SANFORD, N.C. (May 15, 2006) - Boater Michael Martinez of Lanexa, Va., earned $5,273 Saturday as winner of the Bass Fishing League Piedmont Division bass fishing tournament on Jordan Lake. The tournament was the third of five regular-season Piedmont Division events which earned Martinez 200 points in the Boater Division.
Martinez's winning catch of five bass weighed 21 pounds, 11 ounces. He threw a black and blue jig on the shady side of bushes and lay downs to catch his bass.
Rounding out the top five boaters are Boogie Atkins of Greenville, Va. and Mark Inman of Haw River, N.C. tied for second (five and four bass, 18 pounds, 8 ounces, $2,196); Bill Hunter of Dagsboro, Del. (four bass, 15 pounds, 7 ounces, $1,230) and Ricky Farr of Chesterfield, Va. (five bass, 15 pounds, 5 ounces, $1,055). Inman took home an additional $500 for being the highest placing Ranger Cup participant.
Bo Grosvenor of Forest, Va., took Boater Division big-bass award honors, earning $830 for a 8-pound, 11-ounce bass.
Kevin Fizzano of Radford, Va. and Jamie Baynard of Clayton, N.C. tied for the win on the Co-Angler Division to earn $1,977 a piece thanks to one and two bass weighing 8 pounds, 5 ounces that they caught while throwing spinnerbaits and flipping lizards onto the shady sides of willow trees.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are JC Young of Prince George, Va. (two bass, 8 pounds, $879); Thomas Bates of Appomattox, Va., (two bass, 6 pounds, 7 ounces, $615) and Tom Hebb of Glade Hill, Va. (one bass, 6 pounds, 2 ounces, $527).
Fizzano earned an additional $415 as the co-angler big-bass award winner with an 8-pound, 5-ounce bass.
The Piedmont Division's next event will be held June 24 on Kerr Lake near Henderson, N.C., followed by an event again on Kerr Lake, Sept. 23-24 for the divisions two-day Super Tournament.