Fishing
News
 
Google
 
Web www.zeiners.com
www.kansasangler.com cottonwoodmercantile.com
  Store | Shopping

  
Fishing News
Archives

Back To
Kansas Angler
Online Edition


Swim Tail® Lures

 The Original Action Tail

Contact Us

Zeiners Angler Supply

Kansas Angler

Swim Tail Lures

 

 sponsored by
Zeiner's Angler Supply
The Kansas Angler Online
and Swim Tail Lures

CLAUSEN FINISHES OFF WIRE-TO-WIRE BASSMASTER CLASSIC WIN
Washington State Pro Scores 5- Pound Plus Victory on Lake Kissimmee

 
Feb. 26, 2006 - ISSIMMEE, Fla. - On a day when weather wreaked havoc on his closest pursuers, Luke Clausen of Washington state put the finishing touches on a rare wire-to-wire victory Sunday in the 36th annual CITGO Bassmaster Classic on Lake Tohopekaliga.
 
Fishing fans who couldn't watch the win in person saw it on ESPN beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET.
 
A cold, steady rain and relentless 20 mph winds shuffled the leaderboard in the final round, but Clausen managed to catch a third consecutive limit. His catch of 11 pounds, 13 ounces, gave him a total of 56-2. That was enough to hold off hard-charging CITGO Bassmaster Elite Series angler Rick Morris of Virginia, who had a total of 51 pounds, and Ron Shuffield of Arkansas, who had 47-14.
 
Clausen became just the seventh angler to post a wire-to-wire win in Bassmaster Classic history. He also set the record for heaviest winning Classic weight, which formerly was 55-10 and held by Davy Hite.  A capacity crowd of 10,019 at the Orange County Convention Center watched Clausen receive the most important trophy in professional fishing.
 
"It hasn't really sunk in yet," said the 27-year-old, who was the youngest Bassmaster Classic competitor in this year's tournament and won $500,000 with the Classic title. "It's like you're in the middle of a dream. It's surreal."
 
Clausen's biggest career achievement centered around fishing isolated vegetation in 3 to 4 feet of water in the southeastern corner of Lake Kissimmee. He said he fished a 6-inch, junebug-colored Mann's HardNose worm along the lake bottom.
 
"I probably had the strongest area of the lake and I understood it better than the other guys," Clausen said. "That was why I won."
 
Meanwhile, Morris, 44, made a charge from fifth place into the runner-up position with a final-round catch of 13-11. His success came on a Chatterbait and War Eagle spinnerbait. Unlike the other Bassmaster Classic contenders, he concentrated his efforts in the Kissimmee River.
 
"It would have been nice to have had the Classic as my first (BASS) win," said Morris, who has fished BASS for 14 years. Morris qualified for the Bassmaster Classic by finishing second in the CITGO Bassmaster Open Championship in December 2005. "I seem to be second quite a bit. I guess you have to finish second before you can be first," he said.
 
Shuffield, 50, made a gallant run in his 15th Classic appearance, but dropped from second to third with a final-round total of 7-15. The same lures and area in Lake Kissimmee that produced his 21-pound limit on Saturday weren't much of a match for Sunday's drastic weather conditions. He only weighed in three bass and reported missing 10 other strikes.
 
"It just wasn't my day," Shuffield said. "I always said that when it's your time to win a tournament, you can't help but win."
 
Tournament favorite Terry Scroggins, 37 years old and one of two Floridians in the field, fought his way into a nail-biting fourth-place finish. The angler's intimate knowledge of the tournament waters allowed him to sandwich two solid performances (10-14 and 7-11) around a second-round charge of 28-6 to finish with 46-15. He fished on Lake Kissimmee with a prototype Zoom crawfish imitation around deeper pads and hydrilla.
 
"I lost this tournament on the first day," he said. "Nothing I did that day seemed to work out."
 
Defending Classic champion Kevin VanDam capped off a remarkable comeback after opening in 25th place. He rebounded with limits of 14-15 and 15-7 to finish in fifth place with 44-8. Last year, VanDam won the Bassmaster Classic in Pittsburgh with the a record-low winning Classic weight of 12-15.
 
Clausen took Sunday's Purolator Big Bass award with a 5-13 largemouth.
 
Total attendance enjoying the weigh-in for the three-day event was 21,742. In total, more than 62,000 fishing fans attended some facet of the 2006 Bassmaster Classic.
 
The 2006 CITGO Bassmaster Classic is hosted by the Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Central Florida Sports Commission.
 
BASS is the worldwide authority on bass fishing, sanctioning more than 20,000 events through the BASS Federation annually. Guided by its mission to serve all fishing fans, BASS sets the standard for credibility, professionalism, sportsmanship and conservation, as it has for nearly 40 years.
 
BASS stages bass fishing tournaments for every skill level and culminates with the CITGO Bassmaster Classic. Through its clubs, youth programs, aquatic resource advocacy, magazine publishing and multimedia platforms, BASS offers the industry's widest array of services and support to its nearly 550,000 members. The organization is headquartered in Celebration, Fla.
 
For more information, contact BASS Communications at (407) 566-2208 or visit www.bassmaster.com/classic
 
Click here to download on-the-water photos of Day 3 or click here for weigh-in photos at ESPNoutdoorsmedia.com. If you do not have a user name and password, click here to apply.
 
 
2006 CITGO Bassmaster Classic 02/24-02/26 Lake Toho, Kissimmee  Fla.
(PRO Division) Standings Day 3
 
   Angler                   Hometown              No./lbs-oz  Pts   Total $$$
 
1.  Luke Clausen           Spokane Valley, Wash.  15  56-02    0  $501,000.00
  Day 1: 5   29-06    Day 2: 5   14-15    Day 3: 5   11-13  
2.  Rick Morris            Lanexa, Va.            15  51-00    0   $45,000.00
  Day 1: 5   18-07    Day 2: 5   18-14    Day 3: 5   13-11  
3.  Ron Shuffield          Bismarck, Ark.         13  47-14    0   $40,000.00
  Day 1: 5   18-15    Day 2: 5   21-00    Day 3: 3    7-15  
4.  Terry Scroggins        Palatka, Fla.          15  46-15    0   $31,000.00
  Day 1: 5   10-14    Day 2: 5   28-06    Day 3: 5    7-11  
5.  Kevin VanDam           Kalamazoo, Mich.       15  44-08    0   $25,000.00
  Day 1: 5   14-02    Day 2: 5   14-15    Day 3: 5   15-07  
6.  Preston Clark          Palatka, Fla.          11  44-04    0   $25,000.00
  Day 1: 5   29-01    Day 2: 5   10-02    Day 3: 1    5-01  
7.  George Cochran         Hot Springs, Ark.      15  43-10    0   $21,500.00
  Day 1: 5   15-01    Day 2: 5   16-11    Day 3: 5   11-14  
8.  Kevin Wirth            Crestwood, Ky.         15  42-00    0   $21,000.00
  Day 1: 5   22-05    Day 2: 5   13-04    Day 3: 5    6-07  
9.  Jimmy Johnson          La Crosse, Wisc.       15  41-14    0   $20,500.00
  Day 1: 5   10-03    Day 2: 5   17-13    Day 3: 5   13-14  
10. Larry Nixon            Bee Branch, Ark.       15  39-13    0   $20,000.00
  Day 1: 5   19-08    Day 2: 5    9-15    Day 3: 5   10-06  
11. Edwin Evers            Talala, Okla.          14  38-15    0   $15,000.00
  Day 1: 5   23-10    Day 2: 5   11-09    Day 3: 4    3-12  
12. Dean Rojas             Lake Havasu, Ariz.     15  38-00    0   $14,500.00
  Day 1: 5   17-00    Day 2: 5    9-05    Day 3: 5   11-11  
13. Jeff Coble             Manson, N.C.           15  36-15    0   $14,250.00
  Day 1: 5   16-15    Day 2: 5   14-10    Day 3: 5    5-06  
14. Tommy Biffle           Wagoner, Okla.         14  36-12    0   $14,000.00
  Day 1: 5   15-05    Day 2: 5   10-14    Day 3: 4   10-09  
15. Ishama Monroe          Hughson, Calif.        14  36-10    0   $13,750.00
  Day 1: 5   19-02    Day 2: 4    7-01    Day 3: 5   10-07  
16. Davy Hite              Ninety Six, S.C.       15  36-06    0   $13,000.00
  Day 1: 5   20-09    Day 2: 5    7-12    Day 3: 5    8-01  
17. Aaron Martens          Leeds, Calif.          15  34-13    0   $12,900.00
  Day 1: 5   15-01    Day 2: 5   11-06    Day 3: 5    8-06  
18. Mark Tucker            Saint Louis, Mo.       15  34-12    0   $12,800.00
  Day 1: 5   16-12    Day 2: 5   10-09    Day 3: 5    7-07  
19. Jeff Kriet             Ardmore, Okla.         14  34-00    0   $12,650.00
  Day 1: 5   20-03    Day 2: 5    8-05    Day 3: 4    5-08  
19. Greg Hackney           Gonzales, La.          14  34-00    0   $12,650.00
  Day 1: 5   18-09    Day 2: 4    7-10    Day 3: 5    7-13  
21. Rick Clunn             Ava, Mo.               12  33-00    0   $12,400.00
  Day 1: 5   20-12    Day 2: 3    6-05    Day 3: 4    5-15  
22. Scott Rook             Little Rock, Ark.      15  32-15    0   $12,250.00
  Day 1: 5   17-02    Day 2: 5    9-05    Day 3: 5    6-08  
22. Jay Yelas              Tyler, Texas           13  32-15    0   $12,250.00
  Day 1: 5   13-03    Day 2: 5   15-02    Day 3: 3    4-10  
24. Skeet Reese            Auburn, Calif.         10  30-06    0   $12,100.00
  Day 1: 5   15-08    Day 2: 5   14-14    Day 3: 0    0-00  
25. Gerald Swindle         Hayden, Ala.           10  27-00    0   $12,000.00
  Day 1: 5    8-10    Day 2: 5   18-06    Day 3: 0    0-00  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Purolator Big Bass
Day
 1   Preston Clark           Palatka, Fla.             11-10  $1,000.00
 2   Terry Scroggins         Palatka, Fla.              9-05  $1,000.00
 3   Luke Clausen            Spokane Valley, Wash.      5-13  $1,000.00
 
Purolator Big Bass of Tournament
     Preston Clark           Palatka, Fla.             11-10  $2,000.00
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals
Day   #Limits    #Fish      Weight
 1       49       247       722-08
 2       44       245       587-08
 3       16       103       200-04
----------------------------------
        109       595      1510-04

Back to
Zeiner's Angler Supply | Kansas Angler Online | Swim Tail Lures

Click Here For
Zeiner's Angler Supply Online Catalog

 

 
Website

Shopping Cart

 
Copyright 1999-2005 by The Kansas Angler - PO Box 357 - Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845 - Phone 620-273-8100
Questions or problems with this website should be directed to webmaster.
 
~~~

~~

Visit Our Sister Sites

Cottonwood Mercantile - River City Associates