TAVARES, Fla. (Feb. 20, 2006) - Boater Dale Jackson of Anthony, Fla., earned $4,981 Saturday as winner of the Bass Fishing League Gator Division bass fishing tournament on the Harris Chain of Lakes. The tournament was the second of five regular-season Gator Division events and featured 152 boaters vying for the win, which earned Jackson 200 points in the Boater Division.
Jackson's winning catch of five bass weighed 32 pounds, 13 ounces. That weight is the biggest one-day weight of 2006 and ties for the sixth largest in FLW Outdoors history. Jackson caught one lunker weighing 9 pounds, 11 ounces and two more weighing more than 8 pounds.
"I've got a grin I can't get rid of," Jackson said. "I had found seven bass on the bed in practice. I was lucky that three of them were still on the bed, although I didn't know they were as big as they were. Two of them bit pretty quickly, but I had to finesse the third one for about 20 minutes before it hit."
The bedded bass, which were in 3 to 5 feet of water, came on a white Mad Man Craw Worm rigged with a 3/16-ounce weight and a 5/0 hook. Jackson went on to catch and cull a few more smaller bass while flipping a black and red flake Gambler BB Cricket and throwing a spinnerbait.
Rounding out the top five boaters are Alan Cagle of Deltona, Fla. (five bass, 19 pounds, 9 ounces, $2,490); J. Nobel Willits of Altamonte Springs, Fla. (four bass, 16 pounds, 10 ounces, $1,662); Paul Lott of Windermere, Fla. (five bass, 13 pounds, 14 ounces, $1,162) and Don Waldrop of Winter Garden, Fla. (five bass, 13 pounds, 5 ounces, $996).
Charles Cash of Sarasota, Fla., took Boater Division big-bass award honors, earning $760 for a 9-pound, 15-ounce bass.
Cagle earned an additional $500 as winner of the Ranger Cup award.
Brad Copponex of Lakeland, Fla., bested 152 Co-angler Division competitors to earn $2,490 as the co-angler winner, thanks to five bass weighing 14 pounds, 3 ounces that he caught fishing a Rapala crankbait in 6 to 7 feet of water. One of Copponex's bass, a 7-pound, 6-ounce largemouth, earned him $380 for the big-bass award in the Co-angler Division.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Eddie Fullbright of Ocala, Fla. (five bass, 13 pounds, 4 ounces, $1,245); Rick Wright of Lakeland, Fla., (five bass, 12 pounds, 5 ounces, $829) Joe Ventrello of Orlando, Fla., (five bass, 11 pounds, 15 ounces, $581) and Roy Henry of Vineland, N.J. (five bass, 11 pounds, 13 ounces, $498).
The Gator Division's next event will be held March 25 on the Kissimmee River near Lake Wales, Fla., followed by another event on the Kissimmee River May 6. The Gator Division will wrap up its regular season Sept. 9-10 with a two-day Super Tournament on Lake Toho near Kissimmee, Fla.