RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - Randy Howell was understandably emotional Saturday when he accepted the winner's trophy for the first tournament in the inaugural Bassmaster Elite 50 season.
The win was Howell's first victory on the Bassmaster Tournament Trail , and he earned it with a winning weight of 30 pounds, 9 ounces on Lake Dardanelle.
"I get tore up pretty bad," said a misty-eyed Howell. "It took me 11 years on the Bassmaster Tour to get this. It's better than I ever dreamed. It's just an awesome feeling. This is the most fun I've ever had in a Bassmaster tournament and that's how it's supposed to be when you win."
With the win, Howell leads the Elite 50 point standings, and is in strong contention for a big share of the $1.6 million purse that will be distributed to the 50-angler field at the end of the four-event series. He is also closer to another goal: earning one of the berths to the Bassmaster Classic, which will be given to the top 10 anglers in points at the end of the series. The Alabamian was more than aware of the stakes heading into the final day.
"This morning, I was comfortable that I had a lead, but to say I didn't have some nerves?" Howell said. "I was brushing my teeth this morning and I had to slack off a little because I thought I was going to gag, that's the honest truth. The Lord knew I needed to catch one early today because I caught that 4-pounder early and that helped settle my nerves.
"I thought they would bite better (today), the way I was fishing, but man, they got tougher for me. I had several fish just running up, slapping at it and they weren't eating my jig as well today. Finally I changed baits and started catching them. When I left the second hole I had four fish and that gave me a lot of confidence for the rest of the day."
Howell, who was fishing a rattleback jig with a Berkley Gulp Swim Frog trailer, was a mere 10 ounces over second-place angler Greg Hackney, who brought in 29-11 over the four-day event. The Louisiana pro's day four catch of 17-11 was the largest of the day, earning him a $1,000 check from Busch for the . That catch also included a 6-10 lunker that was not only worth $1,000 as the Purolator Big Bass of the Day, but also earned a second $1,000 as the Purolator Big Bass of the Tournament.
"I'm kind of disappointed," Hackney said, "but these are the best fishermen in the world. I get to fish with my heroes every day.
"When I caught that big fish today I got pretty excited. I couldn't help it, I was yelling and stuff, but I just couldn't help it. They got some pretty good footage of that on camera, too."
The tournament will be telecast Saturday, April 24 at 10:30 a.m. ET/9:30 a.m. CT on ESPN2.
BASS also held the CastingKids competition sponsored by Saturday at the Lake Dardanelle State Park. Eight-year-old Hunter Frey of Conway, Ark., was the winner in the 7-10 age group and 13-year-old Joshua Griffin from London, Ark., was the 11-14 winner.
The Bassmaster Elite 50 series travels to the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in Columbus, Miss., for the second event of the series May 19-22, to Prattville, Ala., on the Alabama River, June 2-5, and concludes on the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers in Paducah, Ky., June 16-19.
2004 Arkansas Bassmaster Elite 50 04/14-04/17 Lake Dardanelle, Russellville, Ark. (PRO Division) Standings Day 4 Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$ 1. Randy Howell Springville, Ala. 10 30-09 310 $5,500.00 Day 1: 0 0-00 Day 2: 0 0-00 Day 3: 5 15-00 Day 4: 5 15-09 2. Greg Hackney Gonzales, La. 10 29-11 295 $8,500.00 Day 1: 0 0-00 Day 2: 0 0-00 Day 3: 5 12-00 Day 4: 5 17-11 3. Brent Chapman Shawnee, Kan. 10 24-10 290 $3,500.00 Day 1: 0 0-00 Day 2: 0 0-00 Day 3: 5 11-14 Day 4: 5 12-12 4. Kenyon Hill Norman, Okla. 9 22-11 285 $2,000.00 Day 1: 0 0-00 Day 2: 0 0-00 Day 3: 4 9-02 Day 4: 5 13-09 5. Zell Rowland Montgomery, Texas 8 19-05 280 $2,000.00 Day 1: 0 0-00 Day 2: 0 0-00 Day 3: 4 8-10 Day 4: 4 10-11 6. Kelly Jordon Mineola, Texas 7 17-08 281 $1,000.00 Day 1: 0 0-00 Day 2: 0 0-00 Day 3: 5 11-15 Day 4: 2 5-09 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Big Bass Day 1 Zell Rowland Montgomery, Texas 6-02 $500.00 1 Tim Horton Tuscumbia, Ala. 6-02 $500.00 2 Brett Hite Phoenix, Ariz. 5-05 $1,000.00 3 Dean Rojas Grand Saline, Texas 3-12 $1,000.00 4 Greg Hackney Gonzales, La. 6-10 $1,000.00 Greg Hackney Gonzales, La. 6-10 $1,000.00 Day 1 Tim Horton Tuscumbia, Ala. 17-07 $1,000.00 2 Brett Hite Phoenix, Ariz. 17-03 $1,000.00 3 Greg Hackney Gonzales, La. 12-00 $1,000.00 4 Greg Hackney Gonzales, La. 17-11 $1,000.00 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals Day #Limits #Fish Weight 1 28 199 527-00 2 26 197 515-07 3 13 168 428-13 4 4 26 75-13 ---------------------------------- 71 590 1547-012004 BASSMASTER ELITE 50 After Day 4 Russellville, Ark. Ending 04-17-2004 ------------------------------------------- Place Name St Pts ------------------------------------------- 1 Randy Howell Ala. 310 2 Greg Hackney La. 295 3 Brent Chapman Kan. 290 4 Kenyon Hill Okla. 285 5 Kelly Jordon Texas 281 6 Zell Rowland Texas 280 7 Stacey D King Mo. 276 8 Kevin VanDam Mich. 268 9 Dean Rojas Texas 264 10 Gary Klein Texas 260 11 Tim Horton Ala. 259 12 Jay Yelas Texas 257 13 Shaw E Grigsby, Jr Fla. 251 14 Michael Iaconelli N.J. 248 15 Todd Auten S.C. 245 16 George Cochran Ark. 243 17 Ron Shuffield Ark. 241 17 Denny Brauer Mo. 241 17 Rick Clunn Mo. 241 20 Larry Nixon Ark. 235 21 Todd Faircloth Texas 233 22 Peter E Thliveros Fla. 231 23 Randy Blaukat Mo. 229 24 David Fritts N.C. 227 24 O T Fears III Okla. 227 26 Chad Brauer Mo. 223 27 Brett Hite Ariz. 221 28 Gerald Swindle Ala. 219 29 Mark Menendez Ky. 217 30 Skeet Reese Calif. 215 30 Paul L Elias Miss. 215 32 Alton Jones Texas 211 33 Bud Pruitt Texas 209 34 David Wharton Texas 207 35 Brian Snowden Mo. 205 36 Edwin Evers Okla. 203 37 Ben Matsubu Texas 201 38 Tom Biffle Okla. 199 39 Dustin Wilks N.C. 197 40 Jim Bitter Fla. 195 41 Robert Lee Calif. 193 42 Roland Martin Fla. 191 43 Bernie Schultz Fla. 189 44 Mark Davis Ark. 187 45 John Murray Ariz. 185 46 Mike Wurm Ark. 183 47 Ishama Monroe Calif. 181 48 Kevin Wirth Ky. 179 49 Davy Hite S.C. 177 50 Jack A Gadlage Ky. 175 Busch Shootout Qualifiers NAME LAKE WEIGHT Kelly Jordon Santee Cooper Lake, SC 32-2 Mark Rogers Lake Eufaula, AL 31-3 George Cochran Lake Guntersville, AL 29-15 Stacey King Lake Guntersville, AL 28-2 David Wharton Harris Chain of Lakes, FL 26-7 Kevin VanDam Lake Guntersville, AL 26-3 Jason Quinn Harris Chain of Lakes, FL 24-14 Bink Desaro Lake Eufaula, AL 24-5 Denny Brauer Lake Eufaula, AL 23-12 Ben Matsubu Lake Eufaula, AL 23-10