BIRDS EYE, Ind. – High school teacher Raymond Clift, 53, of Indianapolis out-fished 178 competitors Saturday to earn $5,600 and 50 CITGO Challenge Points on the boater side of the Red Man Tournament Trail Hoosier Division opener on Patoka Lake.
Clift caught five largemouth bass weighing 12 pounds, 9 ounces during the one-day event to edge out Kevin Wirth of Crestwood, Ky., who finished with a five-bass catch of 11-12 worth $2,800. Clift caught his limit, which also earned him the Berkley Power Bait award, fishing chunk rock banks along the Big and Little Patoka Rivers with a Carolina-rigged Power lizard and Frenzy crankbait. The Power Bait award, a package of baits valued at $200, is presented to the angler in either division with the heaviest stringer caught on Power Bait or Frenzy lures.
Curt Hughes of Greenwood, Ind., took third place and collected $1,400 for five bass weighing 11-11. John Borges of Cincinnati, Ohio, placed fourth and earned $1,214 for four bass weighing 11-4, while Gary Edwards of Milton, Ky., placed fifth and earned $1,120 for three bass weighing 11-2.
Edwards also won the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award in the Boater Division and collected $890 for a 6-pound, 7-ounce largemouth that he caught on a chrome-colored crankbait.
First place in the Co-Angler Division and $2,800 went to Nick Lux, a 47-year-old electrician from Waldron, Ind., who topped 178 competitors with four bass weighing 8-2. Second place in the Co-Angler Division and $1,400 went Richard Dale of Palmyra, Ind., for three bass weighing 7-6, while Ken Heckel of Lamar, Ind., took third place and $700 with two bass weighing 7-3.
On June 3, the Red Man Tournament Trail will visit the Ohio River for the second of five events in the Hoosier Division. The boater with the most CITGO Challenge points after the division’s season finale, a two-day Super Tournament Sept. 9-10 on the Ohio River, will be declared the Divisional Points Champion and awarded $1,000. The co-angler amassing the most points by the end of the season will receive $500.
Operation Bass was founded in 1979 on the principle that working anglers should be able to fish competitively without interfering with jobs and family. The trail’s championship event, the Red Man All-American, awards $100,000 to the winning boater and $50,000 to the winning co-angler. The highest placing CITGO Divisional Points Champion at the All-American receives $10,000 in the Boater Division and $2,500 in the Co-Angler Division. Overall, more than $5.7 million could be awarded in 2000 based on full fields in each of the series’ 119 events nationwide.
Red Man became the trail’s title sponsor in 1983.