Former Classic champion Woo Daves once caught a wine bottle during a MegaBucks bass fishing event at White Rock Lake in Texas.
"I was slow-rolling a spinnerbait, and it went right in the mouth of the bottle," he said. "The bottle took off across the bottom, and I thought I had a big fish. I reeled it in on camera."
TOUR FINALE OFFERS DRAMA, EXCITEMENT
For fans of the Bassmaster Tour, the season-finale at Table Rock Lake was like déja vu all over again.
The $100,000 Bassmaster Angler of the Year battle went down to the wire. Once again, a last-minute charge created a situation where the leader in the race for the coveted award had to wait on the shoreline and hope that his closest pursuer floundered.
In this case, the shore bound pro was Marty Stone, who entered the final event as the leader in the Angler of the Year race. He ended up trading the lead back and forth with Aaron Martens, who entered the last tournament in sixth place in the AOY standings.
Martens, the California whiz kid who moved to Alabama last year, squeaked into the tournament finals in the sixth and final spot. He entered the final round needing to finish fourth or better to take the crown from Stone and become the first Western pro to win Angler of the Year. (Californians Gary Klein and Jay Yelas have both won Angler of the Year titles, but only after having lived in Texas for several years.)
Stone, who was gracious in defeat, knew that Martens wouldn't falter, and he didn't, bringing in the catch of the day (12 pounds, 11 ounces) in the final round and finishing the tournament in second place.
"I still can't believe it," Martens said hours later. "Winning Angler of the Year is something I've always wanted, but I never thought it would be this year after I started off in 95th place in Florida."
Stone's consistent, but unspectacular season kept him in the hunt for the Angler of the Year title, while Martens flew beneath the radar until the final event.
"Aaron is a world-class angler, and he showed it today," Stone said. "I knew he would come through, and just look at the sack he brought in when the pressure was on.
"It's disappointing, but I have to take comfort in the fact this won't be my last chance to win Angler of the Year."
2005 Bassmaster Angler of the Year Final Standings
# NAME ST PTS PRIZE
1 Aaron Martens AL 1392 $100,000 (plus 2006 Tour entries)
2 Marty Stone NC 1380 30,000
3 Terry Scroggins FL 1348 20,000
4 Dave Wolak PA 1300 16,000
5 Greg Hackney LA 1297 14,000
6 Jeff Kriet OK 1263 10,000
7 Kevin VanDam MI 1245 9,000
8 Michael Iaconelli NJ 1240 8,000
9 Skeet Reese CA 1235 7,000
10 Ron Shuffield AR 1198 6,000
11 Edwin Evers OK 1182 5,000
12 Mark Tucker MO 1171 5,000
13 David Walker TN 1160 5,000
14 Kevin Wirth KY 1149 5,000
15 Preston Clark FL 1133 5,000
16 Scott Rook AR 1128 5,000
17 Tim Horton AL 1124 5,000
18 George Cochran AR 1119 5,000
19 John Crews VA 1117 5,000
20 Rick Clunn MO 1112 5,000
21 Jay Yelas TX 1100 5,000
22 Ishama Monroe CA 1091 5,000
23 Jeff Reynolds OK 1084 5,000
24 Andre Moore AZ 1082 5,000
25 Mike Reynolds CA 1063 5,000
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Don't look now, but there's a young new force on the Tour who finished almost as strong as Greg Hackney did in 2004.
Last year, Hackney nearly wrested the Angler of the Year title from Gerald Swindle en route to winning the $10,000 Toyota Rookie of the Year award. This year, it was a 28-year-old PENNSYLVANIA pro named Dave Wolak who closed out the rookie race with a 10th-place showing at Table Rock and finished fourth in the Angler of the Year standings.
It was a very impressive season for a rookie who has absolute no sponsor help.
"It's a thrill to win Rookie of the Year," Wolak said. "It was something I set my sights on at the beginning of the year, but you never know how a season will go."
The 2005 Bassmaster Classic will be held in Wolak's home state, but he has never fished the three rivers that run through Pittsburgh.
Florida rookie Preston Clark, a former team tournament partner of Terry Scroggins (who finished third in Angler of the Year), was second in the Rookie of the Year race.
2005 Rookie of the Year Final Standings # NAME ST PTS PRIZE 1 David Wolak PA 1300 $10,000 2 Preston Clark FL 1133 3 Andre Moore AZ 1082 4 Greg Gutierrez CA 972 5 Russell Lane AL 938 6 Terry Butcher OK 834 7 Chris Bielert CT 723 8 David Gliebe CA 716 9 Cliff Pace MS 698 10 Jesse Draime MS 592 11 Chip Hawkins AR 584 12 Fred Roumbanis CA 520 13 Zachary Thompson CA 516 14 Thad Takes IA 427 15 Bradley Stringer TX 280 16 Grant Goldbeck MD 226
HORIZON WINNER
Although he certainly doesn't need the money, Gary Yamamoto can take great pride in winning the Toyota Horizon Award - fishing's version of the comeback player of the year title.
The millionaire lure maker and cattle baron from Texas finished 36th in the Tour standings this season, which is a 115-place improvement over his 2004 Tour performance (151st).
Ohio pro Frank Scalish finished second.
2005 Horizon Award Final Standings# NAME ST 2004 2005 DIFF PRIZE
1 Gary Yamamoto TX 151 36 115 $25,000
2 Frank Scalish OH 147 38 109
3 Jeff Kriet OK 109 6 103
4 John Crews VA 107 19 88
5 Jay Kendrick TN 143 62 81
6 Todd Faircloth TX 116 42 74
Stephen Browning AR 131 57 74
8 Mike Wurm AR 103 32 71
9 Rick Morris VA 122 59 63
Norio Tanabe JP 148 85 63
Frank Ippoliti MD 135 72 63
12 Mike Reynolds CA 85 25 60
13 Jeff Reynolds OK 80 23 57
14 Kotaro Kiriyama AL 120 65 55
15 Roger Boler LA 153 99 54
16 Robert Hamilton MS 124 75 49
17 Ron Shuffield AR 58 10 48
18 Mark Rizk AL 89 45 44
19 David Fritts NC 91 48 43
20 Scott Rook AR 55 16 39
DID YOU KNOW?
During six days of practice for the 1997 Classic, Dion Hibdon was out-fished every single day by his mother, Stella. He must have learned his lesson, though, since he went on to win the world championship event.
PRO BIRTHDAYS
Florida pro Pete Thliveros turns 44 on April 8th, while Bill Berry of Indiana becomes 49 two days later. On April 11th, Californian Warren Wyman becomes 31. Georgia pro Danny Kirk will be 49 on April 23rd.
IF I HADN'T BECOME A BASS PRO
Virginia pro Mike Hicks would be concentrating on his family's heating and air conditioning business. He and father, Tom, (a past Classic qualifier) run the business. "I think it's hindered our careers," Hicks said. "I never get to prepare for one of these tournaments, but I've got to do what I've got to do to survive."
THEY SAID IT
"My big thing going into this year was I knew how important this year was in points and making two Classics. I want to get to Pittsburgh (site of the 2005 Bassmaster Classic), because I feel like my real shot is at Pittsburgh. That's as close to a home Classic as I'll ever get. So getting to Pittsburgh was my real goal." Former Classic champion Michael Iaconelli.