TAVARES, Fla. (March 7, 2005) - Boater J. Nobel Willits of Altamonte Springs earned $3,711 Saturday as winner of the Bass Fishing League Seminole Division bass fishing tournament on the Harris Chain of Lakes. The tournament was the second of five regular-season Seminole Division events and featured 115 boaters vying for the win, which earned Willits 200 points in the Boater Division.
Willits's winning catch of five bass weighed 18 pounds, 4 ounces. Willits was fishing the mouth of a canal with a Carolina Rig when he caught his limit. He said he caught three of his bass in the first 45 minutes of the tournament.
Finishing second was Rick Bak of Clermont with five bass weighing 18 pounds, 3 ounces that earned him $1,855. Christopher Lane of Winter Haven claimed $1,215 as the third-place finisher thanks to four bass weighing 16 pounds, 7 ounces. Lane won an additional $500 as the Ranger Cup award winner and $250 as the Powered by Yamaha award winner. In fourth was Jason McKinnie of Umatilla with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 6 ounces worth $945, and finishing fifth and earning $776 was Gary Simpson of Gainesville with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 4 ounces.
In addition, Lane took Boater Division big-bass award honors, earning $570 for an 11-pound bass. He caught his big bass on a watermelon-colored BB Cricket.
Edwin Howe of Jacksonville bested 107 Co-angler Division competitors to earn $1,765 as the co-angler winner, thanks to five bass weighing 13 pounds, 9 ounces that he caught on a Rapala and a Senko.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Dennis Badzinski of Kissimmee (four bass, 12 pounds, 8 ounces, $882); David Cook of Lake Ariel, Pa. (five bass, 12 pounds, $577); Jesse Williams of Lake City (two bass, 9 pounds, 12 ounces, $449); and George Pridgeon of Perry (four bass, 9 pounds, 10 ounces, $369).
In addition, Williams earned $268 as the co-angler big-bass award winner with a 7-pound, 9-ounce bass he caught on a June Bug Gambler Craw. The Seminole Division's next event will be held April 23 on Lake Apalachicola near Wewahitchka, followed by an event on Seminole Lake near Bainbridge, Ga., June 4. The Seminole Division will wrap up its regular season Sept. 17-18 with a two-day Super Tournament on the St. John's River in Palatka.