn., with a catch of 0 pounds; and Michael Black (tenth) of Toledo, Ill., with a catch of 0 pounds.
Tiebreakers were based on the cumulative weight of anglers’ catches over the first two days of the tournament.
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