SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER CITY, La — When her primary Red River spot produced zero bass for her Saturday, Laura Gober
of Pendergrass, Ga., went to Plan B for the limit of five bass that sewed up a win for her at the Mercury Marine Women's Bassmaster
Tour presented by Triton Boats event out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La.
With a total weight of 34 pounds, 9 ounces, Gober capped off the five-event WBT season by keeping in front of first-day
leader Lisa Johnson of Center, Ala., who finished second with 30 pounds, 2 ounces. Third place was taken by one-time WBT winner
Sheri Glasgow of Muskogee, Okla., whose 28-00 put her squarely in place to claim the 2007 Toyota Women's Bassmaster Tour Angler
of the Year crown. In fourth was the reigning WBT Championship winner Pam Martin-Wells of Bainbridge, Ga., who had 27-12.
In fifth place was Jo Dee Lake of Bessemer, Ala., who had 27-00.
Gober's prize was a $50,000 Triton/Mercury boat rig.
"Last year at Dardanelle I was in the top six, but bombed there this year, so it's great to come here and finish off the
year with a win," said Gober, who led the event on the second day.
The key to her win was "private water" — spots she didn't have to share with any other contender.
"I live on Lake Lanier (in Georgia), which is deep and clear. When I got here Friday and saw the river, I said, 'No way,'
not here. I thought I might as well turn around and go home because I'm not used to anything like what I saw on the Red River.
"Then I decided to search for clear water, and found some, but couldn't get a bite. But I knew bass were in the river,
so I went looking for places nobody else was."
Gober found small, shallow oxbows in 2 feet or less of water. When the spot that produced her limit on Friday didn't help
her out Saturday, she moved to her backup spot, a series of small holes near the Red River's Jimmy Davis Bridge she'd located
earlier.
There she threw a Zoom Baby Brush Hog in junebug and camo colors, plus a Netbait Baby Paca Craw in sapphire and black/blue
flake rigged with a 3/16-ounce Tru-Tungsten weight and a blood-red Peter T Force Bead.
The first-day leader, Johnson adapted quickly to the river.
"I've never been here before," said Johnson, co-owner of a tree service business in Alabama. "I had to learn how to work
in a river that changes so much — up, then dropping, then up again. It was different each day."
Her primary lure was a black Zoom Trick Worm rigged with a 1/8-ounce weight and dressed with Rejuvenate, a fish attractant.
In the co-angler division, Karol Whitehurst of Winnsboro, Texas, won — taking home $1,000 in cash and a Triton/Mercury
boat rig valued at $25,000. Her 30-pound, 1-ounce total bested Dianne Kegley or Norphlet, Ark., who finished second with 16
pounds, 9 ounces.
"I'm turning pro next year," said Whitehurst, 50, an x-ray technician whose Saturday victory was her second this year as
a WBT co-angler.
"I didn't use any techniques here that I used to win at Lake Guntersville (Alabama)," added Whitehurst. "The river was
totally different, and I had to adjust each day according to the river conditions and to each pro's spots and styles."
Her primary lure was a Texas-rigged Zoom Baby Brush Hog in a green-pumpkin and blue flake finish. Her largest fish of the
tournament, a 5-1, came on a custom-made, 1-ounce football jig.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Cheryl Bowden of Plano, Texas, with 15-12; Robertina Filburn of Vine Grove, Ky.,
with 15-01; and Donna Newberry of Van Buren, Ark., with 14-06.
The Lake Keowee championship out of Greenville, S.C., Feb. 21-23, 2008, is the next event on the Women's Bassmaster Tour.
Sponsors of the Women's Bassmaster Tour include: Mercury Marine, Triton Boats, Lowrance Electronics, MotorGuide, Advance
Auto Parts and Plano. Local sponsors of the Red River event include the Shreveport Regional Sports Authority and Bass Pro
Shops.
GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. — Lucy Mize of
Ben Lomond, Ark., jumped over the two-day leader to log her first BASS win Saturday at the Kentucky Lake event of the Mercury
Marine Women's Bassmaster Tour presented by Triton Boats.
Placing third Thursday, then climbing to second Friday, Mize was then a daunting 5 pounds behind leader Sheri Glasgow of
Muskogee, Okla. But on Saturday, Mize toted a bag of five largemouth to the scales that weighed 13 pounds, 14 ounces - enough
to surpass Glasgow and score the win by 1 pound, 1 ounce.
Mize's weight of 40 pounds, 2 ounces over the three days of competition secured the top prize, a Triton/Mercury boat rig
valued at $50,000.
BASS
Lucy Mize of Ben Lomond, Ark., won her first BASS event Saturday.
"I feel awesome," Mize
said of her first win. "It was a long time coming."
All of Mize's fish came off one ledge on Lake Barkley, the fishery that runs parallel to Kentucky Lake; both lakes were
official waters for the tournament.
"I went to the ledge the first day," Mize said. "It's on the main lake, and I had it to myself."
She'd found the spot last year, when she competed in a Bassmaster Northern Tour event, and she remembered she had saved
the waypoints.
Mize estimated that she and her co-anglers together took 70 to 80 pounds of bass off the same ledge through this week's
competition.
Her go-to lures were a Texas-rigged, 10-inch, watermelon-red plastic and a shad-colored, deep-running crankbait.
The victory in Kentucky was especially sweet for Mize. As she accepted her first WBT trophy, her daughter, Melinda Mize-Hooper,
looked on. Mize-Hooper returned a month ago from a tour of duty in Kuwait with the Army National Guard. She signed up to compete
in the pro division alongside her mother.
"She was the person I was most afraid of, but of course she's my hero and my best friend," said Mize-Hooper, one of four
Mize family members who fish competitively. Her father is Bassmaster Elite Series pro Jimmy Mize. Mize-Hooper placed 19th
at the Kentucky event.
On Saturday, what hurt Glasgow was being one short of a five-fish limit.
"I had No. 5 at the net and it came off," said Glasgow, who was able to focus all week on the competition despite fighting
a respiratory infection. "It probably wouldn't have gone more than 15 inches, but it was a keeper and would have been enough."
BASS
Sheri Glasgow brought four bass to the scales, but missed the one that could have made all the difference.
Despite
not winning Saturday, Glasgow kept her lead in the season-long Toyota Women's Bassmaster Tour Angler of the Year points race.
The pro with the most points at season's end takes the title and the prize that comes with it, a 2008 Toyota Tundra.
Karla Bullard of Del Rio, Texas, was third with 36 pounds, 12 ounces. Fourth was Audrey McQueen of Canon City, Colo., with
32-5.
Tammy Richardson of Amity, Ark., finished fifth with 32-3. A three-time WBT winner, Richardson recovered from her 15th-place
finish the first day. She also moved up to second place in the points standings.
BASS
Susan Dameron of Chattanooga, Tenn., pulled up from 11th place to finish at the top of the co-angler division
with 20-6.
In the co-angler competition, Susan Dameron, 44, of Chattanooga, Tenn., won the top prize of $1,000
in cash and a Triton/Mercury rig worth $25,000. She jumped from 11th place to first with a final-day bag of 10 pounds, 12
ounces, for a tournament total of 20-6.
Dameron, who competed in her first tournament less than two years ago, said the WBT event was her first time on Kentucky
Lake. She caught some of her bass on Texas rigs in shallow water, and some off ledges with Carolina rigs.
Second in the co-angler division was Tracy Doty of Roanoke, Texas, with 19-1. Third was Tabitha Rudd of Cusseta, Ala.,
with 18-12. Linda Owens of Brandon, Miss., who led Day 2, finished fourth with 18-9. First-day co-angler leader Robbie Hartline
of Foristell, Mo., fell to fifth with 17-2.
Next up for the WBT is the fifth and final stop of the regular season. Anglers will compete Sept. 20-22 on the Red River
out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La.
WBT fans can watch live video and view a real-time leaderboard of the daily weigh-ins at www.espnoutdoors.com. Live coverage
continues Saturday beginning at 2:10 p.m. CT.
Tammy Richardson of Arkansas Takes Her Third Women's Bassmaster Tour Title - TOUR STOP 3
Richardson Pulls Out of Her Season Slump in Style
BASS Communications — May 5, 2007
Editor's Note: Federal officials have amended an order that prohibited the interstate and international transfer
of live fish from states and provinces known to be infected with the deadly Viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS). BASS took
a leadership role in lobbying for the interests of recreational anglers, including those who compete in BASS tournaments throughout
the region. Click here to learn more.
Arkansan Tammy Richardson posted a Day 3 weight of 18-0.
GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. — Tammy Richardson of Amity, Ark., became a three-time winner and turned around her 2007 season
when she prevailed Saturday at the Mercury Marine Women's Bassmaster Tour presented by Triton Boats event at Lake Guntersville.
Her tournament total of 50 pounds, 0 ounces gave her a wide margin of victory over Judy Wong of Many, La., who moved
up the leaderboard from 18th on Day 1 to 8th on Day 2, then finished in second with 41-11.
The first-place prize was
a Triton/Mercury boat rig worth $50,000.
Richardson's two previous wins were last season. But since her most recent
win — Bull Shoals Lake in August 2006 — her fishing game's been suffering: eighth in a field of 12 at the WBT
2006 Championship in February; 17th at this season's WBT stop No. 1, Lake Amistad in Texas; and 20th at stop No. 2, Lake Dardanelle
in her home state of Arkansas.
"Sometimes when you do badly, it lights the fire in you to hustle," said the 35-year-old
winner. "I didn't start out this year as I wanted to, so I needed this."
Despite boat trouble that cost her three
hours of fishing on the first day of competition, Richardson started strong at Guntersville. She ended the first day, Thursday,
in third place with 16-0. Friday she inched up into second place, again with a catch of 16-0. Her final-day bag — five
fish that weighed 18-0 — clinched the win.
Richardson said she keyed in on Lake Guntersville's humps with a
Carolina rig that included a 10-inch green-pumpkin Zoom worm and 3/4-ounce Tru-Tungsten weight.
The win boosted her
standing in the Toyota WBT Angler of the Year race from 12th to fourth place, behind Sheri Glasgow of Muskogee, Okla., who
stayed at the top; Pam Martin-Wells of Bainbridge, Ga., who retained the second-place spot; and Juanita Robinson of Highlands,
Texas, who moved to up one notch into third.
"Sheri's leading, and she's so consistent, so getting ahead in points
is tough," said Richardson, who lost the 2006 Angler of the Year title by 3 ounces to Dianna Clark of Bumpus Mills, Tenn.
Second-place holder Wong, who moved up to tie for sixth in the points standings with Clark, scored her best WBT finish
to date.
"I think I'm more focused now, more willing to make changes and trust my intuition," said Wong, a 55-year-old
who guides on Toledo Bend when she's not competing.
BASS
Second place was secured by Judy Wong of Many, La., with 41 pounds, 11 ounces.
She said that on Lake Guntersville, her go-to lure was a cinnamon, purple-flake Yamamoto lizard on a Carolina rig she worked
in shallow grass next to spawning beds. She also used a Senko plastic.
In the co-angler division, the winner was Karol
Whitehurst of Winnsboro, Texas, with 37 pounds, 9 ounces. Whitehurst, a 50-year-old X-ray technician, took home a $1,000 check
and a Triton/Mercury rig valued at $25,000. The Saturday win was her best showing to date in a BASS event.
Whitehurst
said she was drop-shotting the same bait all three days: a Zoom finesse worm in a watermelon, purple-flake finish.
"I
tried throwing other baits a few times, but I just didn't have confidence in them, so went back to the drop-shot rig and the
finesse worm," said Whitehurst, who moved up into the winner's spot after holding fifth place for two days.
BASS
Co-angler winner Karol Whitehurst of Winnsboro, Texas, hauled in more than 37 pounds over
three days.
The co-angler who took second was Virginia Buckner of Scottsboro, Ala., whose total weight was 30-4. Behind her was Laura
Elkins of Amarillo, Texas, with 29-13; Sharon Withers of Sam Rayburn, Texas, with 27-6; and Elizabeth Sanders of Brandon,
Miss., with 25-12.
The next stop for the Mercury Marine Women's Bassmaster Tour presented by Triton Boats is Kentucky
Lake in Gilbertsville, Ky., June 14-16.
Mercury Marine Women's Bassmaster Tour presented by Triton Boats Stop No. 3 of 2007 season Lake Guntersville Guntersville,
Ala. May 3-5
Day 3 Big Bass Pro: Judy Wong, Many, La., 5-14 Co-angler: Karol Whitehurst, Winnsboro,
Texas, 6-6
Local sponsors Local sponsors include the Guntersville Chamber of Commerce, Lake Guntersville
State Park, Holiday Inn of Guntersville, Covenant Cove Lodge of Guntersville, Jameson Inn Albertville and Microtel Inn of
Albertville.
Women's Bassmaster Tour sponsors Mercury Marine, Triton Boats, Lowrance Electronics, MotorGuide,
Advance Auto Parts and Plano
Click on the video to watch the live streams of weigh-ins.
Weigh-ins begin at 3.10pm ET
The BASS/ESPN Womens Bassmasters Series has started. Watch the live up to date weigh ins now available online.
Check it out.
Check out the video to see what its like on the Bassmasters Tour.
Opening Season the first tournament of 5 events on the Women's Tour.
Robinson win WBT open in record fashion
Robinson's 56-8 Winning Weight Sets Record for Women's Bassmaster Tour
DEL RIO, Texas — When Juanita Robinson clinched the 2007 season-opener Saturday on Lake Amistad with 56 pounds, 8
ounces, she broke two records, but she was only one of the anglers who rewrote the record books of the Mercury Marine Women's
Bassmaster Tour presented by Triton Boats.
Robinson's 56-8 Winning Weight Sets Record for Women's Bassmaster Tour
Robinson's 56-8 shattered the 33-3 winning-weight record set by two-time WBT champion Tammy Richardson of Amity, Ark.,
on Lake Neely Henry in April 2006.
"With the fish I was on all week, I knew I had a good chance of winning," said Robinson, who jumped from 11th on Thursday
to 8th on Friday before clinching the winner's spot. It was her first WBT victory.
The 57-year-old pro from Highlands, Texas, took home a Triton/Mercury rig valued at $50,000. Robinson will next compete
in the Women's Bassmaster Tour Championship on Alabama's Lake Mitchell on Feb. 22-24.
Robinson's final-day limit that weighed 26-0 set another mark, making her the unofficial WBT "heavyweight champ" besting
Lucy Mize's 24-13 catch on Friday.
"The wind helped me today and on the first day," she said, "But no wind yesterday hurt me. And I really didn't think
I had that much weight today."
Pam Martin-Wells finished second with 53-5
Scoring second place was Pam Martin-Wells of Bainbridge, Ga., with 53-5. She shot from 20th on the Thursday to fourth on
Friday, and missed the top spot by 3 pounds, 3 ounces. Martin-Wells holds the title of the first WBT event ever held, a "preview"
tournament, on Lake Lewisville in Texas in 2005.
Third was Sheri Glasgow of Muskogee, Okla., with 52-11 and fourth was Mize of Ben Lomond, Ark with 51-11. Karla Bullard
of Del Rio, Texas, who led the first two days, slipped to fifth with a total of 48-9.
Co-angler winner Julie Shivers of Del Rio did more than her part to rewrite the WBT record book. In the first tournament
of her life, she brought in a winning weight of 42-6, demolishing the 18-0 co-angler record set by Bonnie Ward of Snohomish,
Wash., at Lake Neely Henry in 2006.
"I used a 'secret weapon,' " said Shivers, a 48-year-old who regularly fishes Lake Amistad with her husband. "I had beginner's
luck, but I give all the credit to my pro partners. They helped me find my fish."
Shivers received $1,000 cash and a Triton/Mercury rig valued at $25,000.
The second-place co-angler was Kim Tucker of Red Bay, Ala., who totaled 38-9. She led the first two days on the strength
of 22 pounds, 2 ounces on Friday, but finished more than three pounds behind Shivers.
Co-anglers finishing at the top were Crystal Langston of Leighton, Ala., third with 36-12; Cheryl Holloway of Pollack,
La., fourth with 32-13; and Lesa Brown of Harrison, Ark., fifth with 29-14.
Anglers in both pro and co-angler divisions contributed to new WBT records for number of five-fish limits and tournament
weight.
With Saturday's win, pro Robinson and co-angler Shivers top their respective WBT division's points standings. The pro with
the most points at season's end will become the Toyota Women's Bassmaster Tour Angler of the Year, a title currently held
by Dianna Clark. Pros and co-anglers finishing in the top 12 earn a berth in the WBT Championship.
The second stop of the 2007 regular season will be Lake Dardanelle in Russellville, Ark., March 29-31.
2007 Mercury Marine Women's Bassmaster Tour presented by Triton
Boats Stop No. 1 Lake Amistad Del Rio, Texas Feb 8-10, 2007
Day 3 Big Bass Pro: Juanita Robinson, Highlands, Texas, 7-14 Co-Angler: Kimberly Martin, Clayton, Ind., 7
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Pro angler Sheri Glasgow of Muskogee, Okla., scored her first Mercury Marine Women's Bassmaster
Tour presented by Triton Boats win Saturday on Arkansas' Lake Dardanelle in style: wire-to-wire, with more than 46 pounds,
and almost two pounds in front of second-place finisher Lynda Gessner of Foristell, Mo.
BASS
Glasgow holds the trophey for the first time.
Glasgow won with consistency as she posted a third consecutive five-fish limit on the final day and finished with a total
of 46 pounds, 1 ounce. She collected the top prize of a Triton/Mercury boat rig valued at $50,000.
In third was Tami Kashiwabara of Japan with 42-7, who had a five-fish limit on the final day to push her up from sixth
on Friday. Finishing fourth with 41-12 was the winner of the season-opening WBT event on Texas' Lake Amistad, Juanita Robinson
of Highlands, Texas.
Pam Martin-Wells of Bainbridge, Ga., fell from second on Friday to finish fifth with 41 pounds, 9 ounces. Glasgow and Martin-Wells
were head-to-head for the first two days of competition, but the Bainbridge, Ga., pro came up one short of a five-fish limit
on the final day.
"I'm going to lose the nickname 'deuce' now," said Glasgow, who has been the runner-up or within arm's reach of a win five
times on the WBT circuit, including being second to Martin-Wells in the 2006 WBT Championship in February on Alabama's Lake
Mitchel l. "It was OK to be second, but of course you always want to win, and maybe now I won't be called 'bridesmaid' anymore."
A 40-year-old rep and designer for a custom cabinet shop when she isn't competing in WBT events, Glasgow said she used
20-pound Berkley Big Game line to work her shallow pattern around stumps for spawning bass. Her go-to baits were a watermelon
Zoom Fluke and a Texas-rigged green-pumpkin Zoom Baby Brush Hog.
At 15-12, Gessner's final-day limit outweighed the Saturday catch of any other pro. She also brought in the day's big bass,
a 5-10 she hooked on a 6-inch Yum Dinger in watermelon red-flake color. She said she worked lily-pad stems that were in less
than two feet of water.
A technical publications specialist for an aircraft manufacturer, Gessner said her second-place finish on Dardanelle is
the best of her fishing career.
"I started fishing because I like being able to challenge myself," she said. "It's like putting a puzzle together."
BASS
Lynda Gessner of Missouri finished second.
The outcome of the Dardanelle event changed up the Toyota Tundra WBT Angler of the Year points race. Glasgow improved her
position from third to first. Robinson dropped from first to second, and Martin-Wells from second to third. Full standings
are below.
The winner at the end of the five-event season takes home a prize package of a fully rigged Toyota Tundra truck.
The winner of the co-angler division and the first prize of $1,000 cash and a Triton/Mercury boat rig valued at $24,000
was Laura Elkins of Amarillo, Texas, who shot up to first from 11th place on the final day, thanks to her five-fish limit
of 12 pounds. Her three-day total was 24 pounds, 4 ounces.
An industrial illustrator, Elkins, 50, finished fourth at the WBT event on Lake Dardanelle last August in the inaugural
season of the WBT. Debbie Pegoli of Loveland, Ohio, was second in the co-angler division with 23-12. She was the co-angler
winner on Texas' Lake Lewisville at the second event of the 2006 WBT season.
The third-place co-angler was Day 2 leader Bertha Cavakis of Amity, Ark., with 23-8. Fourth was Kala Wright of Pocola,
Okla., with 20-2, and fifth was Vicki Henderson of Ashtown, Ark., with 20-0.
TOUR STOP 3 - GUNTERSVILLE LAKE - DAY ONE
Hill Holds Lead
Hill in Front of 2006 WBT Angler of the Year Dianna Clark by 3 Ounces
GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. — Lake Guntersville's bass bit early on Thursday for Cindy Hill of Smyrna, Tenn.,
who ended the day with a five-fish limit of 17 pounds, 4 ounces and just a three-ounce lead in the Mercury Marine Women's
Bassmaster Tour presented by Triton Boats tour third stop.
Hill squeezed past Dianna Clark of Bumpus Mills, Tenn., whose 17-1 bag of four bass put her in second. Tammy Richardson
of Amity, Ark., placed third with three largemouths that weighed 16-0.
To stay on top for two more days to claim the top prize of a Triton/Mercury rig valued at $50,000, Hill must fend off 93
other pros, including Clark and Richardson, two of the WBT's most successful anglers. Clark is the reigning Toyota Women's
Bassmaster Angler of the Year, and both she and Richardson are two-time WBT winners.
"My fish came before 11 a.m.," said Hill, who finished seventh in the 2007 Women's Bassmaster Tour Championship in February.
"The shad are spawning, and I hit them early. But once the shad bite stopped, I had to slow down and go deeper."
She said the pattern she worked on Thursday was exactly how she fished during the tournament's practice period earlier
in the week. Not so for Clark.
"I had a horrible practice," said Clark. "I just didn't catch fish. Then today my first fish didn't come until 11 o'clock
— that was five hours without a fish. Then I just got on the right place and caught all four. My largest, a 5-7, came
at about 2 p.m."
Fourth place was tied between Sandi Karnes of Livingston, Texas, and Audrey McQueen of Canon City, Colo., who both weighed-in
15-5.
For many WBT anglers, the Guntersville tournament — the '07 season's midpoint — is pivotal. Pros who have done
well in the season's first two events must maintain their pace against the up-and-comers in the Toyota Angler of the Year
race. All have an eye on the title and prize, a 2008 Toyota Tundra.
Going into the Guntersville event, Sheri Glasgow of Muskogee, Okla., led the AOY race with 605 points, but Texas' Juanita
Robinson had 590 and Georgia's Pam Martin-Wells had 575.
Leading the field of 94 co-anglers on Thursday was Elizabeth Sanders of Brandon, Miss., who weighed in 14-9. In second
was Jan Hudson of Harrison, Ark., with 13-11. Right behind Hudson was Virginia Buckner of Scottsboro, Ala., with 13-4. In
fourth was Crystal Langston of Leighton, Ala., with 12-6. Karol Whitehurst of Winnsboro, Texas, with 11-2 was fifth.
Co-anglers are competing for a first-place prize of $1,000 cash and a Triton/Mercury rig worth $25,000.
For the first time, WBT fans can watch live video of the weigh-in and view a real-time leaderboard at www.espnoutdoors.com.
Live coverage from the Guntersville event continues Friday and Saturday beginning at 2:10 p.m. CT.
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