GILBERTSVILLE, Ky., (June 6,1999) – Dan Morehead of Paducah, Kentucky, took first place, $3476, plus 50 CITGO Challenge Points for winning the Red Man LBL Division qualifier held Sunday on the Kentucky Lake. Morehead brought in a five bass limit totaling 25 pounds, 14 ounces to top a field of 230 anglers competing for $13,022.50
Morehead fished Lake Barkley near the Highway 68 bridge to catch his fish. He fished ledges using a 1/2 ounce Stanley jig in a black/blue color. Second place and $1738 went to Thomas Personius of Mayfield, Kentucky for five bass weighing 23 pounds, 11 ounces. He also fished Barkley using a black/blue jig and a plum worm; he was fishing ledges.
Rounding out the top positions were: (3) Steve Ballard, Paducah, KY, four bass, 18-15, $1020; (4) Curt Erpenbach, Metropolis, IL, five bass, 18-10, $654; (5) David Young, Mayfield, KY, five bass, 18-4$620.
Rick Chidester of Cadiz, KY, won the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $1,000 for a 7 pound, 2 ounce bass. Teddy Wynn of Benton, KY, is leading the LBL Division’s Ranger Millennium big bass race for the year with a bass weighing 7 pounds, 5 ounces. The Ranger boat owner who catches the largest bass in each Red Man division over the course of the season, will qualify to enter the Ranger M1 Millenium tournament.
Brendan Murphy of Murray, KY, won the Berkley Powerbait award – a package of baits valued at $325 – for the highest weight caught on Powerbait or Frenzy lures with 8 pounds, 15 ounces.
At the completion of the six Red Man qualifying events, the top 30 anglers, determined on a basis of pounds and points, will move onto Regional Championship competition. There they will compete against the top 30 fishermen from three other divisions for a Dream Rig consisting of a Chevy truck and a full-rigged Ranger bass boat powered by an Evinrude or Johnson outboard (only two divisions compete in the Western Regional for a
fully-rigged Ranger bass boat) and a spot in the Red Man All-American in Hot Springs, Arkansas, May 8-13, 2000, where the winner will receive $100,000.
The rookie advancing farthest along the Red Man Trail will win the Old Milwaukee NA Rookie-of-the-Year Award. All Red Man tournaments are catch and release events. Operation Bass historically maintains a 98 percent live release rate throughout the
tournament season.
Sponsors of the 1999 Red Man Tournament Trail include: Evinrude Outboards, Evinrude Electrics, CITGO Petroleum, Ranger Boats, Humminbird Fishfinders, Stren Fishing Lines, Abu Garcia Rods and Reels, Chevy Trucks, ENERGIZER Marine Batteries, Old Milwaukee NA, Black & Decker, David Seeds, Coleman Products, Land O’Lakes, BC Powder, Eveready, Wheaties, Chex Mix, Hamburger Helper, Wrangler, US Bank-VISA, Powerbait, and Frenzy.