ST. MARY’S, Ohio – Dick Shaffer, 41, of Celina, Ohio, out-fished 144 competitors Saturday to earn $4,810 and 50 CITGO Challenge Points on the boater side of the Red Man Tournament Trail’s Buckeye Division event on Grand Lake St. Mary’s.
Shaffer caught five largemouth bass weighing 15 pounds, 13 ounces during the one-day event to top Jesse Stienecker of New Bremen, Ohio, who finished with a five-bass catch of 14-7 worth $2,405. Shaffer caught his limit, including a 5-pound largemouth that earned him an additional $720 as the Abu Garcia Big Bass in the Boater Division, fishing jigs around wood and docks on the south side of the lake.
Butch Dobransky of Canton, Ohio, took third place and collected $1,202 for five bass weighing 12-12. Wayne Donovan of Celina, Ohio, placed fourth and earned $1,042 for five bass weighing 11-11, while Keith Wheelock of Beaver Creek, Ohio, placed fifth and earned $962 for five bass weighing 11-5.
Wheelock also won the Berkley Power Bait award, a package of baits valued at $200, for the heaviest overall catch on Power Bait or Frenzy lures.
First place in the Co-Angler Division and $2,405 went to Randy Weaver, 49, of Piqua, Ohio, who topped 144 competitors with five bass weighing 15-3. Second place in the Co-Angler Division and $1,202 went to Michael Safreed of Beaver Creek, Ohio, with four bass weighing 10-8, while Rob Sierschula of Huber Heights, Ohio, took third place and $601 with four bass weighing 9-2.
Safreed won the co-angler Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $360 with a 4-pound, 14-ounce largemouth he caught off a rocky point on a crankbait.
Overall, 422 bass weighing 829 pounds were caught during the tournament, including 18 five-bass limits.
On June 17, the Red Man Tournament Trail will visit the Ohio River near Carrollton, Ky., for the second of five events in the Buckeye Division. The boater with the most CITGO Challenge points after the division’s season finale, a two-day Super Tournament Sept. 23-24 on Lake Erie in Sandusky Bay, 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.