TICONDEROGA, N.Y. (July 12, 2004) - Boater James Fleming of Lockport earned $5,011 Saturday as winner of the Bass Fishing League Northeast Division bass fishing tournament on Lake Champlain. The tournament was the second of five regular-season Northeast Division events and featured 199 boaters vying for the win, which earned Fleming 200 points in the Boater Division.
Fleming's winning catch of five bass weighed 21 pounds, 2 ounces, and he caught them on a flipping tube along an outside weed edge. He also earned a $1,000 bonus from Ranger Boats as the highest-finishing participant in the Ranger Cup incentive program. He brought to the scales a 6-pound, 2-ounce bass that earned Boater Division big-bass honors; he claimed $995 for the big bass.
Finishing second was Mark Fann of Clewiston, Fla., with five bass weighing 18 pounds, 3 ounces that earned him $2,506. Pete Hettenbaugh of Lima claimed $1,704 as the third-place finisher thanks to five bass weighing 18 pounds. In fourth was Ron Blajda of Hadley, Mass., with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 14 ounces worth $1,303, and finishing fifth and earning $1,102 was John Lorenzo of Kane, Pa., with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 2 ounces.
Donald Fontaine of Upper Marlboro, Md., bested 199 Co-angler Division competitors to earn $2,505 as the co-angler winner, thanks to five bass weighing 17 pounds, 12 ounces that he caught on a plastic in the grass.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Scott Mitchell of Hawthorne, N.J. (five bass, 17 pounds, 6 ounces, $1,253); Ed Carroll of Altamont (five bass, 17 pounds, 5 ounces, $852); Keith Robitaille of Chicopee, Mass. (five bass, 16 pounds, 10 ounces, $651); and Mike Davidson of Cortland (five bass, 16 pounds, 9 ounces, $551).
Randy Izer of Hadley, Mass., earned $498 as the co-angler big-bass award winner with a 5-pound, 7-ounce bass he caught on a Scum Frog on braided line around weeds and milfoil.
The Northeast Division's next event will be held July 31 on Cayuga Lake near Seneca Falls, followed by an event on Thousand Islands in Clayton Aug. 21. The Northeast Division will wrap up its regular season Sept. 11-12 with a two-day Super Tournament on Chautauqua Lake near Bemus Point.