PADUCAH, Ky. - Michigan's Kevin VanDam made history Saturday when he added the first Bassmaster Elite 50 series championship to his collection of laurels, which includes three Bassmaster Angler of the Year titles and a world championship title from the 2001 Bassmaster Classic .
"What a day," VanDam said. "It was a great day today. This is a big deal. It probably commands as much respect as the Angler of the Year to the pros. We've dreamed about having a series like this for a long time and to be able to win it for the first time is great."
VanDam has owned the lead in the Elite 50 point standings since the conclusion of the series' second event. Although he was just a few points ahead of Mark Davis coming into the series finale, he pulled away from the competition with a 5th place finish this week to claim the $150,000 grand prize, the lion's share of the $1.6 million total purse.
"I respect each of these guys. They are the world's best," VanDam said. "It worked out this time for me. I came out on top, but it's tough; these guys are really good and I'm glad I got this one because there may not be another one. It's so competitive. Everything is getting so much bigger now and the sport is growing so fast that it just gets harder and harder every year."
And what about that winner's purse?
"It's going for a college education for my kids," he said. "I really wanted to win and the money's great, but the prestige of the Elite 50 championship is more."
In addition to VanDam's championship, the season finale put the final touches on the field for the 2004 Bassmaster Classic.
According to Classic qualification rules, the top 10 finishers in the Bassmaster Elite 50 series will join the 25 anglers from the Bassmaster Tour, 12 anglers from the Open series, five anglers from the Federation Championship and the 2003 Bassmaster Angler of the Year, Jay Yelas, as they advance to the crown jewel of bass fishing, July 30-Aug. 1 in Charlotte, N.C. However, seven of the top 10 anglers in the Elite 50 standings had already qualified through the Tour standings, which means the next seven pros in the Tour standings will earn Classic berths, according to qualification rules. BASS will announce the names of the additional qualifiers next week.
Texan Alton Jones took top honors for the final Bassmaster Elite 50 tournament with a total of 22 pounds, 7 ounces. With the win, Jones slid into second in the Elite 50 series points and walked away with the $100,000 second prize.
"It feels really good," Jones said. "I'm tickled because, going into this event, I didn't even think I had a mathematical possibility of finishing any higher than about fifth. I thought I was looking at, on a bad tournament, winning $20,000 and on a good tournament winning $35,000, so coming out of here winning $100,000 is absolutely a dream come true. I'm still just in shock.
Jones' catch included a 3-5 bass that earned him $1,000 for the Big Bass of the Day. It wasn't enough to overtake Greg Hackney's 4-15 lunker from day one, which earned the Big Bass of the Touranment. Hackney earned an additional $1,000 for the fish.
California's Skeet Reese brought in a five-fish limit that tipped the scales at 19-5 Saturday and earned a $1,000 bonus from Busch Beer for the voluntary incentive program. Jones does not participate in the program.
Paducah native Mark Menendez had a heartbreaking day. Menendez, a local favorite, was disqualified for removing his personal flotation device in an unauthorized area. When he realized his mistake, Menendez called BASS Tournament Director Trip Weldon and reported the infraction, at which time Weldon informed him that he should release all of his fish and that he had been eliminated from competition.
"We have to make it evident, what this sport is about and where this sport is going," Menendez said. "That's what Bassmaster is about. It's about creating the highest playing field that you can possibly have. To do that you have to have a huge amount of credibility and honesty. That will assure that we have the absolute highest playing field that there is.
"I broke a rule. I called it in; no one else called it in. I could have kept fishing and it's tough because I caught about 17 pounds today and I could have won, but it would have been much tougher if I would have won the event and then when the show came out they would have seen that I broke the rule and taken the win away from me.
"If I had it to do over, I would do it over. If I had caught 30 pounds, I would do it over. It was the right call."
The Bassmaster CastingKids program was held in conjunction with the BASS Sponsor Expo Saturday. Ten-year-old Texan Kristen Jones, pro angler Alton Jones' daughter, took the win in the 7-10 age group while 13-year-old Laurie Schreiber from Georgetown, Ky., won the 11-14 age group.
Fans can watch telecasts of the final event of the Bassmaster Elite 50 series on the Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers in two parts, Saturday, June 26 and Saturday, July 3 at 10:30 a.m. ET/9:30 a.m. CT on ESPN2.
2004 Kentucky Bassmaster Elite 50 06/16-06/19
Ohio, Cumberland And Tennessee Rivers, Paducah Ky.
(PRO Division) Standings Day 4
Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$ 1. Alton Jones Waco, Texas 20 43-04 310 $106,000.00 Day 1: 5 11-03 Day 2: 5 9-10 Day 3: 5 12-08 Day 4: 5 9-15 2. Skeet Reese Auburn, Calif. 20 35-09 295 $28,500.00 Day 1: 5 7-10 Day 2: 5 8-10 Day 3: 5 10-03 Day 4: 5 9-02 3. Rick Clunn Ava, Mo. 20 38-15 290 $28,000.00 Day 1: 5 8-05 Day 2: 5 12-04 Day 3: 5 9-07 Day 4: 5 8-15 4. David Wharton Sam Rayburn, Texas 16 30-08 285 $26,400.00 Day 1: 5 9-01 Day 2: 5 7-15 Day 3: 5 11-14 Day 4: 1 1-10 5. Kevin VanDam Kalamazoo, Mich. 17 40-00 285 $151,000.00 Day 1: 5 14-04 Day 2: 5 12-13 Day 3: 3 7-01 Day 4: 4 5-14 6. Mark Menendez Paducah, Ky. 15 23-04 276 $23,500.00 Day 1: 5 7-13 Day 2: 5 8-09 Day 3: 5 6-14 Day 4: 0 0-00 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Purolator Big Bass Day 1 Greg Hackney Gonzales, La. 4-15 $1,000.00 2 Gary Klein Weatherford, Texas 4-10 $1,000.00 3 David Wharton Sam Rayburn, Texas 4-02 $1,000.00 4 Alton Jones Waco, Texas 3-05 $1,000.00 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals Day #Limits #Fish Weight 1 20 172 277-09 2 18 159 253-11 3 15 139 228-10 4 3 20 35-08 ---------------------------------- 56 490 795-062004 Elite 50 Points After Day 4 Paducah, Ky. Ending 06-19-2004 ------------------------------------------- Place Name St Pts ------------------------------------------- 1 Kevin VanDam Mich. 1102 2 Alton Jones Texas 1033 3 Stacey D King Mo. 1030 4 Greg Hackney La. 1025 5 Gary Klein Texas 1017 6 Zell Rowland Texas 1014 7 Mark Davis Ark. 1007 8 Dean Rojas Texas 1006 9 Tom Biffle Okla. 1001 10 Dustin Wilks N.C. 984 11 Todd Auten S.C. 980 11 Edwin Evers Okla. 980 13 Jim Bitter Fla. 960 14 Denny Brauer Mo. 958 15 Gerald Swindle Ala. 957 16 Rick Clunn Mo. 949 17 Davy Hite S.C. 943 18 Brent Chapman Kan. 933 19 Skeet Reese Calif. 932 20 Mark Menendez Ky. 929 21 David Wharton Texas 924 22 Randy Howell Ala. 923 23 Larry Nixon Ark. 918 24 Jay Yelas Texas 914 25 Kenyon Hill Okla. 912 26 Peter Thliveros Fla. 907 27 John Murray Ariz. 905 28 Brian Snowden Mo. 904 29 O T Fears Okla. 896 29 Todd Faircloth Texas 896 31 Michael Iaconelli N.J. 887 32 George Cochran Ark. 871 33 Ron Shuffield Ark. 870 34 Kevin Wirth Ky. 868 35 Kelly Jordon Texas 866 36 Roland Martin Fla. 862 37 David Fritts N.C. 858 37 Chad Brauer Mo. 858 39 Ben Matsubu Texas 851 40 Randy Blaukat Mo. 844 41 Robert Lee Calif. 843 42 Brett Hite Ariz. 842 43 Jack A Gadlage Ky. 826 44 Mike Wurm Ark. 814 45 Bud Pruitt Texas 812 46 Tim Horton Ala. 810 47 Paul L Elias Miss. 798 48 Ishama Monroe Calif. 780 49 Bernie Schultz Fla. 776 50 Shaw E Grigsby, Jr Fla. 251