SANDUSKY, Ohio (July 20, 2009) - Dick Parker of Amherst, Ohio, won the Bass Fishing League Michigan Division bass fishing tournament on Sandusky Bay Saturday with a five-bass catch weighing 24 pounds. The victory earned Parker $3,426 and placed him one step closer to qualifying for the Mississippi River Regional Championship in Fort Madison, Iowa, Oct. 1-3, where he could ultimately win a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck.
Parker said he was dragging tubes over humps and ridges in depths of 20-22 feet.
Rounding out the top five boaters are Jared Rhode of Port Clinton, Ohio (five bass, 21-2, $1,713); Gary Greenwood of Irwin, Pa. (five bass, 18-11, $1,141); Joseph Eckenrode of Avon Lake, Ohio (five bass, 18-1, $799) and Michael Woolley of West Bloomfield, Mich. (five bass, 17-14, $685).
Antoni Bicy of Lansing, Mich., took home the Boater Division Big Bass award, earning $430 for a 5-pound, 13-ounce bass he caught.
David Palmer of Port Clinton, Ohio, earned $1,713 as the co-angler winner Saturday thanks to five bass weighing 20 pounds, 12 ounces that he caught on a drop-shot Berkley Gulp.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Larry Thomas of Lambertville, Mich. (five bass, 17-13, $856); Donald Fleitz of Temperance, Mich. (five bass, 17-10, $571); Charles Hasty of Toledo, Ohio (five bass, 17-9, $400); and Tony Grubb of Ann Arbor, Mich. (five bass, 17-7, $343).
David Palmer earned $215 as the co-angler Big Bass winner after catching a 4-pound, 14-ounce bass.
The next Michigan Division event will be held on the Saint Clair River in Harrison Township, Mich., Aug. 8.