PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis., (August 30, 1999) Robert Howland of Cedar Falls, Indiana, took first place, $2887, plus 50 CITGO Challenge Points for winning the Red Man Great Lakes Division qualifier held Sunday on the Mississippi River at Prairie Du Chien. Howland brought in five bass weighing 13 pounds, 9 ounces to top a field of 180 anglers competing for $10,450.
Howland fished the north end of the lake using scrum frogs and jigs. He fished top water using 20-pound Stren line. Second place and $1,444 went to Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, WI, who brought in five bass weighing 13 pounds, 4 ounces. He fished Pool #9 using Berkley Power Tubes and fished around deep weeds.
Rounding out the top positions were: (3) Shawn Drew, Montello, WI, five bass, 13-3, $847; (4) Randy Meczorek, Buffalo City, WI, five bass, 13-1, $543; (5) Ken Johnson, Prairie Duchien, WI, five bass, 12-15, $515.
Thomas Collins of Waunakee, WI, won the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $1,000 for a 4 pound, 1 ounce bass. Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, WI, is leading the Great Lakes Division’s Ranger Millennium big bass race for the year with a bass weighing 4 pounds, 7 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 Monsoor also won the Berkley Powerbait award “a package of baits valued at $325” for the highest weight caught on Powerbait or Frenzy lures with 13 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, 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.