MUSKOGEE, Okla., (August 23,1999) Terry Thomas of Nixa, Missouri, took first place, $3209, plus 50 CITGO Challenge Points for winning the Red Man Okie Division qualifier held Sunday on Webber Falls. Thomas brought in five bass weighing 17 pounds, 12 ounces to top a field of 206 anglers competing for $11,815.00.
Terry Thomas fished Cootie Creek using a black and blue Alron jig and a Gene Larew salt craw. He fished muddy banks using 30 – pound Stren line. Second place and $1604 went to Mark Branson of Okmulgee, OK, bringing in five bass weighing 14 pounds, 8 ounces. He fished the Vertagree area with Bomber 6A Firetiger around stumps in channels.
Rounding out the top positions were: (3) Russ Reagan, Edmond, OK, five bass, 14-8, $942; (4) Jeff Ransom, Muldrow, OK, five bass, 14-5, $603; (5) Jason Christie, Welling, OK, five bass, 14-1, $572.
Gary Jackson of Brighton, MO, won the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $1,000 for a 5 pound, 7 ounce bass.
Wayne Remington of Lincoln, NE, is leading the Okie Division’s Ranger Millennium big bass race for the year with a bass weighing 6 pounds, 4 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.
LeRoy Looney of Tulsa, OK, won the Berkley Powerbait award – a package of baits valued at $325 – for the highest weight caught on Powerbait or Frenzy lures with 12 pounds, 8 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.