WOODHAVEN, Mich. – Don Rank, 60, of Elkhart, Ind., out-fished 98 competitors Saturday to earn $3,738 and 50 CITGO Challenge Points on the boater side of the Red Man Tournament Trail’s Michigan Division event on the Detroit River.
Rank caught five smallmouth bass weighing 19 pounds, 6 ounces during the one-day event to top Barry Bucciarelli of Romulus, Mich., who finished with a five-bass catch of 18-1 worth $1,869. Rank caught his limit using a 4-inch, green-pumpkin worm. Bucciarelli, a 37-year-old contractor, won the Abu Garcia Big Bass Award in the Boater Division and collected an additional $490 with a 5-pound, 7-ounce smallmouth that he caught out of Lake Erie using a smoke-colored tubebait.
Art Ferguson of St. Clair Shores, Mich., took third place and collected $935 with five bass weighing 16-15. David MacDonald of Clinton Township, Mich., placed fourth and earned $810 with five bass weighing 16-6, while David Lauer of South Bend, Ind., placed fifth and earned $748 with five bass weighing 16-5.
First place in the Co-Angler Division and $1,869 went to Donald Whitaker, 42, of Warsaw, Ind., who topped 98 competitors with five bass weighing 15-15. Second place in the Co-Angler Division and $935 went to Terry Bucciarelli of Ypsilanti, Mich., with five bass weighing 14-8, while William Goodman of Coldwater, Mich., took third place and $467 with five bass weighing 14-5.
Robert Minnick, 43, of Logansport, Ind., won the co-angler Abu Garcia Big Bass Award of $245 with a 4-pound, 6-ounce smallmouth that he caught on a green-pumpkin tubebait.
Philip Borsa, 36, of Redford, Mich., won the Berkley Power Bait award, a package of baits valued at $200, for the heaviest overall catch on Power Bait or Frenzy lures. He caught five smallmouth bass weighing 12 pounds out of Lake St. Clair.
On Aug. 19, the Red Man Tournament Trail will visit Lake St. Clair for the fourth of five events in the Michigan Division. The boater with the most CITGO Challenge points after the division’s season finale, a two-day Super Tournament Sept. 16-17 on the Detroit 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. Wal-Mart recently announced that it has assumed title sponsorship of the tournament series for 2001 and will rename it the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League.