PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (June 19, 2006) Boater Thomas Lavictoire of West Rutland, Vt., earned $4,806 Saturday as winner of the Bass Fishing League Empire Division bass fishing tournament on the Lake Champlain. The tournament was the second of five regular-season Empire Division events and earned Lavictoire 200 points in the Boater Division.
Lavictoires winning catch of five bass weighed 18 pounds, 10 ounces. He was throwing a tube, targeting bedding bass.
Rounding out the top five boaters are Brian Gates of Mendon, Vt. (five bass, 17 pounds, 2 ounces, $2,403); Kraig Kettelkamp of Clifton Springs, N.Y. (five bass, 17 pounds, $1,605); Dick Keyser of Pine City, N.Y., (five bass, 16 pounds, 11 ounces, $1,121) and Louis Bonanno of Norwich, N.Y. (five bass, 16 pounds, 2 ounces, $961).
Gates also took Boater Division big-bass award honors, earning $725 for a 5-pound, 1-ounce bass.
Andy Warholic of Cortland, N.Y., won the Co-angler Division to earn $2,403 as the co-angler winner, thanks to five bass weighing 16 pounds he caught flipping a tube in and around submerged wood.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Jeffery Childress Sr. of Toms River, N.J. (five bass, 15 pounds, 1 ounce, $1,201); Rick Turner of Tyler, Texas (five bass, 14 pounds, 3 ounces, $806); Dustin Edwards of Manchester, Conn. (five bass, 14 pounds, $561); and Raymond Nieuweboer of Hollis, N.H. (five bass, 13 pounds, 13 ounces, $481).
Paul Ruterman of Syracuse, N.Y. earned $362 as the co-angler big-bass award winner with a 4-pound, 6-ounce bass.
The Empire Divisions next event will be held July 15 on Lake Cayuga near Waterloo, N.Y., followed by an event on Seneca Lake near Geneva, N.Y., July 29. The divisions fourth regular-season event will be held on 1000 Islands Aug. 26. The Empire Division will wrap up its regular season Sept. 23-24 with a two-day Super Tournament on Lake Champlain near Plattsburgh, N.Y.