Gallops and Raskob capture titles at FKO/IGFA Inshore World Championships

Story & Photo Courtesy of Johnson Communications Inc.

Mike Gallops and Jared Raskob had different strategies in accomplishing their goals in winning the light tackle and fly divisions respectively at the Florida Keys Outfitters/ International Game Fish Association Inshore World Championship in Islamorada, Fla., USA, July 7- 9.

In the fly division, Raskob of Key Largo, Fla., held the lead from start to finish focusing his scoring of points of the five targeted species – bonefish, tarpon, permit, snook and redfish. Despite not catching a permit, deemed the hardest fish to entice on a fly, Raskob accumulated a total of 1950 points. With the help of his guide Capt. Dave Borras he had three bountiful days breaking further away from his fly competitors with rounds of scores of 575, 650 and 725 points.

They had correctly predicted that his 15 competitors in the division would have the same trouble he had of getting the slam of five fish, especially the tight-jawed permit. The only contestant to release a permit on fly was Alex Cruz of Miami and it was his only fish of the contest caught on the final day.

For Gallops in the light tackle divsion, who won the championship in 2003, his goal was completing slams by catching all five species, considered just a bit easier using bait. His biggest day came on Day 2 when Capt. Larry Sydnor put him onto catches and releases of seven fish among four species. Now with one slam completed on a permit caught the first day, Gallops needed one more to complete a second slam. He did by catching a permit on Day 3, and added a third permit for added points or a chance at a third slam.
Finishing second by completing one slam in the light tackle division was Tony Pruitt, Naples, Fla., teamed with guide Capt. Rob Fordyce. In third was Nick Cardella, Delray Beach, Fla., guided by Capt. Frank Ortiz.

Two Houston, Texas competitors, Charles Duncan, III and Rand Holstead,
took second and third in the fly division. Duncan was guided by Capt. John Donnell and Holstead by Capt. Andy Thompson.

The field of 32 top anglers-- 16 in fly and 16 in light tackle -- were invited to compete in the all-release championship after winning in a variety of 36 qualifying tournaments held across the U.S., the Bahamas and Australia in 2008.
From a drawing the champion qualifiers were paired with a premier Keys guide, fishing as a team for the three days.

In an interview with Bill Kelly, host of The Friday Night Radio Show on WKEZ-FM in the Florida Keys, Duncan and Rand emphasized the quality of the guides and how much everyone enjoyed the single guide format as compared to a different one each day.
“It helped in the strategy of the event and the development of the relationship between angler and guide,” said Duncan.

On the same show tournament director Sandy Moret, owner of Florida Keys Outfitters smiled and said, “This ninth annual tournament promised to be one of the most outstanding competitions of the year, and it was. The on-site logistics and hospitality of the staff at the Bayside Marina and Islamorada Fish Co. which is part of World Wide Sportsman was fantastic. We’re looking ahead to next year when we’ll have more international competitors.”

The championship events will be featured on a future ESPN Outdoors Saltwater Series cablecast on ESPN2. Highlights of each day are also featured on ESPNOutdoors.com.
For more information on the FKO/IGFA Inshore World Championship and the event’s qualifying tournaments contact Moret at 305-664-5423 or via e-mail at flkeyout@bellsouth.net or visit the web site at inshoreworldchampionships.com .


Fly Winners

Place
Angler
Guide

1st
Jared Raskob Key Largo, Fla.,
Dave Borras

2nd
Charles Duncan III, Houston, Texas
John Donnell

3rd
Rand Holdstead, Houston Texas
Andy Thompson



Light Tackle Winners

Place
Angler
Guide

1st
Mike Gallops, Naples, Fla.
Larry Sydnor

2nd
Troy Pruitt, Naples, Fla.,
Rob Fordyce

3rd
Nick Cardella, Delray Beach, Fla.,
Frank Ortiz

Academy Sports + Outdoors Moves up to Title Sponsor of the Women’s Bassmaster Tour

BASS

Celebration, FL
February 2, 2009

Academy Sports + Outdoors Moves up to Title Sponsor of the Women’s Bassmaster Tour

BASS announced today that Academy Sports + Outdoors increased its involvement with the Women’s Bassmaster Tour, becoming the title sponsor of the circuit in a multiple-year agreement. Academy enhanced its level of association with BASS after serving as the presenting sponsor of the WBT since 2007.

The Katy, Texas, sports and outdoors lifestyle retailer will continue to have a significant presence at WBT events, including holding events at Academy stores on all three days of competition. Academy will also host all angler registrations and tournament briefings at applicable locations.

In its fourth year of existence, the WBT has made great strides, most notably since Academy joined as a presenting sponsor. In October 2007, BASS announced that the Toyota Tundra Women’s Bassmaster Tour Angler of the Year would receive a qualifying berth in the Bassmaster Classic. Later this month, Kim Bain-Moore will make history as the first woman qualifier in the Classic, set for Feb. 20-22 on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La.

“Academy Sports and Outdoors is actively involved in communities and events promoting healthy sports and outdoors lifestyles for every member of the family. We are pleased to sponsor the Women’s Bassmaster Tour because it reflects our own philosophy that team sports and outdoors recreation should be accessible and affordable for everyone,” said Jerry deBin, Academy’s director of outdoor marketing. “Each tournament week kicks off at the Academy Sports and Outdoor store with ‘meet the pros’ Wednesday night, daily weigh-ins Thursday and Friday, and the final weigh-in Saturday that includes a host of free games and festivities for the whole family.”

The 2009 Academy Sports + Outdoors Women’s Bassmaster Tour schedule will kick off in less than two months with a season-opening event on Alabama’s Neely Henry Lake, set for March 26-28 out of Gadsden, Ala. The rest of the schedule can be found below.

The 2009 Academy Sports + Outdoors WBT Championship has yet to be announced. That event will feature a limited field and will be billed as a championship, stand-alone event. A decreased field – only the top 20 pros and co-anglers in the AOY standings will qualify – will battle for the Toyota WBT Angler of the Year and a coveted Bassmaster Classic qualifying berth.

“We are excited to enhance our fantastic relationship with Academy Sports + Outdoors,” said Tom Ricks, BASS vice president and general manager. “Companies like Academy understand the importance of growing the participation in our sport.”

For more information, contact BASS Communications at (407) 566-2208 or visit http://www.Bassmaster.com.

Schedule: 2009 Academy Sports + Outdoors Women’s Bassmaster Tour

Date
Fishery Host City Local Sponsor

March 26-28
Neely Henry Lake
Gadsden, Ala.
City of Gadsden

April 23-25
Ouachita River
West Monroe, La.
Monroe-West Monroe Convention & Visitor’s Bureau

June 4-6
Arkansas River
Little Rock, Ark.
Little Rock Convention & Visitor’s Bureau

Sept. 10-12
Old Hickory Lake
Hendersonville, Tenn. Sumner County Convention & Visitor’s Bureau

Hill Gains on Bain for Possible Classic Berth

Story courteousy of BASS COMMUNICATIONS

September 23, 2008

BASS Reporter’s Notebook:

Tennessee’s Cindy Hill Moves In On Kim Bain in the Race to the Bassmaster Classic

Going into the homestretch, Cindy Hill of Smyrna, Tenn., is catching up to leader Kim Bain of Alabaster, Ala., in the race to be the first woman to qualify for a Bassmaster Classic, bass fishing’s premier event.

Hill lags by just 14 points, giving her a realistic chance to overtake Bain, who has led the race since the beginning of the 2008 season of the Women’s Bassmaster Tour presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors.


Along with 18 other pros vying for the same prize, the leaders are banking on earning more points at the Oct. 23-25 WBT Championship presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors on Arkansas’ Lake Hamilton out of Hot Springs.


Besides a berth in the 2009 Classic — Feb. 20-22 on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La. — the WBT pro who ends up with the most points takes two other big prizes: the Toyota Tundra Women’s Bassmaster Angler of the Year title and a 2009 fully-rigged Toyota truck.

The points race has not been a dash, but a long-distance run in which the pros have earned points according to their finishes in four regular-season events. The top 20 then qualified last weekend for the Arkansas championship.

And now the question has become: Can anyone earn enough points in Arkansas to catch Kim Bain?

Does Hill think she can?

“I don’t really know,” said Hill, who took her first WBT win last weekend at Clarks Hill Lake in Georgia. “There’s nothing that can’t be done. I go out and fish every tournament like it’s for Angler of the Year. I don’t really think about points that much, I just think about me and the fish.”

She is thinking about the WBT Championship, and has been for quite some time.

“Last October, right after the 2008 schedule was released, I went to Lake Hamilton and marked spots that looked good. I wanted to see it when the water was down. I feel confident with my fishing ability that I can catch them.”

So is the WBT points race now a Bain-Hill faceoff? Hardly — they’re the two who are closest to the prize, but not the only ones who could score it.

A glance at the standings (available at www.Bassmaster.com) reveals a list of formidable competitors. Ten of the championship qualifiers have WBT event titles on their fishing resumes, and several boast multiple wins. Juanita Robinson of Highlands, Texas, is only 35 points behind Bain in third.

Women's Bassmaster Tour Moves To Georgia for Decisive Event

Story courtesy ESPN / BASS Communications

September 8, 2008

The historic 2008 season of the Women’s Bassmaster Tour presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors season will feature its fourth event Sept. 18-20 out of Clarks Hill Lake and Evans, Ga. The event takes Women’s Bassmaster Tour pros one step closer to scoring the ultimate prize through the WBT, a berth into the 2009 Bassmaster Classic, the first time a female angler will qualify for the prestigious event.

Only the top 20 anglers, decided with the culmination of the regular season on Clarks Hill, will move on to the WBT Championship and have a shot at the Classic berth. The Championship is set for Oct. 23-25 on Arkansas’ Lake Hamilton and will determine the 2008 Toyota WBT Angler of the Year, who will move on to the Feb. 20-22 Classic on Louisiana’s Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City.

In the points lead is Kim Bain of Alabaster, Ala., who took control by winning the season’s first event and has never let go. But Bain is just 24 points ahead of Juanita Robinson of Highlands, Texas, and 65 points in front of Muskogee, Okla., pro Sheri Glasgow, the reigning Toyota WBT Angler of the Year.

The top three, though, can’t count out other pros. For the first time in the tour’s three-year history, each pro’s lowest 2008 regular-season tournament finish will be dropped from the points tally, making the outcome of the points race tough to gauge at this point in the season.

Anglers will be fishing for more than points, though, as the winner of the Clarks Hill tournament will earn a Triton/Mercury boat rig valued at $50,000 to the winner. The event marks the ninth BASS event on spacious Clarks Hill but will be a first for the WBT. Fishing fans are invited to watch the anglers at the free and public weigh-ins. They’re set for 3:15 p.m. ET, Sept. 18-19 at Wildwood Park in Appling, Ga.; and 4 p.m. ET, Sept. 20 at the Academy Sports & Outdoors store at 4120 Washington Road in Evans, Ga.

Live video of the weigh-ins and real-time leaderboards will be available at www.Bassmaster.com through all three days of the competition.

Clarks Hill promises to give the pros a workout. The water level is about 15 feet below full pool — a condition that can concentrate the lake’s bass, but also a factor that cuts into the cache of shoreline sweet spots, said WBT pro Laura Gober who is from Pendergrass, Ga., located less than an hour’s drive from Clarks Hill.

Gober won the 2007 WBT season-ending event in Louisiana on the Red River and she’s hoping another late-season surge will carry her into the WBT Championship. Going into next week’s event, she is 46 points below the 20th-place cutline, but her experience on Clarks Hill could help her boost her standing.

“It has come down to this event to make it or not make it,” said Gober, who’s looking to qualify for her first WBT Championship. “If I can get a top-15 finish, I may be able to get there.”

Gober said that although Clarks Hill’s water temperature is still about 82 degrees, productive summertime patterns have all but shut down.

“The water’s really low and the fish are in transition, big-time,” she said. “The bass are starting to go back into the creeks, following the bait. Once that water temperature drops below 80, the fishing’s going to change. It’s going to be a tough tournament — I think it’ll take just 8 to 10 pounds a day to get near the top.”

“If we can get on some good schooling fish, that’ll probably result in a heavier weight,” she said.

Like Gober, Judy Wong of Many, La., the winner of the 2007 Women’s Bassmaster Tour Championship presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors, is banking on doing well enough at the Clarks Hill event to qualify for this year’s championship. She is just 24 points out of the current top-20 cutline.

“I’ve never fished Clarks Hill, but I have in mind what I need to do,” Wong said. “I’ll decide what’s best after I scout it and get a feel for it. I’m planning on five to six days of practice.”

“This hasn’t been a real good year for me, but I hope to correct that at Clarks Hill,” she said.

Debra Hengst of San Antonio, Texas, is another pro who’s hoping Clarks Hill will be the charm. Like Wong, she’s now 24 points under the cutline.

“I’m going into it to win it,” Hengst said. “That’s my goal. I have no history on Clarks Hill, but I’ll be getting five days of practice in and I’ve done extensive research. It’s a grass lake, and that will play to my strengths.”

All WBT events are free and open to the public. In addition to live, streaming videos of the daily weigh-ins, fishing fans can log onto www.Bassmaster.com for see daily editorial coverage and photo galleries.

Sponsors of the Women’s Bassmaster Tour include Academy Sports & Outdoors, Toyota Tundra, Advance Auto Parts, Lowrance, Mercury, Skeeter, Yamaha, OPTIMA Batteries, Triton Boats, Legend Boats, MoGills and Mustang.

Local hosts include Columbia County.

About BASS

For 40 years, BASS has served as the authority on bass fishing. With its considerable multi-media platforms and expansive tournament trail, BASS is guided by its mission to serve all fishing fans. Through its industry leading publications Bassmaster Magazine, BASS Times and Fishing Tackle Retailer and comprehensive web properties, the organization is committed to delivering content true to the lifestyle. Additionally, television programming on ESPN2 continues to provide relevant content from tips and techniques to in-depth tournament coverage to passionate audiences.

The organization oversees the prestigious Bassmaster tournament trail which includes the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bassmaster Opens, Women's Bassmaster Tour and the Bassmaster Classic, the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing. Through its grassroots network, the BASS Federation Nation, BASS sanctions more than 20,000 events annually.

BASS also offers an array of services to its more than 500,000 members while spearheading progressive, positive change on issues related to conservation and water access. The organization is headquartered in Celebration, Fla.

MoGills To Sponsor Women’s Bassmaster Tour

March 12, 2008

Celebration, Fla.  -- MoGills, Inc. manufacturer of apparel for anglers, and BASS, the worldwide authority on bass fishing, announced an agreement Wednesday that McGills has become an official apparel of the Women's Bassmaster Tour presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors.

MoGills, based in Cocoa, Fla. and dedicated to outfitting female anglers with cutting-edge apparel and accessories, will serve as a promotional sponsor for the WBT.

"We at MoGills are absolutely thrilled to be a part of the WBT as these wonderfully talented women  make history in fishing," said Linda Lanier,  vice president of MoGills.  "Being part of the WBT is both an honor and a challenge as a young company, and we look forward to helping grow the WBT this year through our Freshwater Chic clothing."

As part of the agreement, MoGills will be represented daily at WBT tournaments, with logos on the weigh-in stage and opportunity for promotions and hospitality at all WBT events, and will have a presence across BASS' multimedia platforms, including in Bassmaster Magazine, BASS Times and Bassmaster.com.

"Bass is thrilled to have MoGills join the Women's Bassmaster Tour as a new sponsor," WBT Director Bruce Mathis said.  "We appreciate that MoGills realizes the value of brand-loyal BASS members and the continuing growth of the Women's Bassmaster Tour."

Sponsors for the Women's Bassmaster Tour include Academy Sports & Outdoors, Toyota Tundra, Advance Auto Parts, Lowrance, Mercury, Skeeter, Yamaha, OPTIMA Batteries, Triton Boats, Legand Boats, MoGills and Mustang.