Russellville, AR 23 April 2005 - Wind gusting to 25mph from the northwest, with dropping temperatures, did not prevent the women anglers providing a great weigh-in here on Lake Dardanelle. The WBFA Tour Beauty & The Bass event concluded today with a final weigh-in at Dardanelle State Park. Beautiful weather on the bank however, proved to provide tough bass fishing conditions for the anglers out on the lake.
The Dardanelle A.P. Board acted as host for this, the fourth point-carrying tournament event in the 2005 WBFA Tour season. Preliminary work by the Lake Dardanelle Lady Anglers, an affiliated bass club of the WBFA, provided loads of information for the contenders, great hospitality and recognition from the community, and made the event a very enjoyable one for all. Lake Dardanelle is a premier bass fishery and the facilities at Dardanelle State Park are state-of-the-art when it comes to bass tournament mechanics and protecting the lake's great natural resource.
The women anglers were allowed to trailer to their various destinations because of the predicted, windy conditions. They still had to be out of the water and checked in on time at Lake Dardanelle State Park's weigh-in facility for the 3pm final weigh-in however. Safety of the anglers is a very high priority of the WBFA Tour tournament officials.
Despite two days of very windy conditions, and dropping temperatures, Sheri Glasgow managed to bring two limits of bass to the weigh-in, and captured the Arkansas National Title. Her two-day total was 27.04 pounds of bass, and she also took the second-day lunker award of over $400 with a bass weighing 3.91 pounds. Local favorite, Joan Craig of London, AR, placed second with 21.62 pounds and Lisa Sternard from Clarksville, TN finished third with 21.40 pounds. Rounding out the top 5 were Pam Martin Wells hailing from Bainbridge, GA and Cheryl Lalumandier from Harvester, MO.
The non-boater winner, Dianne Kegley, of Norphlet, AR brought a two-day total 14.68 pounds to the scales and took the second-day lunker award of over $300, with a 3.78-pound bass. Debbie Pegoli from Loveland, OH finished second with 10.71 pounds. Finishing out the top 5 were; Laura Moore of Vidor, TX, Robin Babb from Livingston, TX and Tammy Ply hailing from Harrison, AR.
The WBFA Tour's final 2005 season stop will be on Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, AL in June. The top finishers for the season will be decided there. The Lake Eufaula event will also serve to kick off the 2006 season.
National Sponsors of the WBFA Tour include: Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, Mercury Marine, Triton Boats by Earl Bentz, DEKA Marine Master Batteries, Alex Langer's Flying Lure, Minn Kota, Stay N Charge charging systems, FlowMaster Exhaust Systems, FisherGirl, Hog Rustler Lures, Kick 'N Bass scents, and Eidolon Bait Company.