CLINTON, MO., (July 12, 1999) Dewaynem Fitzpatrick of Jefferson City, Missouri, took first place, $1904, plus 50 CITGO Challenge Points for winning the Red Man Plains Division qualifier held Sunday on Truman Lake.
Fitzpatrick brought in a five bass limit weighing 16 pounds, 12 ounces to top a field of 100 anglers competing for $6250.
Fitzpatrick fished the Osage area using a green tube jig on trees located on steep bluff end points to catch his bass. Second place and $952 went to Gary Sowell of Houston, Missouri, for five bass weighing 11 pounds, 9 ounces. Sowell fished in Tebo Creek, Carolina„rigging green pumpkin Chompers.
Rounding out the top positions were: (3) Jerry Pape, Omaha, NE, five bass, 11-3, $559; (4) Tom Silber, Labadie, MO, four bass, 10-9, $358; (5) Mark Schnieders, Jefferson City, MO, four bass, 10-5, $339. Randy Oliver of Jefferson City, Missouri, won the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $1,000 for a 6 pound, 9 ounce bass. Scott Stephenson of Topeka, Kansas, is leading the Plains Division’s Ranger Millennium big bass race for the year with a bass weighing 7 pounds, 12 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 Millennium tournament. Tom Silber of Labadie, MO, won the berkley Powerbait award a package of baits valued at $325 for the highest weight caught on Powerbait or Frenzy lures with 10 pounds, 9 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,Ï2000, 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.